Senior designers in the region are quite blown away by the proliferation of lighting products in the market in the last five years. “Before that, we would be introduced to a new brand maybe once or twice a year,” says one designer who has been established in the region for three decades. “Now, I get requests for a brand introduction at least three times a week. So many new brands are cropping up that it’s becoming hard to keep up.”

Designers admit that maintaining on top of new brand introductions in the lighting market is almost a full time job. This is where some of the catalogue-based websites, such as Architonic, can help. Even then, the information provided is still not enough for designers to make an accurate assessment of the product.

There is definitely a need for a global database of brands that can be sorted by filters, such as outdoor and indoor products narrowed down by country conditions, mounting conditions, proper product parameters, price points, and more.

“The industry is huge!” they say. “There is definitely a need for a global database of brands that can be sorted by filters, such as outdoor and indoor products narrowed down by country conditions, mounting conditions, proper product parameters, price points, and more.”

In short, a separate category and approach to product selection and filters applied, that are almost entirely different to those applied for interior design products. Clearly lighting design cannot be bunged in easily within an ID product design portfolio. This is a field that is as much technical as it is aesthetic.