Philips Hue Blends Craftsmanship with Smart Technology
Philips Hue has released an upgraded Flourish smart table lamp in Europe, now featuring a handcrafted shade. The product combines artisanal aesthetics with smart home functionality, including support for the Matter interoperability standard. The launch's emphasis on craftsmanship responds to a growing demand for decorative luminaires that also serve as advanced technical solutions.
- The Matter smart home protocol, built upon IP (Internet Protocol), enables local, reliable, and secure communication across devices from different manufacturers, including major ecosystems like Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. It utilizes Wi-Fi and Thread for connectivity and Bluetooth Low Energy for initial device setup, aiming to simplify the user experience and eliminate vendor lock-in. - The WELL Building Standard champions human-centric lighting by using Equivalent Melanopic Lux (EML) as a key metric to measure light's impact on our circadian rhythms. For work areas, WELL recommends at least 200 EML at eye level for four hours between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM to support alertness and well-being. - Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) is an open and standardized protocol (IEC 62386) for professional lighting control, allowing two-way communication between individual luminaires and control systems. This enables precise dimming, status reporting, and software-based reconfiguration of lighting groups without altering physical wiring, integrating seamlessly with broader building automation systems. - The lighting industry is increasingly adopting circular economy principles, shifting from a linear "make, use, dispose" model to one that prioritizes durability, repairability, and material recovery. Signify, Philips Hue's parent company, has explored "Light as a Service" models where they retain ownership of equipment, ensuring proper maintenance, refurbishment, and end-of-life recycling. - Research into the non-visual effects of light has identified intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) that regulate key physiological processes like hormone production and sleep-wake cycles. This science of chronobiology informs the development of tunable lighting systems that mimic natural daylight patterns to better support human health in indoor environments. - The original Philips Hue system, launched in October 2012, was marketed as the first iOS-controlled lighting appliance and initially used the Zigbee Light Link protocol for communication. Before its public release, the concept was developed within a Philips technology incubator to explore business models and applications for connected lighting in the home. - George Yianni, Head of Technology for Philips Hue, has been a key figure in the product's development, overseeing its evolution from a niche smart home gadget to a broad ecosystem. The initial design philosophy focused on personalization, allowing users to control tone, brightness, and color to create custom lighting scenes and moods. - For professional lighting specifiers, the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) offers significant advantages over older 0-10V analog systems by providing individual addressing for up to 64 devices per loop, status feedback, and manufacturer interoperability under the DALI-2 certification. This allows for flexible, software-defined lighting zones that can be integrated with building management systems via gateways to protocols like KNX or BACnet.
