For years, people asked. “Did you go to LEDucation?” I remember submitting a proposal to speak at the inaugural version of this event years ago. My proposal wasn’t selected and I did not participate. Subsequently, for many reasons, I have not attended, until this year. At the end of 2025, I was asked if I would participate in a roundtable conversation to be offered to attendees. I agreed. Finally, there was a reason for me to go. When I later found it would be a pre-recorded virtual session, I decided to attend regardless.
It is impossible to ignore the impact of this show. Some have said it singlehandedly decimated LightFair. That may be an exaggeration, LightFair lost its way a few years back. LEDucation was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a sleeping monster. I now hear lots of rumblings about Lightapolooza, a Texas-based lighting show. Both offer a lot of educational options and both are regional. While I have always found the education at LightFair to be the primary reason to attend, most people didn’t go for that reason. They wanted to connect with the suppliers they use, see if they should consider some new options and find out what is new and innovative to determine if this is something they should consider in the future. That feature unfortunately disappeared. These smaller, local shows now seem to have an advantage over the large and costly national shows because they combine both needs, in addition to being close to home and small enough to visit in a day.
Here are my thought on this vibrant show. I’ll divide the comments into LED and EDucation sections.
LED (The Show Floor)
I do not think there is another square inch of space in the New York Hilton. The layout is like an M.C. Escher print. I do not think you could have packed more people into the space available. Booths are (almost) uniform in size, aisles are (basically) set in grids. Meaningful conversation and product demonstrations were occurring everywhere. I probably said, “Excuse me” more times per hour than ever in my life. This is everything you want in a trade show. It reminds me of my first KBIS in Chicago and my first ICFF in Las Vegas. The electric in the air made this, “the place to be and be seen.”
Of course, the majority of the products and services are geared toward commercial lighting, interior design and architecture. As a residential person, at any show I attend, I try to figure out what could translate, what could inspire and what are we missing in the residential space. Here are a few things I found interesting.
A-Emotional Light
The shade material shown by this Spanish company was different, exciting and very subtle. I was immediately relaxed. After looking at their website, I realized the small sampling was indicative of the line. Most products use painted stainless steel mesh as a diffuser. I was surprised to see the wide variety of looks that could be achieved with this interesting material choice.
Moss
I was attracted to the Germany firm, Moss and their rounded-triangular, pyramidal metal shades of the Emily collection. Why haven’t I seen other shades this shape? The Dune Spiral piece they also displayed in the booth did a nice job blending a small light source amidst the formed metal. Perhaps a bit too much glare for some applications, but I did like the overall look.
Terzani
There was something ferocious about the new Terzani chandelier, Dragon. This was unlike most “soft” approachable luminaries. The spiky cast brass is meant to make a statement No light is integral to the cast sculpture. Instead, downlight spots are built into the canopy, aimed at the suspended polished casting. This piece is indicative of what I’ve been saying recently. This is art that happens to include illumination, sold as a luminaire. Expect more of this.
https://www.terzani.com/en/home
DCW éditions
The Focus collection featured in the DCW booth consists of light rings filled with obscured clear lenses. Once the light is energized, the glass adopts a planetary look. Some appear as if they were soap bubbles. Suspended on mobile frame, the constant movement enforces this bubbly, solar system feel.
https://dcw-editions.com/en-us
Nulite
Many offices are now using slender, non-glare luminaires that drive a lot of light onto the work surface. The same demand is required in kitchens. Studio by Nulite could easily slip into residential spaces providing the same needed output, but adding the reduction of glare. I love the shape, style and colors, too!
Lodes
In a sea of rather pedestrian landscape lighting, Lodes, an Italian firm displayed Kinno, unique in that the stems were intentionally irregular in shape, as if they were swaying in the wind. The organic nature of the support rods added to their blending in a natural outdoor environment. The shades featured a full diffuser at its underside, for better, more natural light distribution. I really liked these.
Lumos Cielo by Baganti
During one of the education sessions, the speaker talked about the inevitability of illuminated walls and ceilings. The even delivery of light is more comfortable and the light delivery is better for what our body needs. While these panels are suited for commercial spaces, I wonder how this will translate to residential design. Are full or partially illuminated surfaces, rather than individual luminaires, in our future?
Tiny
We have spent so much time, since the introduction of LED concentrating on the light output, we haven’t dipped very deeply into the shape-specific options that are available. Years ago, I remember asking if the engineers could drive specific shaped output from the LED so we could feature unique shapes of light emitted from landscape luminaires. At the time, they could not. Two vendors were showing small outputs. LedNer Optoelectronics featured very small shaped distribution of light. Minimus had ultra-tiny architectural accent lights and spot lights. (Think about a landscape spot, the diameter of a dime x 1 ¼”. Output is low, around 50 to 100 lumens of light.) Scores of booths showed 1” and ½” recessed and spots. Optique by Alloy LED displayed miniature aluminum extrusions with smaller profile LED inside. With full output, smaller form sizes and unique output, we still can expect to see more and different LED options.
Viva Lyte
Perhaps the coolest thing on the show floor was this LED flat panel-like display concept. Imagine LED on a 3M material. The 3M material is applied to clear glass or acrylic like wallpaper. The material appears as a miniature “grid” of LED diodes while the glass/acrylic remains translucent. When the grid is energized, it functions much like a flat screen. Images, videos, logos, designs, etc. can be fed into the driver and displayed on the translucent material. It can work on windows, dividers and probably solid surfaces (not sure of the value there, but….) Think of how this could be used as protection against an almost invisible glass door. Could it be a decorative feature on a fixed shower panel? My mind was rolling with the possibilities.
EDucation (Virtual and Live)
Full disclosure, I participated in one of the virtual education sessions and I can say from firsthand knowledge, they were WELL attended. Far more people than I had expected. The same was true for the live events held during show hours. I attended three and well over 100, perhaps 200 people were at some.
One session detailed how the Geographic Information System (GIS) (the brains behind GPS) is used to understand the health implications of outdoor lighting. I also listened to Dr. Mariana Figueiro’s talk on how lighting supports health and wellbeing. She is an excellent speaker and really at the forefront of lighting and health. The connection is now almost irrefutable. A session on how lighting can be used to instigate more/better brainstorming and also provide a supportive environment for employees was discussed. Perhaps the best session was a panel of experts who talked about sustainability. While this is a growing factor in commercial lighting, it has not yet touched the residential side of lighting. I say yet, because commercial concerns almost always influence what we do in the home. Look for additional information on this topic as I try to wrap my head around the data and focus in on how it might find its way to the residential side.
I had a great time, saw a lot of interesting things, engaged in many meaningful conversations and feel I took away a lot of new ideas. These are the exact notions you want to carry home, once you leave an industry event. It has been a long time since I felt this value from attending a show. It reminds me why I became a repeat visitor to so many and also why I stopped going to most trade shows. Now if we could only bottle up this magic.
Lighting by Jeffrey 