An unusual new LED downlight fitting from Flos combines desirable beam characteristics with flexible aesthetic detailing through the use of acrylic 'pipes'. Peter Stuart sees BDP's Mark Ridler put it through a bench test
Flos, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has long been synonymous with decorative lamps by big-name designers. But the firm is perhaps less well known for its portfolio of integrated fittings and architectural solutions.
The company's LED Pipes downlight, launched at Frankfurt earlier this year, falls firmly into the latter category. The unusual fixture struck Mark Ridler for two reasons, one being the use of multiple chips to deliver an impressive level of lighting performance, and the other its striking visual appearance.
Performance
The product seeks to emulate the output of the much-loved MR16. It uses multiple chips to create a single circular beam, rather than relying on one centrally positioned powerful chip.
Ulysse Dormoy, managing director of Flos distributor Atrium, explains: "Each diode adds to the other to create one single beam. There have been various tests to get four separate lights to produce one single beam, using a collimator lens."
The multiple light sources create an attractive edge to the beam. "Not only do I like the quality of the light coming out but also the softness of the beam edge. That's something MR16s do beautifully," says Ridler. "We've lost that with new technologies. LEDs have the potential to give you that again, but not everybody is looking into it."
The concept is not unprecedented. Ridler points out parallels with iGuzzini's Laser Blade, which uses a linear multi-chip construction to create an unexpectedly circular light emission. Ridler says: "One of the things I'm interested in, which was a trend at Frankfurt, is that manufacturers are clustering smaller units, rather than trying to get a bigger, more powerful single unit. You can gang them together in different combinations and build up power, rather than pushing the technology hard to try and get a single unit giving you that 900 lumens. This product is focusing a bit more on controlled comfort and colour quality.
"We see the same thing with other products at the moment: if you want a 200 lumen unit you use one, if you want 800 lumens, you use four, and so on. But all of them are engineered so that they give you a single beam, rather than a series of dots. Equally, rather than putting chips in a big circle, this actually manages to manifest that [effect] in a way which is aesthetically pleasing."
According to Dormoy, Flos has gone to some effort to improve the product since its initial showing in Frankfurt. He says: "This uses a Seoul B4 [chip], having changed since the prototype. Where it was originally 680 lumens, it's now up to 900 lumens for a single fitting - and that was within three or four months. Everyone is trying to meet roughly the 900 lumen package, which matches it to a 50W halogen."
Aesthetics
But this fitting isn't just about lighting performance. A lot of thought has been put into the aesthetics. Unusually, it can be fitted with coloured acrylic pipes to create an interesting focal point. Dormoy says: "Flos does this with a number of products. Most people think if you have a blue reflector then the light will be blue, but it isn't. It's just about the language that it creates. You have a coloured detail in the ceiling detail while emitting white light. It has no adverse effect on the quality of the colour. It adds a decorative element to what is essentially a downlight."
"Part of the charm of the product," Ridler agrees, "is that you go into a space that you think should be purple, say, but it's not." The design offers flexibility in the finished appearance, as the acrylic 'pipes' are interchangeable. Initially available in clear, orange and violet, they can also be supplied in other colours.
Sustainability
The use of LEDs presents other advantages over halogen. "You have to make an MR16 out of steel, because of the heat. This product isn't going to make your plasterboard black after three years," says Ridler.
But Ridler wonders about the LED Pipe's recyclability. "When the LEDs fade beyond serviceable life or fail you'll be throwing these things away, so it would be nice if you could recycle the aluminium or degrade the plastic," he says. Dormoy replies that Flos does have developments in the pipeline. "Flos has signed up to produce light fittings using a material called Bio-on, a bio-degradable plastic-like material. It completely bio-degrades over a period. One of the things that Flos is very keen on doing is taking this further into our production," he says.