CLD joins Recolight
(UK) - CLD Distribution, joins Recolight, encouraging customers to recycle their outgoing light sources.
With its products being replaced by more energy efficient and cost saving lighting schemes, CLD Chair Nigel Howes explained: “We want to make the recycling of old lighting fixtures as straightforward and cost-effective as possible, especially for those who are investing in our Comus range of LED lighting.”
Recolight was set up for the commercial lighting industry to maximise recycling of all lighting kit relevant to the 2006 WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment) regulations.
It provides a free recycling infrastructure across the UK for the disposal of defunct lighting products via a network of over 2,300 open collection points. CLD customers can also bring their waste lamps directly to the manufacturer’s HQ in Hastings.
The WEEE Regulations have been implemented to help reduce the amount of waste going into landfill and to increase awareness of the re-use of waste products.
To date, Recolight has funded the recycling of approximately 200 million lamps, in the process preventing nearly 800kg of mercury from entering the eco system via landfill.
Through its Comus LED lighting range, CLD is committed to producing more sustainable lighting and production technologies for commercial buildings and entertainment facilities in an expansion of its Comus LED lighting range.
Students asissted by Martin Professional at Singapore Night Festival
(Singapore) - Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) students developed ‘Flights of Fancy’ display in Singapore National Design Centre.
The reflective butterfly display was assisted by Martin Professional Exterior 400 LED lighting fixtures for 2014 Singapore Night Festival to mark culmination of SUTD’s 10-week Urban Lighting course.
The course taught students about effects of natural and artificial light on space. According to the SUTD student team leader, Kenickie Cher Jia Jun, Martin Professional fixtures were crucial in bringing the team’s vision for ‘Flights of Fancy’ to life.
Careful positioning of lights and shadows offered unique effects depending on the time of day and vantage point to ensure no experience was the same. The display featured a large floating sculpture made of hanging dichroic films - a reflective material the team used to mimic butterflies ascending into the sky. To do this, the team used eight Martin Exterior 400s, a MAC 700 Profile, and a MAC 250 Krypton to produce a powerful light for these reflections in a large space.
“One of the things we liked about the Martin fixtures was the ability to program a dynamic design,” said Kenickie. “The installation became ever-changing, making the experience unique for each visitor. The strong light source amplified the colours of the reflections and refractions created by the dichroic film.”
The Martin fixtures were concealed in two floor boxes below the floating sculpture and programmed to gradually change intensity and direction. Each box contained four Exterior 400 fixtures that provided colour washes that were slowly dimmed and then brightened over time.
Lighting Designer and student course instructor Shigeki Fujii described the fixtures as powerful and effective: “The dimming and movement of the lighting fixtures amplified the colours and effects of the display. Most observers did not even notice the lights were changing intensity and direction, they thought the effect was simply due to the wind.”
“Space, material and light source were the three most important components of the design,” said Fujii. “The light source had to be powerful and sharp to create crisp reflections on the space as well as programmable to allow us to amplify the dynamic effects.” According to Fujii: “The students would not have been able to complete their final project without the support of Martin’s team and their products.”
Syncrolite founder Jack Calmes dies
(USA) - Jack Calmes, Syncrolite and Showco founder, dies aged 71 at home in Dallas, Texas.
A lifelong music aficionado, Calmes passed away on 5 January. Having playing guitar professionally as a teenager Calmes remained a part of the local Dallas music scene while attending Southern Methodist University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1966.
After graduation from college, Calmes co-founded Showco. As President, Calmes helped lead Showco’s emergence as a major sound and lighting operation for concert tours by such prominent musical acts as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Genesis, Wings, James Taylor and ZZ Top.
After resigning from Showco, Calmes founded Syncrolite in 1984. Under Calmes’ leadership, Syncrolite has been an award-winning pioneer in the evolution of large format automated lighting systems. In its 30+ year history, Syncrolite has provided lighting systems for numerous high-profile events including major concert tours, festivals, Super Bowls, Olympic Games and other live shows in addition to a plethora of permanent installations around the world.
Calmes’ highlights with Syncrolite include earning a prime-time Emmy for American Idol, and providing the exterior lighting for the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, which drew a worldwide audience of over one billion viewers.
