Many Hands Make Light Work

Brand story by Alyn Griffiths
Eindhoven, Pays-bas
14.03.16

Light+Building 2016 sees Taiwanese lighting brand QisDesign exhibit its award-winning LED lights. In step with the global trend for green design, QisDesign combines innovative LED lighting technology with original design to achieve creative LED fixtures. Innovation and imagination are at the focus of the QisDesign collections at Hall 5.1, Booth C22.

Leading lights: the extremely bendable Hatha (top), with its silicon-sheathed spine, is inspired by yoga, while the Coral Reef table lamp (above) features a swivel head

Few industries have witnessed as much technological progress in recent years as lighting, where traditional light bulbs are rapidly being phased out and replaced by energy-efficient alternatives. LED light sources currently dominate the market for replacements, aided by their ability to offer far greater creative opportunities than conventional bulbs. As a leading manufacturer of projectors and displays, Taiwanese electronics corporation BenQ has plenty of experience producing LED products, and its subsidiary lighting brand QisDesign is able to utilise this expertise in the development of innovative lighting designs.

According to QisDesign’s Business Manager for Europe Roland van Marlen, the key criteria for the brand’s products are “innovation, creativity, functionality and fun”. Innovation is inherently provided by the efficient and versatile light sources, but also by the intelligent use of materials and cutting-edge technologies.

The Coral Reef light (top) offers the user three different levels of lighting, while the BE Light desk lamp can be folded down to a super-flat 1.8cm form when not in use

One example of the company’s innovation in materials is the Hatha lamp, which has a flexible metal spine covered in a silicone rubber body that enables the user to bend and angle its LED light source in any direction. (Visitors to Light+Building 2016 will be able to get to grips with the recently launched Hatha Wall version of the design, which is ideal for bedside illumination in both contract and home settings, and has been recognised by the German Design Council’s ICONIC AWARDS 2016: Interior Innovation.) The lamp’s brightness can also be easily adjusted. Other QisDesign products that demonstrate how materials and technologies inform the brand’s approach to innovation include lamps that can be folded up like origami or operated by touching piano-like keys that light up individually.

The Infinito suspension lamp casts light both downwards and sideways, creating optimal illlumination for working and for atmosphere respectively. Built-in sensors detect hand gestures, allowing the user to change the light's colour and brightness

The second criterion that guides the product development process is creativity. This is the speciality of QisDesign’s group of designers and engineers, who collaborate closely on the creation of each new product. The team draws inspiration from everyday life and from observing aspects of the world around them, including nature, science and music.

And, last but not least, QisDesign’s products are fun. Rather than a simple switch, the designs encourage advanced levels of interactivity by integrating sensors that enable operation using hand gestures or a gentle touch. “We choose to be more creative about the ways our products can be operated, and interactivity is quite often the best way of achieving this,” says Van Marlen.

With QisDesign’s human-centric lighting addressing both the unmet and unknown needs of illumination in people’s daily lives, the future is looking bright for its customers.