It’s no secret that lighting and shade controls, as well as lighting fixtures, have been a boon for the industry. More and more manufacturers are finding the CEDIA channel in addition to those that have been serving it for years, even decades.
At CEDIA Expo 2024, there was a good deal of innovation in these categories but perhaps more importantly several exhibitors focused on making it easier and less intimidating for integrators to enter or elevate their business when it comes to lighting and shade controls.
CE Pro had the good fortune of visiting many of these companies at CEDIA Expo 2024, held in early September in Denver. Below are highlights, but keep in mind there were many more exhibitors featuring exceptional solutions – too many to name.
Here’s a look at some of the latest lighting and shade controls and fixtures that reflect the categories’ continued momentum at this year’s Expo.
DMF has made a huge splash in the lighting and shade control category since entering and it’s been growing since. At the Expo, one of the things DMF’s Mike Libman (below) discussed with dealers is that the company provides limited SKUs for all applications to help reduce design confusion and ease into the fixtures category.
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.
For the company’s new downlights, which employ the DALI digital lighting protocol, DMF highlighted its new Artafex 2- and 4-inch models, which provide flexibility, high color rendering index (CRI), dimming way down to .1%.
“The key upgrades of this are a premium chipset that’s giving 98+ CRI – we call that true spectrum. It’s not necessarily about changing color, it’s more so about giving fidelity to the materials you’re lighting up,” explains DMF National Sales Director Mike Libman.
“We take into account 99 color points, so it goes beyond CRI, and the primary benefit there is the stone, the millwork, artwork, furniture, all the materials in the home are going to look beautiful.”
DMF showed various square and round versions of housings for the fixtures so they can work well with the ceiling and perhaps other elements such as in-ceiling loudspeakers with the same grille options.
Additionally, thanks to their ownership interest in architectural and landscape lighting specialist HK Lighting, DMF has Artafex HK and Artafex DMF outdoor lines for accent lighting, flood lights, pathway lights, and more.
Chief Corporate Brand Ambassador Melissa Andresko (below) says she’s been really pleased with the traction of Lutron’s Lumaris tape light, which it introduced in tunable white at last year’s show and a new RGB+ version this year.
The new tape light follows up on the tunable white version and can address plenty of applications in the home, such as above or under cabinets, stairways, islands, theater screens, and more so dealers can use Lumaris to create a wow factor in different rooms.
“Everyone’s really excited about it,” reports Abby Marks, senior systems application engineer at Lutron.
“The RGB is really great because you still get 1800 to 4000 Kelvin and then you can integrate into Ketra’s natural show or in RA 3 we have this day and night shift, so if you have it in a cooler color temperature during the day it will shift over an hour to get that warmer color temperature that the customer’s going to pull value out of having multiple settings.”
In terms of other lighting innovation, Lutron spotlighted its recently debuted Ketra D2 and Rania D2, which offer discreet aesthetics and range of functionality.
On top of that, the booth featured Lutron’s experience rooms as it did at CEDIA Expo 2023 as well as its new recessed system for Lutron drapery that can be mudded in for a truly flush and seamless look and provides a minimal 1/16-inch reveal along the track.
The company also displayed load of styles and finish options for devices such as keypads. That includes the elegant new graphite finishes for Palladiom shading system products.
Another cool station that Lutron utilized during the show was its Lutron Lab room in which attendees could get a more behind-the-scenes look at the products and chat with company engineers, designers, etc.
At CEDIA Expo 2024, Graber showcased its growing presence in the custom integration market with an expanded lineup of smart shading products and design-focused capabilities.
To better target the CI channel, Graber brought in industry veteran Chris Ivie, general manager, Graber HTI, who explained the company’s strategy.
“We debuted last year for our first time at CEDIA,” Ivie says. “We took what we already had and focused on marketing into the CI channel.”
A key part of that effort is Graber’s partnership with Somfy to offer powered shades. As Ivie states, all of the company’s motorized shades are powered by Somfy Zigbee and PoE motors.
