This year has been one for the books. Electricians had steady business this year, and home owners improved the look and safety of their homes with new light fixtures. This week’s blog is an exciting one as we are discussing the most popular light fixtures and lighting trends of 2018.
Lighting of 2018 and beyond:
Lighting and the color of the lighting influences our mood, how we feel, productivity, our ability to concentrate, sleep cycles, decision making, and overall our emotions. There are new trends for schools and other commercial lighting customers to improve and cater to kids’ alertness.
Biometric sensors can sense students alertness. It carefully and subtly shifts spectrum to boost their focus whenever it starts to wane. Of course, you could see how this would be useful to business and organizations. The lighting can quite literally control or at least influence a human’s desire for something or attention span.
Lighting is detrimental to employees, residents, or customers reacting well in a workspace. Whether that workspace is at home, in an office, or in a school, lighting systems change the way humans interact with each other.
This may remind you of the the first time you ever walked into a room with black lighting or uplighting. Both are two extremes- black lighting being spooky for Halloween or edgy for a concert and uplighting being classy and elegant for a soiree.
Smart lighting systems are for future-minded building owners and facilities. Each light is looked at as a data node and eventually may be early adopters of Smart Building loT applications.
The next trend is about simplifying daylight harvesting. White daylight harvesting is a not a new lighting control strategy, ASHRAE 90.1-2016 tightened requirements for side-lighting and top-lighting. Now there will be more situations where daylighting will be required. The LEED rating system allows for three credits for proper lighting.
Although new energy codes have been a topic and evolving for the last ten years, it is a trend for 2018 as well. Because codes become updated and tighter due to energy consumption, lighting trends and light fixtures are heavily influenced. Also, energy budget is a key parameter of design, but a good lighting designer can do wonders with a set budget and new code stipulations.
Residential lighting trends we saw in 2018:
This year we saw many “throwback” trends which bring back already-seen interior design and lighting decor trends. The first light fixture that was extremely popular this year was the retro chandelier. The center of the chandelier is a sphere with different length rods sticking out in every direction. At the ends of the small rods are small round bulbs.
This look is eye catching especially when done in bronze, silver, or even acrylic. Ikea has an extremely affordable option for this look. This fixture does well in dining areas or foyers for an impressive lighting moment.
Glass globe lights were found everywhere and anywhere in 2018. Hand-blown glass pendants are captivating especially when hung in alternating heights and in different colors of glass. Have an experienced specialist from Sanford Electric Company hang one glass pendant over a table or in a reading nook to establish a separate area in a large room.
Beehive pendants are rustic and rough looking but also make the eye see dollar signs. The gold wire-ring pendant resembles a beehive and adds a industrial pop to a space. The lighting given off from this pendant is barely disturbed because the wire rings are open O’s. This lights up a space and is eye catching- win!
Innovative and creative:
A new eccentric and quirky pendant is the globe pendant. It is exactly what it sounds like: a globe cut in half, hung as a light fixture. This strange and unique fixture attracts anyone that wants to stand out and add a splash of color.
LED lights have been trendy for years, but 2018 was LED’s best year yet. The LED pendant is shaped like a sphere and has rods which have LED lining on the inside of the pendants. The globe shaped LED pendant shines the light inwards which doesn’t leave guests or home owners squinting around it.
We hope you enjoyed the week’s blog on light fixture and lighting trends of 2018. We look forward to discussing future possible lighting trends for 2019! Come back next week for more. Happy Holidays and have a very merry Christmas!
Staff Writer
