LED Lighting Revolution: Why Gucci Snatched Up These Light Fixtures

Oh, boy! I'm steamed! Months ago I specified new state of the art LED lighting fixtures for a green-conscious forward-thinking client. When it came time to ship the order, the manufacturer said, "Sorry, all of our inventory was sold to Gucci for their new store in New York."

I know that my client had personally ordered those fixtures over three months ago because they told him it was a long lead item that could take 12 weeks. We were able to get a different LED fixture as a substitute but it was not my first choice. That just chaps my hide, as they say in Texas!

The question is: why did Gucci throw their weight around to snap up all those fixtures for their newest store? Why are manufacturers scrambling and failing to meet the demand for these new LED fixtures?

LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology has been used in some products for years, like laptop screens and flat screen TV's. Until recently LED's were cost-prohibitive for general lighting products. Now at last LED lighting fixtures at justifiable prices are available to the commercial construction and consumer markets.

Why have designers been chomping at the bit for LED's? Take a look at the upside and the downside of using LED's in your next office.

LED ADVANTAGES

1. SUSTAINABLE
When burnt-out fluorescent tubes hit the garbage can, the inert chemicals and glass in them end up in our landfills. They cannot be recycled. LED's are a sustainable lighting product, which nearly all other lighting products are not. Many of the materials used in their manufacture can be recycled.

The light source lasts for 10 years or more. That means no bulbs or tubes to throw out and replace. Nothing goes into landfills during the useful life of the fixture.

2. ENERGY EFFICIENT
Initial costs are higher than conventional fixtures, but over the long run you get lower utility bills and zero replacement bulb costs.

3. LOW HEAT EMISSIONS
LED'S provide a solution to the long-standing problem of heat produced by halogen lamps. Halogen display lighting held the title of "king of display lighting" ever since it was introduced. It produced the whitest and brightest light for merchandising difficult products like eye wear and jewelry.

LED's are clearly superior when it comes to the heat problem. Their heat emissions are practically non-existent compared to halogen or incandescent.

4. COLOR RENDERING

The color rendering (how true colors look) of the light was poor in early LED's, being either too warm or too cool. Bright, well-balanced white light is required to bring out the colors and details of eye wear.

Now you can get LED's with the kind of light that we could only get from halogens in the past. So, not only has the heat problem been solved, the color rendering problem has been solved too.

LED DISADVANTAGES

1. INITIAL COST
Although prices are gradually coming down for LED's, they are still more expensive than halogen lighting. But as more manufacturers jump on the LED bandwagon, prices will come down. If you invest in LED's now the lower energy usage can make them less expensive than halogen over time.

2. AVAILABILITY
As of this writing delivery time is 12 weeks or longer for the few manufacturers who are actually producing these products. There is no telling when the supply will catch up with the demand, but eventually it will as the factories get into gear to produce mass quantities.

For years I scoured our trade shows and industry magazines for the retail designer's holy grail: lighting that was white enough and bright enough to make eye wear spring to life but doesn't produce all that heat.

Just like any other technological wonder the first products weren't perfect and were relatively expensive to boot. As manufacturers raced to solve the color problem, I knew it was just a matter of time until they got it right and brought the prices down. When they get the availability problem solved, we will be able to light our homes and workplaces with light that is good for us and light fixtures that are good for the environment.

From now on all my clients are getting LED lighting wherever it is appropriate. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that many LED's can be dimmed without expensive transformers or special switches. That means you can have money-saving LED's in exam rooms and data collection areas too!




The manufacturers are working hard to get more product produced in their overseas factories now, so the lead times will shorten in the coming months. In the meantime I'll be pushing clients and their contractors to get their LED orders in super-early, before the plans are even submitted for permit.

Just because we're not a multi-million dollar fashion house, that doesn't mean we can't have the same state-of-the-art lighting for our offices and shops. So there, Gucci!

Learn more about LED lighting at these websites:

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/index.aspx

http://www.llfinc.com/demos.htm

What is the smallest space for a refracting lane and exam room?

The smallest refracting lane/exam room I've ever done was 7'-6" x
10'. I spoke to this client recently and he says it's working very
well for him. He has a small writing counter and sink to the right
of the chair and the computer with digital eye chart monitor to the
left.

This client was in a situation where he needed to fit 3 exam rooms
into the space that originally held 2 exam rooms. The narrow width
of the room actually works to his advantage because it only takes a
short roll on the stool between computer and writing counter.
Believe it or not, he even has a guest chair in there!

I've seen people make exam rooms as narrow as 6'-6" work but only
when the phoropter is wall-mounted. Most folks find that 8' x 12'
is a comfortable size for an exam room. However, it is possible to
work in a smaller space if you have to.