Beyond the technology, Ivie emphasized providing dealers with design-forward solutions.
“Dealers need options, even if they’re selling a competing brand,” Ivie says. “We’d rather that dealer have the right solution to win the overall project and risk losing it to another competitor because they couldn’t cover one or two windows in the house.”
To that end, Graber boasts a wide range of fabric and shading options, which the company regularly refreshes to stay on trend. They also offer custom capabilities, allowing dealers to create bespoke shades using customer-supplied materials.
Graber’s products are engineered to seamlessly blend technology and aesthetics.
“You really don’t see or hear the technology,” Ivie says. “It’s just there.”
Terry Coffey of Draper At Home put the company’s latest residential motorized shade technologies on full display, highlighting the flexibility and customization options available to residential integrators.
A key focus was Draper‘s new cassette-style motorized shades, which expand the company’s FlexStyle line of shades to include a cassette version. These pre-assembled cassette shades can be customized with a variety of fabric options and finishes, including in a textured Antique Bronze, or with matte colors in Black, White, Taupe, Warm White, and Grey.
According to Coffey, the FlexStyle Cassette was the result of requests from the custom installation community following the introduction of the company’s FlexStyle open roll shade.
The low-profile cassette installs quickly and easily to mounting brackets, which attach to the wall or ceiling with only one screw per bracket.
“It takes one screw. You put the mounting bracket up into the ceiling or onto the wall, and if it’s a battery shade or a manual shade, you’re done,” Coffey explains.
Providing homeowners with an alternative to traditional Venetian wood blind products, the Aria Soft Blinds shown in Hunter Douglas’ booth employ fabric to provide homeowners with a stylish means to control the natural sunlight that enters their homes.
The large window coverings company points out that its latest blinds have been tested for long-term exposure to UV light to ensure their durability, and homeowners can easily clean the blinds with a duster.
“It was a great show for us. Aria is a product you almost need to see, it’s actually a new shade type,” remarks Scott Stephenson, senior director of product, global motorization at Hunter Douglas.
“Imagine a traditional Venetian blind, very popular, but what we’ve done is reconfigured it and created the same look but with fabric. That gives you a few advantages… so it really gives you a lot of flexibility.”
Among them, he notes, are the ability to make different levels of opacity compared with wood blinds that are basically room darkening when tilted closed. Aria blinds can even change the opacity depending on which way they are tilted.
Supporting its new shades, Hunter Douglas also showed its new solar-charging capabilities whose mettle was tested even with north-facing windows. Stephenson notes that several dealers mentioned it as a nice way to eliminate any truck rolls for clients who want their integrator to replace wireless shade batteries.
If you’re seeking strength, reliability, and quiet in a shades motor, Somfy impressed with its Sonesse 40 PoE product, which improves upon last year’s Sonesse 30. Somfy’s new motors were featured in at least a dozen other booths at the CEDIA and Commercial Integrator Expos.
Somfy’s Maryellen Oswald, Partnerships Business Development Manager, says the Sonesse 40 upgrades includes more power going from 25 watts to 90, and more Nm (Newton-metres) of torque capacity upping from 1.5Nm to now 2, 4, and 6Nm sizes available.
According to Somfy, the PoE technology in the new motor reduces the amount of time and cabling required on a job to speed up the install.
Since no dedicated AC electrical wiring or electrical outlet is needed, systems integrators can handle the installation without a licensed electrician and without being constrained by the proximity of electrical outlets.
Additionally, the Somfy Synergy API facilitates simple integration with leading third-party control systems.
Plus, with Somfy’s PoE Motor Configuration Software, integrators can more efficiently configure multiple motor-driven products or devices over IP from a single interface to assist with the project’s design specs.
Spearheaded by Michael Braithwaite (below), Paul Bryson, and Tim Marshall and with assists to many others, Modern Atomics made its CEDIA Expo debut showing their Reaktor power distribution for shades product.
