Year in Review: Top 7 lighting products that launched in 2021

Lighting in the hotel and hospitality industry has moved forward in leaps and bounds from the functional to the fabulous, and is now leading the way with the new buzzword in hotel design – flexibility. As demands on the hotel experience shift, so too do the demands on the lighting. In our Virtual Roundtable series this year we have covered several of these shifts in design and direction in the lighting industry with conversations about innovation, through to the broader social concerns of ethical solutions in lighting, reflecting the range of challenges being faced by interior and lighting designers. The seven products and designs below, we feel have responded to these demands, and are set to add depth and dimension into the interiors of 2022.

Chelsom: LED EYE

The joy of an innovative reading light…this combination of functionality with a contemporary aesthetic is what put this product in line to be awarded a Red Dot Award earlier this year.

“The starting point was to create a product which nestled into a headboard with minimum projection whilst serving as a decorative accent to an interior design scheme,” said Will Chelsom, Managing Director, Chelsom. “It had to start with ‘the look’ of the product but quickly we focussed all of our efforts on creating a thoroughly advanced mechanical design which made ‘THE EYE’ easy to use and essential to any guestroom design scheme.”

Christopher Hyde: The Houston Collection

Image credit: Christopher Hyde

Christopher Hyde has always included bold statement pieces in its lighting collection, and the designs from The Houston Collection are no exception. A contemporary take on a traditional chandelier, what we love about this design is its versatility; it can make a grand design statement in a hotel lobby, while being equally comfortable on a domestic scale lighting up a corner of your home.

Dernier & Hamlyn: Nobu London Portman Square

It’s always exciting to see bespoke lighting projects literally light up a design scheme, in an equally exciting hotel development. The designs by Dernier & Hamilton for Nobu London Portman Square elevated the interiors in some of the most spectacular areas of the hotel.

“This project utilised many of our team’s skills to ensure the lighting we manufactured achieved the quality and attention to detail required,” Lyn Newcombe, Head of Projects at Dernier & Hamlyn, told Hotel Designs. “The lighting they produced for Nobu Hotel London Portman Square is even more exquisite than we hoped for and we have no doubt that the hotel’s guests and diners will have their experience enhanced by the mood it helps to create.”

Franklite: L11

Image credit: Franklite

Behind every beautiful designer lampshade, there needs to be an L11 tuneable white light engine! This innovative design makes ambient lighting both a subtle and a simple affair, and gives designers the capability to easily control the transition of light colour temperature wirelessly through an app or hard-wired within a building management system. With this product being noted as a ‘gamechanger’ in the industry, it came as no surprise when the company was awarded the Brit List Best in Tech 2021 award.

 LEDS C4: Grok

This design by LEDS C4 makes that transition from lighting to art installation with its innovative use of materials, along with a strong visual statement. With this system, design studio Nahtrang has created a lighting collection that’s visually surprising, and offers designers endless possibilities for creative and bespoke lighting schemes.

Omio: Nefertiti

The organic shapes and natural materials of the bespoke lighting by Omio certainly caught our attention at HIX2021. The artisanal qualities of the lighting along with the oversized scale and sculptural qualities of some of the pieces are a result of the successful collaboration between craft and production. It is exciting to see the handmade and craft based techniques of the designs taking centre stage in a commercial environment.

Well-Lit: Azure

Well-Lit has brought the question of ethical lighting to the design table, but along with questions of ethics and sustainability, it is also keeping the design profile of its lights high on the agenda. The Azure collection is an innovative combination of light and bulb and is quite simply beautiful, functional, and of course, ethical!

Chelsom, Christopher Hyde, Dernier & Hamlyn, Franklite and LEDS C4 are all Recommended Suppliers and regularly feature in our Supplier News section of the website. If you are interested in becoming one of our Recommended Suppliers, please email Katy Phillips.

Main image credit: Chelsom