SCHOTT has created a new, aesthetic lighting concept with LuminaLine that has won the “Red Dot: Best of the Best” award as the best concept in the Materials category. SCHOTT LuminaLine meets all future requirements for automotive lighting in terms of material resistance and design quality.
The international technology group SCHOTT’s latest lighting innovation “LuminaLine” has not yet been on the market for three months yet and has already earned two prestigious international awards. Following the German Innovation Award 2018, LuminaLine has now also received the Red Dot: Best of the Best Award 2018.
Mainz, July 18, 2018 – SCHOTT LuminaLine came away the winner in the Materials category despite competition from 5,600 entries out of 55 countries, winning over a jury of 40 internationally recognized design experts. LuminaLine is also one of the final three nominees for the Red Dot: Luminary, the highest award presented in the Red Dot Design Award for design concepts. LuminaLine had previously prevailed as the German Innovation Award Winner 2018.
According to Stephan Schabacker, Director of Sales Automotive at SCHOTT Lighting and Imaging, it is no coincidence that SCHOTT LuminaLine received both an innovation and design award. “LuminaLine is a particularly strong concept because this component can be used in so many ways, both as a versatile design element and as a resilient component for particularly harsh environments. LuminaLine has its own aesthetics in both the illuminated and non-illuminated state and is easy to recycle as a glass component.”
LuminaLine is technically based on a glass composite whose luminance is bundled by a fiber optic – the soul. This creates an interplay of light and transparency that makes new designs possible. From a functional perspective, LuminaLine is also suitable for using concentrated homogeneous light for industrial and medical applications. However, the lighting technology is strengthened by the thermally toughened clad glass that surrounds the soul. The clad is resistant to physical and chemical loads and withstands UV radiation and temperatures up to 400°C without any issues.
Automotive design made of glass: anything but fragile
This durability is necessary to install the lighting system in the most diverse environments and in the smallest of spaces. LuminaLine is therefore suitable for vehicle exterior lighting, for example, and enables aesthetic and reliable functional and contour lighting, for instance as an illuminated entry aid or for accentuating exterior doors. “Lighting design has become a central theme because automation and electrification are changing vehicle design and increasing the scope for lighting. Where visibility used to be the focus, lighting is now used as a form of user experience,” Schabacker explains.
While the requirements of the automotive industry in the past focused primarily on quality and reliability, vehicles of the future should also be customizable and sustainable. “SCHOTT has been a reliable technology and development partner of leading car makers for more than 25 years. This expertise allows us to proactively align our product development to the automotive market’s qualification tests and design requirements,” Schabacker continues.
However, the future of mobility must not only apply to vehicles. SCHOTT LuminaLine also turns traffic signal lighting into a design element. The light guides could indicate with a green light on the platform or in transit that trains or buses will soon be arriving, or signal with a yellow light that it will be another five minutes. The range of possible uses is enormous. Whether SCHOTT will also receive the Red Dot Award for the best overall concept will be seen at the award ceremony in Singapore on September 28, 2018.
Red Dot and German Innovation Award – Two quality signs for design and innovation
The Red Dot Award is one of the most important design competitions in the world. A 40-member jury of international design experts individually evaluates original products. Evaluation criteria include degree of innovation, functionality, aesthetic quality and emotional impact.
The German Innovation Award was initiated by the German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung) and distinguishes products and solutions across all industries that differ from previous solutions above all in terms of user centering and added value. The nomination procedure is unique: only companies proposed by the expert committees and scouts of the German Design Council can participate.
