LightFair shines a light on Las Vegas

LightFair, in partnership with the International Association of Lighting Designers and the Illuminating Engineering Society, was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from May 4 to 8.

LightFair is one of North America’s largest architectural and lighting events, featuring more than 500 exhibiting companies. The event showcases innovative lighting design and technology and highlights the latest industry trends. Attendees include designers, manufacturers, educators and other professionals involved in lighting.

“There’s a trend going back to organic. Lighting can include natural materials, such as bamboo and rattan, combined with metals, which can be black, silver and gold,” said designer Marteen Moore of Marteen Moore Interior Planning. “Lighting designs are more unique and organic, like hand-blown glass that might be modeled like a big teardrop that’s been deformed, so it’s not a perfect cylinder or a perfect teardrop. The design incorporates an organic feeling of life not being perfect but still beautiful.”

While matching lighting sets are going out of style, people still like traditional lighting fixtures such as chandeliers and table lamps. Pendant-style lighting brings the design of a chandelier in a modern trend.

“I’m doing a multi-pendant fixture over a dining room, which would be one of those big plates on the top that has the multiple pendants coming down at different levels, but yet it’s clear glass on it, so it’s still transparent. It’s not blocking a view, giving a different look than your standard chandelier with a different flair,” Moore said.

Smart lighting using technology is changing the Kelvin scale, a way to measure the color temperature of light. Lower Kelvin numbers indicate warmer, yellowish light and higher Kelvin numbers indicate cooler, bluer light. The scale ranges from approximately 1,000 to 10,000 Kelvin (K).

“People like that they can change the Kelvin from, for example, 27 Kelvin, which is very yellow light, to maybe 5,000 Kelvin, which is very bright and almost fluorescent-looking. Most people seem to be happy in the 3,000 to 4,000 range of lighting, but it can be changed now, which is awesome,” Moore said.

Glass is featured in the show, along with new processing systems, including tempering, insulation, lamination and coating glass lines.

“The trends that I’m seeing are in the decorative mirrors. When people think of antique mirrors, they think of mirrors from the 1950s and 1960s that they saw in their grandmother’s house,” said John Dunia, Nevada representative for Venicio Architectural Art Glass. “There are new techniques to add different colors that enhance the uniqueness, adding a modern, contemporary look.”

Another trend in glass is taking fabric shears and laminating them between glass, aligning the fabric in a theme as part of the design. Another trend is photo classic glass, which involves taking a photograph and then printing it either directly onto the glass or on a clear piece of film and then laminating it between glass. Photo classic glass can be created so that people can see through it.

“The fun for us is trying to get into the minds of designers and seeing what they want and then reproducing the glass because they’re the ones creating the space,” Dunia said.

LightFair, produced by Messe Frankfurt North America, will return to Las Vegas in 2027. For more info, visit lightfair.us.messefrankfurt.com.