A gala was held on 28 September on the occasion of the opening of Zumtobel’s first Light Center on the Asian continent. Innovative lighting solutions for a variety of applications are presented in the combined office / showroom area of more than 240m².
The Shanghai Light Center focuses on offices and communication, hotel and wellness, art and culture, as well as shop and retail. The maintenance and development of customer relations by means of high-calibre architectural events are other key functions of the lighting communication venues. Moreover, they serve to illustrate Zumtobel‘s lighting philosophy for both customers and employees who work and meet directly in the Light Center: the first thing is the application, then comes the product.
In three Light Forums and fifteen Light Centers across the globe, Zumtobel is now offering a quality of encounter that goes far beyond mere product presentation. For the time being, 14 Zumtobel employees will develop the Chinese market from the Shanghai Light Center. In coming years, growth in markets outside Europe in particular will be a major goal for Zumtobel. Using high-quality lighting solutions and sophisticated products, Zumtobel has implemented prestigious projects over the past years, such as the Beijing Fine Art Academy, the Huawei Building Complex in Shanghai and the Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou.
The new Light Center is intended to reinforcethe presence of the Vorarlberg-based luminaire manufacturer in this important growth region. Martin Böwe, director of emerging markets, explains: “For Zumtobel, the rapidly growing economic area of China is of major importance. The newly opened Light Center in Shanghai allows us to present our innovative lighting solutions and high-quality products to our partners and customers in an even more impressive manner. We are also highlighting that we consider the Asian market to be of great strategic importance. In coming years, we seek to establish ourselves as a supplier of high-quality lighting solutions in the region.”
As early as in the 1980s, Zumtobel was the first company in the luminaire industry to develop an application-oriented presentation of luminaires in special cubes, as these allowed to present the effects of light in a particularly impressive way. Based on this concept, the first Light Forum was created in Vienna in 1996, indicating that Zumtobel had effectively turned from a luminaire
manufacturer to a professional lighting solution expert, a position the organisation has consistently expanded ever since. In line with the vision to communicate a passion for light, worlds of lighting experience are created, which reveal the full creative power of this versatile building material. As part of the basic idea, renowned architects are engaged to create places that respond to local conditions while clearly reflecting cross-cultural ambitions.
The Vienna Light Forum, for instance, reflects the style of Hans Hollein, Berlin‘s Light Centre was designed by Sauerbruch-Hutton architects, and the design of the Lemgo Light Forum was created by architects Bolles + Wilson.