In addition to his career as a visionary executive, Calmes was rightfully proud to be a part of the Forever Fabulous Chickenhawks Showband & All-Star Revue, a super-group comprised of multiple Grammy-winning musicians for whom Calmes played lead guitar.
Calmes also produced a wide variety of major live television projects including a global satellite broadcast of The Who in 1982 for 20th Century Fox and HBO, as well as the 1988 presidential debates for CSN. Calmes also managed musical acts, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Freddie King.
“Jack’s multi-faceted career speaks for itself,” said Jonathan Adamson, current Chairman of Syncrolite. “Over the course of almost 50 years, he was able to combine his two lifelong passions of music and technology to create a lasting legacy not just with Syncrolite, but through the hundreds of musicians, producers, designers and other partners with whom he worked.”
Calmes is survived by his wife, Susie, as well as their daughter and two grandchildren. His memorial service takes place Monday, 12 January at 2pm at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home in Dallas. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the SPCA or another charity.
ELC lights up Orange 20th anniversary
(France) - Orange’s 20th anniversary celebration brought to life with Arcaline and ELC.
Over 1,800 guests assembled on Parc Des Exposition Porte de Versailles, near the Orange building, as ELC's Buddy worked with Arcaline LED lamps to illuminate the building's windows.
Conducted by Impact Evenement, Project Manager Thierry Bernin commented: “Buddy was recommended to me by Axente who were very enthusiastic about a new product on the market that was very easy to use.
"The Arcaline products have a DMX interface but not Ethernet. With one Buddy on each floor this enabled the spotlights to be linked by DMX cable, Buddy took the console data in the computer rack on each floor, and converted it, enabling us to operate the spotlights."
Using 1,024 DMX channels the Buddy is a two-port DMX-Ethernet node compatible with Art-Net, sACN and ShowNet and is fully supported by ELC Lighting’s dmXLAN software. This allows features including the set up of DMX ports for complete dynamic merging of different DMX sources, control fixture for testing and rig start up and RDM (Remote Device Management) support.
Zumtobel Group plans Lichtforum for Amsterdam
(Netherlands) - Venue to host year-round programme of events themed around light and technology, architecture and urban planning.
Designed as an open house, the Lichtforum (light forum), located in the UP Building, will also host a showroom for all three of the Group’s brands: Zumtobel, Thorn and Tridonic.
“Amsterdam is an extremely attractive location for our industry,” commented Zumtobel Group CEO Ulrich Schumacher. “As well as engaging in intensive dialogue with some of the world’s leading architects, at this international hub we will also be able to work alongside some exciting technology partners.
“Our aim is to develop new and innovative business models in the field of lighting. In pursuit of this goal, our new Amsterdam Lichtforum with its international team will be an important innovation driver for Zumtobel Group as a whole.”
The Amsterdam Lichtforum will host a year-round programme of events themed around light and technology, architecture and urban planning. There will also be a new Zumtobel Group LightLAB, acting as an important incubator for innovations. Here, in-house designers and applications experts will work alongside partners from universities and technology firms on visionary projects.
In addition, the Thorn brand will set up its own luminaire concept development team in Amsterdam, just an hour’s flight away from the brand’s main plant in Spennymoor in the north of England.
By May 2015, Zumtobel Group plans to recruit an international team of some 25 employees for the Amsterdam Lichtforum.
“In the age of LED technology we need to study the latest trends more closely than ever – be it in terms of new materials, software solutions, sensor technology or communications electronics,” said Rogier van der Heide, Chief Marketing & Design Officer at Zumtobel and responsible for coordinating the activities of the new Lichtforum in Amsterdam.
“In the new LightLAB we have the ideal place to develop concepts for the future, for knowledge transfer and to inspire our development teams around the world. But we will also be realising very special, customer-specific lighting projects in Amsterdam that will pave the way for whole new business models for us.”
Jennifer Hamilton
what made you become an interior designer?
I am one of those lucky people who is actually doing what they wanted to do from about age 12 ... and is still loving it! I have always enjoyed making the environment around me better and used to lie awake at night redesigning friends’ houses. I’ve now actually designed many of them in reality – for example our Addison Gardens project is the house of an old school friend. I am also a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak – I think those are actually good qualities for an interior designer – it means I can’t stop until I feel the client is happy!
how important is lighting to your designs?
