This new fixture from Belgian architectural lighting company Modular Lighting Instruments feels equally at home in an energy-efficient, ergonomic office environment as in a sleekly designed home office. Its characteristic honeycomb structure in combination with a wafer-thin diffuser reduces glare to a minimum while Vaeder’s groundbreaking LED lighting results in an energy-efficient and high-performing office fixture.
Endless suspense
In an office market that is dominated by straight, clean lines, Vaeder’s creative interplay of lines clearly reveals the hand of the piece’s designer, Gerd Couckhuyt. For Modular Lighting Instruments, Couckhuyt has previously designed Izar and Nozzle, and these have the same flowing lines. “For Vaeder, I created a blend of the age-old symbols for man (/\) and woman (\/). You can see this on the face side of the fixture. They are embracing one another and at the same time, a suspense is created between man/woman, and dominant/elegant. Together they produce a fixture that is endless.”
Vaeder comprises an outer shell and a new, in-house designed honeycomb that perfectly traces its outer contours. Concealed inside are two visible LED light lines and a slim diffuser. So rather than becoming a bombastic beacon of light, the fixture offers practical office lighting that is also dimmable.
The play of colour also keeps up the suspense: you can combine the black or white outer shell with a white or black honeycomb. The black-and-white combination further explores the play of dominance and elegance, while black on black is subtler. The structure is also available in grey, a new colour for Modular Lighting Instruments and ‘the new black’ for every home office.
Natural inspiration for the office
In terms of design, the contemporary office could certainly use a boost. Typical office lighting consists of TL bulbs muted by slats (BAP) or by a diffuser (polycarbonate). For Vaeder, Modular Lighting Instruments was aiming to create a practical alternative, and once again it drew inspiration from the natural world. Previously, Modular’s R&D department was inspired by the vein structure of a tree leaf to create a bionic heat sink for LED spotlights, so that they cool off more efficiently and, therefore, last longer.
For Vaeder, the honeycomb provided the inspiration for developing a better-performing fixture. The natural structure has been improved, both visually and functionally. Thus the combs themselves are slightly more rounded and have been deepened, creating a lower glare ratio. The hexagonal sides have been reshaped so that they connect seamlessly to the outer shell whilst remaining recognisable.
