During a conversation with IES CEO Colleen Harper in Frankfurt last year, she mentioned to me that Light + Building effectively enhanced the impact of booth lighting by keeping the overhead lights off. WAC/Modern Forms wanted to incorporate a dark room into their booth at this year’s LightFair, requiring minimal light trespass. WAC’s Tom Lillie approached LightFair management, convincing them to set the ceiling lights at their lowest egress level of 25%. Although the ceiling was not nearly as dark as the L+B ceiling, the lower light levels did enhance the lighting of the exhibits. More about that later.
With LightFair registration* reaching 11,450, the show experienced a busy morning but notably slowed down in the afternoon. While some exhibitors were pleasantly surprised by the quantity of attendees, others expressed disappointment, some loudly.
On Wednesday, LightFair announced their best booth winners in various categories, including WE-EF for 100 square feet (Booth 2443)
Lumenture for 200 square feet (Booth 2447)
MP Lighting for 300-400 square feet (Booth 3027)
WAC Lighting for 600+ square feet (Booth 2939)
While acknowledging the spectacular design of the WAC booth, your humble editor believes that Legrand deserved the best booth award for seamlessly integrating their independent brands into one booth while maintaining their individual identities.
Additionally, the U-shaped layout of the Legrand booth contributed to its easy accessibility. The Legrand booth always seemed busy, even in the afternoon.
Returning to WAC’s request for a dark ceiling, they successfully built a dark room featuring a precise, high-definition zoomable projection using a Stealth armature with a 360° horizontal rotation and 90° vertical aiming, accommodating glass or metal Gobos. The projected art was so sharp and crisp that it was indistinguishable from the actual art next to it.
The only way I could tell the difference was by sticking my hand in front of the gobo. The side by side of real art vs projected art was stunning.
TCP and Samsung occupied neighboring large booths of similar size. However, their booth experiences couldn’t have been more different. TCP’s booth was brimming with an impressive display of products, capturing the attention of attendees. On the other hand, your humble editor couldn’t help but notice the absence of Samsung products within their booth. Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, TCP enjoyed a steady flow of visitors. In stark contrast, the Samsung booth seemed empty.
Thursday is the last day of the show and unfortunately history calls for a slow day.
*The original version of this article mistakenly stated attendees instead of registration.