Lighting is crucial. It doesn’t matter what you do with a space, if the lighting isn’t right - or the effect of the daylight upon the colours and materials used - it won’t be as good as it should be. I love atmospheric lighting, which conjures up a mood rather than a task, and I like a space to feel a certain way, whether that is bright and breezy or dark and moody. I don’t like bland.
why is spending time thinking about and working with light important to you?
After many years in commercial design at MoreySmith, where we, as the designer, were generally in control when it came to the lighting, I am finding that lighting for residential projects is more subjective. What I think is the best lighting effect or level does not necessarily suit the client - some people like bright houses, some people (like me) err towards dramatic gloom! So, part of my job is to discover the preferences of each client and tailor the lighting to them, while still making the design work as a whole.
about the role lighting plays in the light of the city? How do you contribute to that?
Lighting plays a big role, and for me the focus is on houses in London. For the most part this is under individual control and I love the random and unplanned nature of the residential scene. Do you ever gaze out over a rooftop or street scene at night and wonder about the rooms that you want to be in and those you don’t? I want to add more of the ones you do!
how do you approach lighting a building through architecture?
In older buildings I like to keep things soft, mixing general lighting, which you can dim according to taste, with accent lighting, which adds a certain feel on its own. This brick wall forms the back of the old house we extended in Tunbridge Wells and looks great with antique brass swan necks imitating the old gas lamps.<br />In more modern spaces, I love the way concealed lighting adds an ethereal glow... like this library space for a house in Brook Green.
about the best and worst illuminated spaces you have visited?
There is a pub in my home town which has just spent a fortune refitting itself – we waited eagerly for the result, hoping this would be a lovely cosy gastro pub for a family Sunday lunch. But no... despite a selection of Farrow & Ball paints and a huge array of different and not totally awful light fittings, which I imagine on paper would have looked like a design-led approach, I think that the heights are all wrong, and everything is too bright and cold. During the day there is no atmosphere at all, and at night it’s like sitting in the middle of an empty front room with the curtains open and the ‘big light’ on. Also, surprisingly a lot of hairdressers have awful lighting with sharp spotlights right over your head, leaving horrible shadows under the eyes. On a more positive note, I love cosy low-ceilinged pubs with log fires and candles. The Talbot in Somerset has it just right in their bar... or our recent project for Cullenders Deli in Reigate, where industrial wall lights bounce off the tiled walls, creating both a utilitarian and welcoming feel at the same time.
about the importance of shadows and the balance of darkness and light in your work?
Sometimes the change from one element to another is what makes both even better. In a soon to be completed project, we are installing a 4m long tunnel between two cavernous basement spaces. Lined with black, sandblasted oak panels to walls and ceiling and lit only by a concealed LED at the top, this will be an incredibly dramatic space, which will contrast with and enhance the sense of light and space in the rooms either side.
In another house in Barnes, London you leave a traditional entrance hall with panelled stairs - just pendant lighting and north facing daylight filtering through a frost glass door - and sliding back the bookshelf step into a bright open-plan living space with full-height glazing by day, and by night a 7m concealed light-raft, which casts a soft light to the length of the space and down the soft linen curtains.
Aldabra T3
A high efficiency, high resistance Italian made LED linear lighting system suitable for indoor, outdoor and underwater installation. Fixtures are available up to two-metres for an unlimited length of continuous light. It is available in warm white, cool white, RGB, and dynamic light moving.
Lumenpulse Lumenline
With its slim 65 mm profile, Lumenline challenges the performance of T5HO fluorescent systems, using up to 40% less energy. Lumenline adapts to a variety of architectural interiors and is available in Pendant, Surface Mount and Recessed formats, in several sizes, or in continuous runs. It can be configured with various options, and has no dots or socket shadows.
Buzzi & Buzzi Virtus
Virtus is a direct and indirect light wall lamp made from DurCoral, a new hi-tech, vandleproof material. It offers resistance to shocks, abrasion, ultraviolet rays, pollution and weather conditions and can be decorated using any kind of paint.
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