Blogs & Perspectives

Seeing the Lights at Lightfair

LEDs ruled the floor for the 2011 trade show

Published

13 years ago

June 8, 2011

Anne DiNardo

“Lighting design and aesthetics are becoming increasingly important,” remarked Maryrose Sylvester, president and ceo of GE Intelligent Platforms (Cleveland), during a luncheon at Lightfair Intl.’s (LFI) 2011 conference, held May 17-19 in Philadelphia.

For evidence, look no further than the record-breaking crowd at this year’s show, which covered 200,000 new square feet of exhibit space and welcomed more than 23,000 attendees from around the globe.

As in years past, LEDs shined throughout the show floor. Sylvester says GE is bullish on LEDs’ enormous potential. The company displayed its new LED Edge Lighting Fixture, which will hit the market by the end of the year. Jaime Irick, president and ceo of GE Lighting Solutions division, says while LEDs represent roughly 5 percent of the general lighting industry, he sees that growing to 40 to 50 percent over the next 10 years.

That potential could also be seen at the annual Lightfair Innovation Awards. With more than 230 product submissions, announcers said LEDs represented the biggest category of entrants in this year’s competition. Revel by Acquity Brands was named Most Innovative Product of the Year, a stylish OLED luminaire with a plug-in mounting system that allows designers to locate modules precisely, creating patterns tailored for their lighting needs.

Tech Lighting took home the Design Excellence Award for its low-voltage LED wall wash that offers full-rotation pivot and 1200 lumen output. Luxeon A by Philips Lumileds was recognized with the Technical Innovation Award for its breakthrough in hot testing and freedom from binning that result in better color consistency from one LED unit to another.

It’s hard not to start seeing spots when you walk the LFI show floor. But once your eyes recover, you can focus on the enormous potential in lighting that exists for retailers and designers. See VMSD’s August issue for more product highlights from this year’s show. In the meantime, log in below and tell us what you saw at this year’s show that lit up your world.