Natural Origins In this issue, David Morgan inspects Orluna’s Fade Adjustable downlight fitted with the new Origin Natural light engine, following its debut at [d]arc room livestream.
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50-year business trajectory has taken Orluna
from its origins in the aeronautical industry into the architectural downlighting market. Started in 1973 by a group of aeronautical engineers, the company was involved in
early applications for LED light sources for
use in civil and military projects where their
efficiency, long life and mechanical resilience were ideally suited.
This was long before LEDs were adopted for use in general lighting, so the company had a good headstart in their use.
In 2009, Andrew Kilborn took over the company after a career in
private equity and venture capital. Under his management, Orluna has become one of the leading suppliers of downlights for high-
end residential, hospitality and retail applications, working closely with lighting designers and specifiers around the world. His focus for Orluna is to grow the company organically with a long term investment horizon.
The company is truly international. It currently has more than 50
employees with overseas offices in Austria, Dubai and Singapore and works with a network of partners in 32 countries.
Orluna’s first big success in the architectural lighting market was the Quad 50 range of architectural downlights, which proved to
be popular with the international lighting design community and helped to establish the brand.
All Orluna products are made in the UK with an above industry average content of UK-made mechanical components. Orluna plans to increase this proportion to even higher levels in the
future. Sustainability is an important topic for the company and, David Morgan Associates, a Londonbased international design consultancy specialising in luminaire design and development and is also MD of Radiant Architectural Lighting. Email: david@dmadesign.co.uk Web: www.dmadesign.co.uk
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by sourcing more mechanical components locally, it will help to reduce the carbon footprint caused by the shipping required to
work with overseas supply chains. It will also allow easier re-use
and re-assembly of products at the end of the life of the luminaire
when light engines and drivers need to be replaced. By focusing on
