The third article in my series on Lighting Hope is out in Designing Lighting! I learned a few things writing this article about the future of power that surprised me, particularly that my focus on low voltage lighting may be suitable for the near future...but there could be something even more revolutionary ahead. Digital power... Continue Reading →
EXPOSURE: Redesign the Downlight
In the October issue of Designing Lighting, I appeal to the lighting industry to redesign the downlight. There are some amazing downlights made - and none of them are compatible with any other. We - the industry - are creating a potential mess for our consumers down the road, and this is especially true in... Continue Reading →
GEAR TALK: Why Smart Bulbs MATTER
A few years ago I spent a rather silly amount of time buying and testing light bulbs from local retailers in the hopes of finding something I liked. I failed. I tried again in 2020 and found a few I liked and our team built a buying guide around them. Now that buying guide is... Continue Reading →
GEAR TALK: The Full Lineup
"What is the lighting budget for our new home?" "We have 68 recessed cans at $150 each." The Lord of the Rings books and films are staples in our household. The kids share LOTR memes, we have the extended-way-too-long movies, and there are copies of all the books strewn about the house. The beloved stories... Continue Reading →
GEAR TALK: Low Voltage Lighting
My Gear Talk series is an excuse to geek out a bit while attempting to simplify some of the complex conversations we have about lighting. It is less about the theory, science, and application and more about the tools. And one of those tools has almost nothing to do with the photons themselves: voltage. We... Continue Reading →
GEAR TALK: COB Tape Light
Just about two and a half years ago I saw my first sample of COB tape light and I bet my jaw literally dropped. Tape light- a generic name for flexible linear LED strips- is a key tool in our quest for good lighting. We use it just about everywhere, and that makes us a... Continue Reading →
GEAR TALK: LED Screw-In Bulbs
There is a popular story that ties the Space Shuttle technology to the width of Roman horse's backside, and it just occurred to me that there is may be a parallel in lighting. The first story goes something like this: the booster rockets on the Space Shuttle were a certain diameter because they had to... Continue Reading →
Gear Talk: Warm Dim
What is the best color temperature for electric light? My answer is "all of them." In this Gear Talk post I share photographs from a single business trip to Dallas, Texas. Call it a Lightseeing post...and I saw warm-dim everywhere. I think warm-dim should be a minimum standard, not an add-on. To explain, I’m going... Continue Reading →
Time Zooms By
Whew. It's been hard to find time to blog the past few months. I can blame that on the pandemic, but that is only partially true. I'll blame it on Zoom instead. Our design team is spread across three time zones and six states, and we rely on remote communication tools like Zoom for continual... Continue Reading →
The Future of Shades?
(My apologies to those of you who clicked and found a blank post!) Simply put, we need natural light to be happy and healthy. We need lots of it in the mornings to wake up, plenty mid-day to keep us going, and a soft tapering at night to relax us towards sleep. The best... Continue Reading →