Asking the Experts

AZURE TALKS TO SEVEN LIGHTING DESIGNERS ABOUT HOW THEY STAY AT THE TOP OF A FIELD RULED BY EVER-CHANGING TECHNOLOGY

“We’re exploring the potential for OLED and its extreme flexibility and evenness of light. OLEDS are making their way into consumer goods, mainly in screen technologies. They remain exceedingly rare in lighting applications. But, as manufacturing volumes increase, we expect OLEDS to become more commonplace, beginning with niche applications in automotive, aerospace and industry.” – Theo Richardson, co-founder, Rich Brilliant Willing, Brooklyn “I’m going to say something that nobody wants to say: After six months an LED starts losing its property – light temperature, intensity, coherence of the light, the distribution. I’m working on engineering – and this is a patent that belongs to Arik Levy – a piece of technology that enhances the LED capacity as it is losing, so that you keep the quality of the product. That’s technology for me. Not ‘I walk into the room and the light comes on.’ Smart products should start with complex needs; a floor lamp is not a complex need.” – Arik Levy, multidisciplinary designer, Paris “Obviously technology is going so many different places, but for me it’s about making things that will be just as good in 50 years, and you can’t base that on technology that’s constantly changing. The market is so over-saturated right now it feels important to produce less. For me, sustainability has always been at the core. It’s not about what can get made; it’s about what I can bring to the table as a designer.” – Bec Brittain, lighting designer, New York

“For me the future of lighting is all about how we use LED. The technology is moving at a dramatic rate, so it’s often difficult for designers to be able to create lighting with the same classicism that you would get from the sources we previously used. We are now starting to develop our own LEDS so that we can achieve the desired light levels and temperatures to create contemporary pieces with a classic edge to them. Finding ways to combine technology with decorative lighting is something that we are going to see a lot more of in the future.” – Lee Broom, product designer, London “We as an industry are now able to create more lumens with less power. Some of our latest installations utilize low-voltage cables and allow the structure of the system to become more architectural. Wireless charging is popular in the cell phone world; I’m curious to see how that will evolve into wireless power over longer distances. If a floor were set up with this technology, for instance, then we would be able to move floor lamps freely around a room without the restriction of cords and plugs.” – David Weeks, designer, New York “We have definitely been following the progress of OLED; however, at the moment the technology still needs to be refined, and application is limited to only a few sectors. We think automated lighting systems with integrated variable white and RGB technology will be the next big thing. It’s already growing in popularity with the huge push from Philips Hue and other home lighting systems. This technology will be a popular topic in regards to work environments and how lighting plays an important role in quality of health at work and even at home.” – David Ryan, co-founder, Anony, Toronto “I think we are not close to being finished with LED. For instance, their minimal use of energy makes it interesting to work with battery packs… not only for outdoor use but also for making light an independent object. So far, light has always been in relation to an installment – like, you need some kind of a plug. At the moment you can say, okay, make it independent from this kind of electric source, and it gets a new expression. It’s something I’m exploring but can’t talk about yet.” – Stefan Diez, industrial designer, Munich