Bruges Studio in collaboration with Philips has developed a digital water lily concept, using the OLED Lumiblade technology.

The following Blog post was written by Dietmar Thomas, Manager Brand & Integrated Communications OLED, for Philips Lumiblade. On April 18th, Philips Lumiblade OLEDs did boldly go where no other OLED has gone before. Space. What sounds like the famous beginning of the original Star Trek television series was indeed a big step for the most modern light source on earth.

More than one month has passed since Philips Lumiblade posted a teaser video on its Facebook account hinting the company’s OLEDs will be traveling to space on a NASA space shuttle. The tight lipped company has finally revealed the OLED application in space, and to our surprise had nothing to do with the shuttle’s interior lighting. 

The Pixelate lamp, designed by Pablo Alvarez for Birot OLED Lighting, is a hanging OLED fixture that was inspired by the undulated movements of the manta ray as it glides through the water. 

As OLED manufacturers explore potential application fields, such as commercial, retail and beauty applications, Philips Lumiblade has moved away from “Earthly” applications to a whole new frontier: outer space.

The general conception for OLED applications has been: pretty fancy designs. In the past OLEDs have been mostly used in luxury luminaires, with hefty price tags that only a few can afford. However, manufacturers are looking beyond the niche market of designer made luminaires to more general markets at Lighting Japan 2014, a lighting exhibition event that runs through Jan. 15-17 at Tokyo Big Sight.