Braithewaite made sure everyone got proper credit too – he listed all the names on the bottom of the product to acknowledge the group effort.
Crafted in Austin, Texas, the Reaktor is a unique solution introduced to the lighting and shade control category. The Reaktor will drive up to 22 shades, and one of its primary benefits is to reduce the amount of “vampire” power, or idle power, shades suck up when they are not in use.
That will not only save clients on energy costs but extend the lifespan of the motorized shades being powered because parts, particularly motor end caps, won’t degrade over time as they typically do from motors that are powered 24/7.
“We are the first company to build a power supply solution specifically for the motorized shade category, meaning we can save these installs a lot of otherwise wasted energy,” says Braithwaite, who is CTS at Modern Atomics. “And we can save substantial installation time and cost on every install.”
The unique product and functionality earned high praise among booth visitors who quickly connected with the solution’s potential on a job.
Blackwire showed CEDIA Expo attendees why it prides itself on being a value-added distribution company for the industry with its recently launched networking and lighting design services and tools.
Focusing on lighting, Phoenix-headquartered Blackwire introduced its Blacklight Design Tool at last year’s CEDIA Expo and delved into its maturing capabilities this year as lighting and shade control continues to be a key category.
The Blacklight Design Tool aims to simplify the complex process of designing and specifying linear lighting systems. Dealers can import floor plans, outline fixture types and placement, and generate detailed purchase orders and installation reports quickly, the company notes.
“If you ask 10 people who are doing linear lighting if they have fun doing it, they’re like, ‘Hell, no,’” chuckles Cody Crossland, Blackwire’s VP of Sales & Marketing.
“Maybe they did it once and they don’t want to do it again because it was such a pain, or maybe they want to do it but they’re intimidated,” he adds. “By showing them Blacklight – it’s just click, click, click – you’re going to put information in it and now you’ve got a bill of materials, so [integrators] can now be confident they can do linear lighting.”
Another company that was featured in many exhibitors’ booths besides its own was Bond Home. Dealers and exhibitors that enlist the Bond Bridge Pro have been experiencing the exciting capabilities of adding motorized shades into a project thanks to its integrations – roughly 20 booths incorporated it.
This year, Bond debuted the very brand-agnostic Breeze Pro, which is a weather sensor for controls of exterior shades, louvers, and shutters. A single Breeze Pro can command multiple solutions.
With the new product, integrators can set up myriad thresholds and automatic triggers around the amount of wind, rain, and sunlight a home gets – and set priorities of those weather conditions activations.
Installers mount the Breeze Pro atop a 1-inch pole, pointed north, ideally placed about 13 feet high off the ground, according to the company.
There are no wires involved, as the Breeze Pro communicates with the Bond Bridge Pro via RF. Setup can be done entirely within the App, and the sensor itself is powered by embedded solar and supercapacitor. The App also provides continuous feedback on weather data and more.
“Indoors you have this mix of [controls and subsystems] technology that’s wired and wireless. Outdoors, the less wires you have the better,” says Joao Guizzo, system designer at Bond.
“With the Breeze Pro if it’s windy you can set your pergola shades to close to protect your furniture, or if it’s raining you can have the shades close but maybe keep the pergola open so you can enjoy the smell of the rain,” he adds as examples.
American Lighting’s Proluxe brand for custom integrators showed off some colorful and fun lighting types that are sure to wow homeowners.
Among the highlights of the booth were in-channel lighting that works with the company’s Neon Flex solution. As Jennifer Kirkpatrick, Proluxe’s director of sales, explains, the in-channel product enables installers to get lighting done faster because it reduces labor – roughly 30%, she estimates – that includes adding connectors, cutting channels, and more.
The process merely involves mudding over the channel and pressing in on the lighting to fit for a stunning accentuation to a space.
Another nice option from Proluxe is the new Chroma DMX 4-inch Downlight, which comes with various reflectors so dealers can mix-and-match when designing lighting features.
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