Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight intent of further developing LED luminaires becomes more evident at Lighting Japan 2014, which took place from Jan. 15-17 at Tokyo Big Sight. In the far corner of prototype lighting at the lighting trade show, Everlight Group subsidiary Liang displayed a series of new LED luminaire prototypes. The new player on the LED market speaks about its origins and brand philosophy.

Tony Yu, Design Director, Design Department, WOW LED Lighting. (LEDinside)

Wow LED Lighting was established in 2012 with funding from Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight. Everlight has about a 49 percent stake in the company, and has invested about NT$ 50 million (US$ 1.62 million) into the company, said Tony Yu, Design Director, Design Department, WOW LED Lighting. The company is headed by Everlight’s Financial Officer Chiu Chen Hong.

According to Yu, Everlight Chairman Robert Yeh believed LED light source technology could be replaced by other light sources within a period of five to 10 years, and recognized luminaires would be the key to sustainable business development in the industry. “Previously, Everlight worked with Taiwanese design studio DEM Inc. to design LED luminaires, but as you may have heard it didn’t turn out too well”, said Yu. As a result, Wow LED Lighting was launched to brand LED luminaires.

Liang, which is the Chinese word for brightness, is the brand concept that Yeh and Yu came up for the new business venture. Yu incorporates the Chinese character “Brightness” skillfully into the company logo. “Why couldn’t I put in Chinese characters into an international design for foreigners to see?” remarked Yu. “I wanted to introduce Chinese characteristics into my brand concept.”

Yu designs the Liang logo to smartly include the Chinese character "brightness" (亮). (LEDinside)

Moreover, Yu also looks to the Bible from inspiration, specifically Genesis 1:1-7. “And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness…you see all creation begins from light, from brightness.” Yu went on explaining both him and Yeh shared similar faiths, which enabled them to share the same values and agree on this branding concept. 

In addition, the company branding position is slightly similar to Philips approach. “I want light to be a form of communication,” said Yu. “We are not selling luminaires, we are selling a lighting experience.”

LED luminaire Angle under the LIang brand uses Everlight 5630 LED. (LEDinside)

The company LED luminaire products are all designed by Yu using Everlight LED components. At the moment the Angle uses Everlight 5630 LED but they have plans of customizing the LED module in the future. Although, all the LED luminaires are still in the prototype stage, Yu said the company has plans to mass produce most of the products displayed this year. The company declined giving a price quote for the products displayed at the show. “We want more flexibility in our price negotiations,” said Yu.

As an illustration to how competitive the LED market has become, WoW LED Lighting has kept a low profile before Lighting Japan 2014. The company even took down their website for maintenance before the show to keep competitors from copying designs, said Yu. Still a couple visitors still smuggled a few shots at the show when staff were distracted.