Green isn’t just a colour…

Heading home from a week working with Seoul Semicon and visiting Light + Build 22.

Wonderful to see lighting effects first hand, raise a glass with old friends and make some new ones. Some slightly surreal encounters as I realised that faces and voices I know well on screen have arms and legs too!

Strolling the endless walkways, I was struck by how out of touch much of the show itself seemed: Zero awareness of environmental concerns beyond the crude measure of lumens per watt – the ‘architectural’ lighting displays were each more eye-watering and brain-numbingly blue than the next. Zero awareness of supply chain management and the circular economy. Even  the ‘decorative lighting halls were decked with endless loops of encapsulated LED strips, plastic diffusers and click-fit single-use connectors. A smattering of ‘human centred’ lighting products – the sales teams admitting privately that the volumes are vanishingly small  The stands themselves were rigged from mdf and static-crackling flooring, stacked with glossy brochures, bottled water and capsule-fed coffee machines. By now they will be heading for the skip.

It was a useful reminder of the importance of the debate about environmental performance with Fred Bass and the team (link here) From the experience this week, it’s clear that until regulations force a change, this giant tanker is going to keep ploughing along, ignoring the immense commercial opportunity to design intelligent solutions to future proof their businesses against rising commodity costs and build sustainable partnerships. Speaking to some of the established and up and coming – manufacturers it does seem as though the days of the giant trade fair jamboree is over – more targeted, intimate and agile meetings are on the horizon. Watch this space!