Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaNTM LED technology, announced that its VIVID LED lamps have been installed at historic M.S. Rau Antiques located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. With 25,000 square feet, M.S. Rau Antiques is one of the largest premier fine arts and antiques galleries in the world.

Soraa announced that its VIVID LED lamps have been installed at historic M.S. Rau Antiques located in the French Quarter of New Orleans. (Photo Courtesy of M.S. Rau Antiques.)

Recently, the gallery hosted a special exhibition exploring the best of Napoléonic art and design. The exhibition revealed how Napoléon Bonaparte effectively used art and design to cultivate an image of power and offered an intriguing glimpse in the intimate life and ultimate legacy of the soldier, statesman and ruler.

After vigorous testing and research into options for the lighting retrofit, Mead Jones, the lighting specialist at M.S. Rau Antiques, chose Soraa Flicker FreeTM MR16 lamps with VIVID LED technology to illuminate the Napoléonic art and design exhibition, as well as future exhibitions. Soraa’s uniform controlled light source has the consistent accurate color rendering needed for the exhibition’s objects, including fine art, furniture, books and accessories. Soraa’s LED lamps also provided the beam control for ambient and atmospheric design that M. S. Rau desired.

“Customers spend more time in an environment that is comfortable and inviting. Soraa’s LED technology controls glare and renders the natural color of the objects, creating a welcoming space for customers to visit,” said Mead. “Peerless for brightness, color rendering and spill control, Soraa is the exception for LED lighting in the market today and a great fit for M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans.”

In addition to creating a more controlled and inviting atmosphere for the gallery, the lighting upgrade for M.S. Rau Antiques was eligible for an EnergySmart grant. With a complete switchover from the quartz halogen lamps to Soraa lamps, the gallery expects to save nearly $20,000 in annual energy costs.

Like all of Soraa’s LED products, the MR16 LED lamps feature the company’s Violet-Emission 3-Phosphor (VP₃) LED technology, creating perfectly rendered colors and whites. Utilizing every color in the rainbow, especially deep red emission, Soraa’s VP₃ VIVID COLOR™ technology renders warm tones beautifully and accurately, and achieves a color-rendering index (CRI) of 95 and deep red (R9) rendering of 95.

And unlike blue-based white LEDs without any violet emission, the company’s lamps have violet emissions to properly excite fluorescing brightening agents, including paper and natural objects like human eyes and teeth.