While most viewers of the recent Golden Globes® were watching the celebrities, lighting professionals were undoubtedly looking up at the crystal chandeliers lining the red carpet entrance to the Beverly Hilton hotel in Hollywood. Even the fashion magazines took notice, with Vogue writing: “Awards season aficionados will have spotted that the 2026 Golden Globes boasted…
Renowned New York City-based architectural lighting design firm Fisher Marantz Stone (FMS) has joined the late Paul Marantz’s family and friends in initiating a lighting design scholarship to honor the FMS founder, who died in June 2025 at age 87. In December, the Board of Directors of The Nuckolls Fund unanimously approved the proposal to…
Port Washington, N.Y.-based WAC Group has unveiled a new CEU course: Shaping LED Light – Technology and Trends for Decorative Luminaires. This dynamic course was created to help design professionals navigate the fast-changing world of decorative LED lighting. The course earns 2 HSW CEU credits through the IDCEC and AIA. According to the company, participants will discover…
Architectural lighting company Flos B&B Italia Group has tapped former Bed, Bath & Beyond President Dave Nielsen as the CEO for its San Francisco-based lighting etail division Lumens – which describes itself as an “online destination for design aficionados, architects, interior designers, and contract professionals” searching for luxury lighting. He will report to Piero Gandini, executive chairman…
By Geoffrey S. Marlow Consolidation is not strategy; it’s gravity. Like water finding its level, capital flows toward scale — particularly when private equity firms sit on record dry powder and interest rates finally stabilize after years of turbulence. The rebound we witnessed in 2024, with private equity deal volume up 22% and total announced…
Melville, N.Y.-based Leviton – the long-time manufacturer of electrical, lighting, data network and energy management solutions – is celebrating its 120th anniversary in 2026. Established in 1906, Leviton began as a small tinsmithing business founded by Isidor Leviton, where he produced mantle tips used for gas lighting. Since then, Leviton has grown from a single-product manufacturer into a…
Lutron’s RadioRA 3 represents a substantial upgrade to residential and light‑commercial lighting control, giving contractors a more capable, more efficient system to deploy across whole‑home projects. The suite of wireless dimmers, switches, keypads, sensors and shades work together to give homeowners centralized automated control of lighting and other devices. The platform’s redesigned architecture centers on Clear…
With its fully switchable panel, Lithonia Lighting’s CPANL LED Flat Panel gives crews the ability to fine‑tune performance on site without juggling multiple SKUs or worrying about last‑minute spec changes. It offers the kind of adaptability that keeps timelines tight and callbacks low. One of the biggest advantages for installers is the CPANL’s mounting flexibility….
The Metalux CBRK Center Basket Retrofit Kit from Cooper Lighting has become a go‑to option for contractors who want a clean, efficient upgrade path without the hassle of replacing entire troffers. Designed to fit standard 1×4, 2×2, and 2×4 fluorescent housings, it delivers a modern center‑basket aesthetic with noticeably improved optical performance. The CBRK’s custom…
As municipalities, campuses and park districts push for lower energy use and reduced site disruption, contractors are increasingly turning to solar lighting to meet project goals. Solera’s iSeries 4G Solar Area Light from Light Efficient Design is engineered with those pressures in mind, offering an integrated solar platform that installs quickly, performs reliably and minimizes…
For contractors looking to simplify luminaire‑level lighting control deployments, Leviton’s Intellect Wireless Fixture Controls can prove to be a solid option. The ZL0DS‑N00 model, designed for installation in a standard 1/2‑inch knockout, combines a DALI‑powered controller with integrated PIR occupancy sensing and daylight harvesting—reducing wiring, speeding installation and supporting code‑driven control strategies across commercial interiors….
RAB Lighting’s Slim17 is built around a simple idea: Give installers the options they need at a price point that works for everyday projects. The fixture delivers up to 3,813 lumens in the 30W version and 1,904 lumens in the 15W version, making it suitable for building perimeters, walkways and general security lighting. Its slim…
North Carolina-based Cree LED, a Penguin Solutions brand, and Blizzard Lighting LLC have reached a mutually beneficial settlement resolving a patent infringement dispute involving Cree LED’s patents related to LED components commonly used in LED displays. As part of the settlement, Cree LED has granted Blizzard a limited license to certain Cree LED patents covering…
By Patrick Hayes, General Manager at Contractor Training Center by Colibri Group For electrical contractors, technical skill has always been the starting point. Licensing, code compliance, and field experience are non-negotiable. If the work isn’t safe and correct, nothing else matters. What has changed is everything that happens around that work — how jobs are…
The adage, “Don’t sell rebates, sell outcomes” easily applies to the current landscape in the electric utility market today. With the sunsetting of some utility rebate programs – such swapping out incandescent, fluorescent, metal halide, and high-pressure sodium for LED versions on a lamp for lamp basis – many contractors, lighting specifiers, and facilities managers…
As the calendar turned, many in the lighting industry said “good riddance” to 2025. It was a rocky road given the impact of tariffs on the project market and product pricing. At the end of the day for most it was a “meh” year from a revenue viewpoint with tariff “inspired” pricing perhaps enabling for flat revenue performance … not a report card that anyone wants to come home with.