Light & Build, Tuesday

BLOG

Light & Build, Tuesday

Frankfurt, 1^st April 2014

My second day at the fair was a real interesting mixed bag of experiences. I continued my pursuit in search of NON-LED light fittings but basically the story continues to be the same…no-one really can’t be bothered showing any conventional lighting technology and if they do, it is only to show of how “good” the LED lighting is. At one of the major manufacturers lighting stand a metal halide high bay light was shown in promotion of its smaller but apparently much “better” LED brother. However the only thing that was highlighted was the little energy required (150W instead of 400W) to achieve similar lighting results. It was said the light output was the same (even though I felt that the metal halide was brighter. On my enquiry about cost difference and return on investment I drew a complete blank. The representative was so pre-programmed to sell the “advantages” of LED that she was incapable of replying to such basic questions. It was the only conventional light source on the whole stand which covers about 1/3 of Hall 1!

In the afternoon I attended with much anticipation the IALD/PLDA meeting and not surprisingly the emotions specifically from angry, frustrated and let-down PLDA members run high. The idea of the meeting really was to look ahead. PLDA is no more and looking back at the history on how it came to be really is water under the bridge, or as someone put it, you can’t make an omelette from scrambled eggs… The fact is that as professional designers we have a need to have a professional credibility and the IALD right now is the only organisation that provides that and assures that professional standards are adhered and referred to. I for one have no issue of converting my PLDA membership to the IALD. And if you feel that IALD is not providing the support or infra-structure that you like, the only way to change that is from the inside, not from the side lines. If in the future there are moves to recreate a Europe based lighting association perhaps out of the ashes of PLDA, I will give it my full support, but if we are ever to reach that point, lessons need to be learned from this failure to make sure we do not fall in the same situation again.

Light Watch 5-54: Day 2 at the fair…impressions and the inevitable after hour parties…I started with the Xicato party, always good for some fun and ended the night with the launch party of Coelux, a revolutionary daylighting technology company that has developed a lighting system that can recreate the day to the exact latitude or longitude conditions, from Santorini in Greece in the summer, to Alaska in the US in the winter…it felt amazingly real.