Printemps

The elegant Paris department store, makes it's home
in this massive architectural wonder. I always enjoy shopping the
high end department stores in New York, like Bloomingdales, Barneys
and Saks Fifth Avenue, but I'll never be able to look at them in
quite the same way now that I've see Printemps.

The spectacular glass dome is the centerpiece and heart of the
store. Three tiers of exquisitely detailed balconies rise from the
main floor to ring the domed atrium. My hat is off to the Printemps
store design team. They have preserved the original architecture,
but added modern lighting in a way that enhances the grand style of
this building.

The different colors behind the railings are a high-tech addition
that you'll see in more and more new stores here in the states.
This LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology is harnessed and
programmed by computer to change color throughout the day.

LED''s are energy efficient and run cool, unlike halogen or
incandescent lights. The initial cost of LED lighting is higher,
but the light source runs for thousands and thousands of hours
(could be 10 years or more!) before you ever have to service the
fixture. Studies show that the average utility cost is much lower
over the life of the fixture.

The cost of these systems is still prohibitive for smaller
retailers, but like all technology today, the cost comes down as
each new generation of the product is created. I predict that it
won't be long before color-change lighting systems will fit into
the construction budget for O.D.'s who want to attract high-end
business.

Here in the USA we have fewer opportunities to find spaces with
beautiful architectural detailing like this for an optometry
office. However, we can be inspired by these ideas and adapt them
to add a touch of high-tech wonder to new designs.

The Happy at Work Manifesto By Alexander Kjerulf

Much of what happens to us in life is beyond our control, but
Kjerulf tells us that being happy at work is a choice. His message
is simple, yet inspiring: When you decide to take steps toward
being happy, you can be.

http://changethis.com/36.04.HappyatWork
http://changethis.com/pdf/36.04.HappyatWork.pdf

A Most Unusual Display

As I was going through all my retail display photos from Italy, this one stood out from the crowd. It definitely caught my eye as I was walking along the street. Is it a shopper-stopper? Yes. Is it innovative? Yes. Is it effective? Maybe. Does it help to sell frames? Maybe.

I think it works better with sunglasses. The dark lenses give them more mass so they stand out from the display. The other frames get lost in all the twists and turns of the metal rods.

What is your opinion?

Fed Up With Spam? This can help!

Are you as frustrated as I am with Spam? This week I got an apologetic message from a client who was thoroughly embarrased by a spammer who stole his e-mail address. This creep sent everyone in this doc's e-mail address book a solicitation for porn, complete with a smutty photo! And somehow it was sent from the doctor's e-mail server so his address was in the "From" field. How horrible!

Luckily I hadn't checked my e-mail account that morning, so when I did I recognized the spam and trashed it. In the last few weeks not just one, but TWO of my e-mail addresses have been hi-jacked by spammers. One of them was a new address I had just set up! I hadn't even used it yet and in just 3 days I received 185 spams!

I thought using a contact form on my website would be a safe way for people to send me an e-mail without exposing my e-mail address to spam-bots that crawl around websites harvesting addresses. Boy, was I wrong!

I called my webmaster because I thought there might be some security breech on his servers. He explained to me that some spammers now have automated programs that will take your domain name and try dozens of name and initial combinations derived from the domain name when your real name appears in it. Sometimes they stumble on an address that works!

So, what can you do about spam? My webmaster recommended this book to me and it delivers good value at very reasonable $9.95. We've added the recommended security measures to my contact form and I now have a strategy for setting up hard-to-guess and "disposable" e-mail addresses.

World's Narrowest Optometry Office

This little shop made me shake my head in wonder when I happened upon it in Florence, Italy. I thought I had designed a few incredibly narrow spaces in my time, but this one has me beat. It couldn't be more than 8 to 10 feet wide!

It must be an optometrist's office because you can see the equipment in the back room. The marble floor looks like it might be centuries old. But then EVERYBODY in Italy has marble floors!

The displays are nice–simple openings no more than 12" deep with beautiful wood frames, some with sliding glass doors for security. The "trade-show" style halogen lights are also a pleasing design element as they march down to the back of the office.

The two-tone wood reception counter is good-looking. The display on the back wall is brightly-lit, which helps draw your eye to it.

I can't help but wonder why they didn't switch the positions of the display and the door to the exam room. Where does your eye go when you look in this door? Straight back to the exam room! If the display was in that position, you'd be looking at frames instead of equipment.

This is a good example of designing almost everything well in a very difficult space, but missing the boat on the back wall design. I hope you never have to deal with a space this narrow for a new office, but this is proof that it can be done.