The light brigade

Smart, portable, lightweight, versatile, sustainable and fascinatingly beautiful, the boundaries between light and object are constantly blurring.

- PENNY McCORMICK

Light + Building meets every two years in Frankfurt and is considered the industry hotspot where architects, planners, retailers and electrical installers converge to find out the latest lighting trends. This year’s event takes place from 8 to 13 March, and central to its agenda are our changing lifestyles and room structures, which in turn impact on lighting solutions. No longer defined and rigid, home, work and leisure spaces are merging, and new luminaires are playing a key role in these fluid settings – creating atmosphere and providing a functional response to activities, whether lounging, cooking or sleeping.

Another key development is the upscaling of LED technology – delivering more lumens, lower energy consumption and a more compact design, which means that cumbersome cables can be ditched in certain scenarios. As with smartphones or tablets, powerful rechargeable batteries or mini solar panels are integrated to provide hours of power.

Small table lamps or lanterns ‘to go’ are also trending. They are designed with maximum versatility and feature integrated loops or hooks, allowing them to be suspended from or positioned on walls or ceilings, either indoors or out. One example is the Lantern collection by Light-Point, a contemporary take on the classic lamp shape which has just been awarded a Red Dot award for high-quality design. Ronni Gol, CEO and founder of Light-Point says, “This design harnesses the latest LED technology and is both aesthetically timeless and minimal.”