The week that was 8-12th June
Chongqing, weekend 13-14 June 2015
Monday 8th – Thursday 11th June Guangzhou – Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition Fair (GILE)
This week I am in Guangzhou attending the light fair as a VIP and invited Guest Speaker and in Chongqing at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute to open the 100 Lighting Design Projects Exhibition and present a lecture at the Institute where we teach students under the tutelage to the CLDA. On the side lines of the GILE we also had our AGM with the CLDA.
Rather than the usual daily blog feedback I will give you a general impression of the events and my take on how the lighting market is developing based on my observations walking the fair.
It is hard not to get overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of what is on offer, and I say this with the knowledge that 99% of all manufacturers present hail from China and probably more than half from Guangdong province here, the heartland of LED manufacturing. It is said that there are more than 6000 LED manufacturers now active in China and when walking the fair everything supports that notion. Besides that, the quality of the stands is also way up from what it used to be. No longer do we screamingly bright product driven stands (well they are still there, but it is clearly decreasing), application oriented stands where real life applications, such as retail residential fashion or hospitality that show the lighting effects and the quality of light, are becoming more dominant. Human centric lighting, the buzz word nowadays, is catching on fast with sustainability being dropped in favour of the “human centric” approach. Whether they actually understand the deeper meaning behind this approach remains unclear, but they certainly hopped on the bandwagon…anything to remain relevant and attractive I guess… But the point is that the quality of the light fittings has come a long way. Some of the stands that I saw certainly rival in size and quality any of the stands you would find in Frankfurt’s Light & Build!
Without doubt the (mainly) Chinese manufacturers are catching up with the big boys or are getting really close giving many established lighting manufacturers a run for their money. While doubts still remain, exploring the light fittings on offer definitely shows a greatly improved quality level. In our own practice we have already discovered several “china” brands that have passed the minimum quality threshold. Another really interesting fact that I came to know is that several of the leading local manufacturers are now shying away of showing of their latest innovations in fear of being copied by the fierce local competition. Interesting isn’t it; the Chinese being worried about being copied!
The main reason for my presence here was however that I was an invited guest speaker, one of the several international lighting consultants invited as part of an extensive program consisting of Design Talks, Lighting Talks and Tech Talks. With Kevin Shaw, Charles Stone, Paulina Villalobos, Susanna Antico, Paul Ehlert, James Wallace and Lear Hsieh I was in good company! My presentation, “the Quality of Lighting”, was part of the Light Talk sessions, a coincidence that I only discovered recently when I was sent the program. Of course I could not resist of bringing my book of the same name which found eager buyers…What better platform to have my book at an event called Light Talk!
In the afternoon I joined in with our International Advisory Council (IAC) team to attend the CLDA’s AGM. It was a great occasion for the growing CLDA / IAC family to meet and share the progress made and the plans in store for the future. This is later followed by a Gala dinner courtesy of A-Lighting.
As we depart for Chongqing we are caught in huge bad weather spell delaying our flight for more than 5 hours. Eventually we do arrive in Chongqing close to midnight, all still reeling with the usual dose of Chinese frustration. My personal frustration was further tested when I discovered that the lock of my suitcase had been forced and my luggage obviously opened. In the presence of the local airport authorities I opened my bag to check. We found a note from the Guangzhou airport security inside that they had found a lithium battery in my luggage and had removed it…oh well…
Friday 12Th June –Chongqing – The 100 Lighting Design Project Exhibition
Today our team of IAC members (Paulina, Susana, Paul, Kevin, James and myself) were guest of honour at the official opening of the 100 Lighting Design Projects exhibition a joint initiative between the CLDA and the SCFAI aimed at sharing lighting projects from established lighting designers from around the world with the new generation of lighting designers in waiting at the Institute. Attended by a packed room of students, teachers and principals it was a great occasion for the students, our future lighting designers, to mingle with some of the established lighting designers who’s projects where show cased and ask questions about the projects and take pictures with them; something to which we all happily obliged. We duly autographed our project exhibits and after the walk around and official visit of the exhibition (which spans three floors) with the students, left all together for dinner to enjoy the traditional Sichuan Hot Pot, a (super) spicy hot pot barbecue famous to Chongqing; a meal not for the faint hearted. A joyful end to a day full of promise for the future…
Have a great weekend
The week that was…
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