If you had wandered into a home anytime before the 1980s you would have found that almost all would have featured wallpaper as a prominent part of their interior design. From the 1980s onwards however, wallpaper was ousted from our homes in lieu of Faux Painting, which had the practical advantage of being readily removed by simply repainting. That's unless you live in my house, where virtually every room is still wallpapered from head to toe. Nonetheless, you are probably wondering how I, an LED Lights advocate, have managed to get onto the seemingly unrelated topic of wallpaper?
Well the two have plenty in common since Philips LEDs recently announced its intentions to begin development on an LED-illuminated wallpaper that is likely to set a precedent for mood lighting in the years to come. They will be working in collaboration with Kvadrat Soft Cells, a Dutch manufacturer of customizable acoustic panelling. By integrating their LED Lights into Kvadrat's acoustic panels, Philips hopes to create a smart textile that will place a huge range of fully customizable ambient effects and programmable content at the fingertips of a user. At the same time, Kvadrat's clever panelling will lend sound absorption to the material which "dampens noise and softens echoes." It will even be possible to synchronise the wallpaper with sound systems and produce a vibrant colour display that mirrors the ebb and flow of music.
The project has its eyes set on creating commercial environments that are comfortable to work in and create a retail and hospitality experience that is truly unforgettable. According to Henrik Holm, the managing director of Kvadrat Soft Cells, the project is a natural partnership of two businesses both " dedicated to encouraging well-being and developing solutions that positively impact peoples' moods. Philips' LED lighting integrated in the Kvadrat Soft Calls panels grants lighting designers and architects full flexibility in achieving a desired ambience, by allowing them to create content and diagrammatic forms."
The LED Wallpaper represents a fusion of LED mood lighting and acoustic technology which is set to open up a whole new set of horizons in terms of interior design, offering myriad new options for designers to experiment with illuminating domestic and commercial spaces. Philips have not yet disclosed any information about pricing or availability, but it can be safely assumed that initially this rather fantastic and quirky technology will be an upscale item. The companies plan on marketing the LED wallpaper to the hospitality and retail industry so it might be worth keeping an eye out for them in hotels, museums or galleries in the near future. But don't expect to have your house turned into a psychedelic orgy of colour any time soon.
