It can be said that there are still some residential lighting manufacturers out there that are hesitant to move into the world of sustainable lighting.  When customers have demanded something else for decades, even slow change can be difficult.  Not so for designer Joel Tomlinson and his colleagues at 90 year-old Hinkley Lighting, which has broken new ground in this arena with not one, but two new collections as part of its luxury Fredrick Ramond line.  Loft and Zen both debuted in 2011, with new pieces still being added.  Both feature LED light sources, with Zen taking sustainability a step further through the use of bamboo in the fixture construction itself.  Tomlinson was the creative force behind both, joining forces with local woodworker Freddy Hill, based conveniently just a few miles east of the company’s Cleveland (OH) area headquarters.

Many other lighting brands are incorporating LEDs into new lines, and a handful of others are incorporating eco-friendly materials into fixture manufacturing (we profiled one such company doing the latter, Varaluz, in our first Earth Month interview).  However, few companies are trying to do those things together as Hinkley has with the Fredrick Ramond Zen collection.  We hope it can be inspiring for others who may not yet be inclined to follow suit.

As far as our favorites in either line, we’d have to go with the linear pendant from the Zen collection, and the walnut-finished mini-pendant from Loft.  While both collections are very clean in their design across the board (a favorite attribute of ours), we like the balance of the linear pendant, and the wonderfully deep color finish of the mini-pendant.  Kudos to Joel, Freddy, and the rest of the team for creating further proof that today’s sustainable lighting knows no design ceiling.

In celebration of Earth Month, we are recognizing eco-friendly lighting and design innovators who are leading the way towards a more sustainable home of the future.  Today we complete our interview with Joel Tomlinson, a designer from Hinkley Lighting who recently developed two eco-friendly product lines for Hinkley’s Fredrick Ramond brand.

[LUXALO] How important was it to find a local woodworking partner for this project?

[JOEL] Primarily, a local woodworking partner can speed up the development of items and keep costs lower in terms of timely quality control and shipping.  On the artistic end, a local wood worker building your fixture provides for an interesting story which appeals to consumers today.  There has been a strong demand for Made in the USA items, and being able to make a fixture locally is rewarding.  Not to forget, the inspiration for the Loft collection was derived at the woodworking shop!

[LUXALO]Do you see bamboo as a material that offers great potential for expanded use in the lighting industry, or only for niche/boutique lines?

[JOEL] I think it could expand; there are many interesting new types being developed, but it will probably always be in niche lines primarily.  It has great potential and you will see it being used more in furniture, and in other interior areas that are non-lighting.  I think in time bamboo plywood will begin to replace wood plywood and prices should come down.  Then, the perception will change and it will be viewed as veneered plywood is today; nice, and a common inexpensive alternative.  You already see bamboo replacing wood in certain areas; handles for paint brushes, utensil drawer organizers, etc.  They have a lower price than their wooden counterparts.  Further, the strength (the Chinese use it for scaffolding) and durability of bamboo and the speed in which it grows - 60ft in 3 months, makes it an ideal material for today’s consumer demands.

 [LUXALO]Do you think energy-efficient lighting has finally moved past a ‘utilitarian’ perception with homeowners? 

[JOEL] If you were to include CFLs in energy-efficient lighting I think you could agree, but there is still a large segment of the population that is reticent to change.  Many of the arguments seem related to past perceptions; some remain current and are warranted.  For the most part, energy-efficient fixtures are not visually appealing and the CRIs are not that good (although much better than they were in the past).  There is also no really good candelabra solution.  It is more difficult to create an atmosphere with fluorescent lighting, not to mention the visual nostalgia of the bulb itself.  This is apparent in the popularity of replica vintage bulbs.

With regard to LEDs, the perception is becoming more favorable.  The products coming to market are getting better with increasing functionality.  Unfortunately, the nature in which LEDs produce light, along with their cost, continues to make task and utility lighting more viable applications. Some of the LED retro-fit lamps that are coming to market are very nice, but they are too expensive and do not universally work with wall controls.  They may be attractive as an individual item, but they are going to be difficult to incorporate into decorative lighting if they can be seen.  I recently read about exciting developments going on in Japan with a candelabra bulb that uses an arced circuit board - it actually performs like its incandescent counterpart and looks good too!  Although I have not seen it in use, the company developing it is highly reputable and known for quality bulbs.  The current downside is that it is extremely expensive, and the electronics are very specific.  I think in the next 3 - 5 years we will be there in the decorative market with LEDs.

[LUXALO] What’s next for Hinkley Lighting / Fredrick Ramond in the realm of sustainable lighting design?

[JOEL] We have items developed in our mix of products.  They will perform similar to the current collections, but will be designed to appeal to new and differing audiences.  In real business terms, these current collections do “OK”, but they are not hugely profitable.  They do require substantially more internal time and resources to develop and get to market (sourcing, procurement and management of the parts and assembly), so I do not see a huge push into this realm.  It will be small incremental steps, unless external factors change dramatically.

Our primary focus will probably remain on our exterior and landscape products for the near future, for which we already offer thousands of environmentally-friendly conversions.  We have a number of dedicated LED exterior fixtures in our product mix.  We are currently in the process of being certified to offer LED Turtle / Wildlife Safe lighting for specific areas that desire it.  Though a small niche area, we are always looking for ways to offer greater eco-friendly options to our consumers.  Are these considered to be sustainable lighting? Depends on how strict your definition is; they are more eco than a large percentage of their counterparts.

To find out more about Hinkley Lighting, follow them on Facebook.

In celebration of Earth Month, we are recognizing eco-friendly lighting and design innovators who are leading the way towards a more sustainable home of the future.  Today we feature Joel Tomlinson, a designer from Hinkley Lighting who recently developed two eco-friendly, LED-powered product lines for Hinkley’s luxury Fredrick Ramond brand.

