Additive‑made pendant debut

Additive manufacturing is industrial 3D printing: a machine builds an object layer by layer instead of cutting it from a block or casting it in a mold. Cooper Lighting Solutions is now applying that process to a new pendant line designed with Architecture Research Office. (cooperlighting.com) The product is the PrentaLux Architecture Research Office Series, a set of three pendant fixtures called Nimbaro, Minaro, and Unaro. Cooper Lighting says the line is available in three sizes, with distinct shapes and textured finishes including woven, ribbed, lined, tufted, fluted, and asymmetrical forms. (cooperlighting.com) (aro.net) Cooper’s specification sheets say the pendants use the company’s proprietary 3D-printing process for the shade and components, paired with an integral light engine. Across the series, the fixtures offer 90 color-rendering index light, four color temperatures from 2700 kelvin to 4000 kelvin, universal 120-277 volt input, and 0-10 volt dimming down to 1 percent. (cooperlighting.com 1) (cooperlighting.com 2) The sizes and light output place the line in commercial interiors rather than home decor. Cooper lists office, education, healthcare, hospitality, retail, and national accounts as target applications, with output ranges that run from about 150 lumens to more than 2,700 lumens depending on size and configuration. (cooperlighting.com 1) (cooperlighting.com 2) The design pitch is that 3D printing removes some of the shape limits imposed by molds. Architecture Research Office said the team used the “precision and speed” of the process to study how light interacts with layered filament and to develop forms based on natural metamorphic patterns. (aro.net) Cooper and its parent company, Signify, are also tying the line to a broader manufacturing strategy around materials and waste. In PrentaLux product literature, the company says its printed luminaires are made on demand, use recycled and bio-circular inputs in parts of the system, are designed for disassembly, and aim to reduce inventory and production waste. (assets.signify.com) (cooperlighting.com) That sustainability language arrives as lighting makers try to distinguish premium fixtures on more than efficiency alone. Light-emitting diode performance is now standard across much of the market, so companies have been pushing customization, healthier materials, and lower-waste production as selling points for architects and interior designers. (metropolismag.com) (cooperlighting.com) PrentaLux itself is not new. Cooper introduced the brand several years ago as a 3D-printed lighting platform, and the Architecture Research Office collaboration extends that strategy with a more overtly sculptural collection under a company that has been part of Signify since the 2020 acquisition of Cooper Lighting Solutions. (officeinsight.com) (signify.com) The result is a commercial pendant pitched as both a lighting tool and a material object: printed to order, specified like a fixture, and marketed with the language of form, texture, and resource use. (cooperlighting.com) (aro.net)