An LED pendant constructed of sustainably harvested bamboo?  Fredrick Ramond combines sustainable materials, beauty, and efficiency all into one package.

For 90 years, Hinkley Lighting has been a leader in residential lighting.  Whether you realized it or not, you’ve very likely seen many of their timeless interior lighting fixtures, or one of their award-winning exterior or landscape collections in the wild.  Through their luxury Fredrick Ramond line, the company has chosen to break new ground in sustainable lighting, pushing the envelope with two exciting new collections.  Loft & Zen are handmade in the U.S.A., and both utilize an energy-efficient LED source (or “engine”, as Joel puts it below); Zen takes that commitment a step further by using sustainably-harvested bamboo in the fixtures themselves.  We caught up with the man behind the collections, designer Joel Tomlinson, to find out how it all came together.

[LUXALO] For the benefit of our audience, can you walk us through the creative process of developing the Zen & Loft product lines, starting with the concept?

[JOEL] Once we had an LED engine whose performance we were happy with, I began thinking of the cost of the LED and what it represents.  Having a light source that was designed and engineered to truly last 25 years or longer, I had to ask myself; what attributes should a pendant have and what should it look like, having a light source that would last decades and is 10X the cost of a light bulb?  How do you avoid the fixture feeling dated one third (8-9 years) of the way through the life of the LED?  Does it make sense and is it really green if you are tired with the look in 2 - 5 years and replace it?  Should it be sleek and “techy”?  Traditional?  Modern?  At the current cost of the engine, who is the audience that will be in the market for these types of fixtures?  The typical questions.

[LUXALO] Once you set those parameters, what type of market were you going after?

[JOEL] After going through the exercise of questioning the conventions of pendant lighting and the current marketplace, I determined the designs needed to appeal to a mid-high market, and the aesthetics of the fixtures should mimic what the LED represents.  For the Zen and the Loft collections that meant a timeless finish that would meld with current, past and future finish trends.  It should be environmentally conscious and modern.  It needs to be sophisticated, taking advantage of the most current technology, but remain understated and simple.  Most of all, it needs to be beautiful.    

I wanted them to have a boutique, loft feel because it was appropriate for the price points, and would appeal to an audience that would appreciate the quality of the design and technology, while not being prohibited by the cost.  The look I was going for also worked with the design concept and our forecasted volumes.  Further, the engines were being made in the U.S., so it made sense to look for local/domestic sources for the fixture bodies and market them as being Made in the USA, allowing for a lower carbon footprint.

[LUXALO] What was it about using wood that was attractive?

[JOEL] I began exploring different veneer shades and other organic finishes.  During a consult with a local furniture maker/designer (Freddy Hill – Bomb Factory Furniture) on an unrelated project, he had made large, round wooden pedestals for a glass blower to display his pieces, and that was the moment of inspiration for the Loft.  What is more timeless than wood?  It is ideal to warm up some of the new trends in kitchens (cement, stainless, “Euro” style cabinets), and it works well in existing interiors.  It could fulfill all of my design criteria if executed properly.  Most importantly, we had an LED element that generated a low amount of heat. 

[LUXALO] How did you come up with the various shapes and forms that now make up the Zen & Loft collections?

[JOEL] Because the combination of the light source and material was very unique and modern to the application, I wanted the shapes to feel comfortable and safe; familiar to the end user.  I decided to explore classic shapes for pendants with an incandescent light bulb and a glass shade.  I also liked the idea of juxtaposing the modern wood finish on a classic pendant shape. These ideas and images were translated into quick form study sketches, followed by a relatively quick and smooth design review and selection meeting.

For the Zen collection, the shape came first; minimal, simple, clean and modern, yet, timeless. I decided to use a new material that I had recently used as a surface to display eco-fixtures in Hinkley’s Dallas showroom, Bamboo plywood, which was ideal for Zen.  It is new, eco-friendly, soft and warming; much like the qualities of wood.  It fulfilled our design criteria.  I then worked out proportions in CAD and made samples in various woods for Loft, and a bamboo finish on the Zen.  The samples were finished in differing lusters of eco-top-coat options.  This was followed by the typical process of product selection and costing, final packaging, bills of materials, and associated manufacturing decisions.

[LUXALO] You talk about the low heat of the LED being a factor in these collections coming together with wood.  How did that all come about?

[JOEL] Thanks to the quality of the engineering with the thermal management of the LED engine, it was possible to keep the heat generated by the LEDs low enough to house them in wood and bamboo safely.  This was difficult to do in the past; to generate enough lumens of light needed to perform a task, especially with incandescent / CFL bulbs in a small compartment. 

We had been developing LEDs for our landscape line in conjunction with a U.S. firm specializing in engineering and populating (assembling) circuit boards.  Removing the heat created by the diode is critical for life and performance of an LED.  Working with an outside specialist, we developed a custom heat sync for a 15V (ideal voltage to maximize the performance and life span), constant voltage 4.8W LED engine (35W MR16 equivalent), with 2700K light at a reasonable cost.  The color and output was finally at a point that was equal to current bulbs.  This was very exciting, and I thought I had to use it for something other than a spot light.  Unfortunately, it was not dimmable.

In 2010, constant current LED became available and, significantly, they were now dimmable with the correct driver. With the advent of the constant current LED engine, the technology had advanced to a point that cost and functionality were no longer prohibitive to placing LEDs to specific areas inside the home, in particular areas that require task lighting.  Once the functional elements of the design had been defined, it made sense to begin thinking about the aesthetics.

To find out more about Hinkley Lighting, follow them on Facebook.