Gustavo Adrían Defeo, CEO of Instrumenta, a company that develops laboratory instruments, presented a cutting-edge solution to solve the problems related to lighting in the field of color and meet the new European regulations
Honey yellow, raspberry red, sapphire blue, moss green. These are very catchy and descriptive names of colors. But are we sure that each person means the same shade? Usually not. How can you clearly describe a color and guarantee its durability over time? The type of lighting plays a crucial role in ensuring that shades remain faithful and accurate to how they appear in natural light. And that’s not all. Today, the world of lighting is experiencing a revolution dictated by the need for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, decreeing the end of obsolete technologies such as incandescent and fluorescent lamps, and promoting new types of light on the market. In this context, the company Istrumenta, besed in Santa Croce sull’Arno (Pisa province), has developed, in collaboration with Funkestudio Madrid, a ground-breaking LED light booth that opens new prospects for professionals who study and solve problems related to lighting in the field of measurement and visual perception of colors. CEO Gustavo Adrián Defeo explains the features and advantages of a project that is the result of years of research and experimentation.
Gustavo Adrián Defeo, what is your latest innovation about?
“The lighting system we have developed is profileable, meaning it allows you to manage the lighting conditions in terms of intensity, color rendering and color temperature. This allows for great versatility as it is possible to obtain a light perfectly in line with the standard D65 (an illuminant that represents average daylight, ed.), reproduce other commercial LED illuminants, and even develop extremely metameric lights, including the one with management of the UV component. In recent weeks, we have even managed to reproduce the color characteristics of other less performing D65s that we have found on the market, allowing our booth to be aligned with other competitors”.
What limits in terms of color rendering have been overcome today thanks to the launch of the cutting-edge LED light booth developed by Instrumenta?
“The versatility of the system allowed us to achieve an excellent color rendering index (CRI) in the D65 (over 98) included in the ‘disreputable’ R9, the sample value that indicates the rendering of bright reds. Usually, the color rendering is calculated on average for the first 8 test colors (R1-R8), because traditional illuminants did not reach high values or the rendering of red tended to reduce significantly with wear”.
To properly tackle a lighting project for a room, what calculations and rules are necessary to follow?
“If it is a shop where we have to display fashion items, it is essential to have a welcoming light (around 4,500 K) and at the same time with good color rendering (ideally above 90). In ‘warm’ light conditions I always recommend checking the rendering of blues and greens. Unfortunately, many warm commercial lights tend to dull the appearance of these tones, perhaps beautiful in the standard conditions of the research area”.
What new horizons of color studies does this tool open up for the materials/fashion sector?
“Our system allows full information exchange with the new systems developed by Konica Minolta for color management. By measuring the color of the light with the spectroradiometer, we can profile the lighting conditions of the light booth and simultaneously transfer the radiant spectrum to the Spectramagic NX2 software. This software allows for color quality control through the spectrophotometer, verifying the metameric index in comparison with the light we have measured. This unique versatility allows a dialogue between color measurement instruments never achieved before in commercial systems, being of great help in quality control and in the choice of reference masters”.
From the point of view of sustainability (efficiency, consumption, duration, etc.) what are the advantages and benefits found?
“Our system has allowed us to exceed the quality of filtered incandescent light, with low consumption and durability over time. From an energy point of view, we have detected a consumption of about 75 W compared to the approximately 1,500 W of incandescent lamps on the market. Furthermore, incandescent light bulbs last about 300/400 hours and the filters these cabins are equipped with deteriorate in about 4,000 hours of use. Our technology allows us to reach over 15,000 hours of use while respecting the standards. We can assume about 25,000 hours by correcting any deviations with a simple technical intervention”.
What feedback did you get from the market to date?
“The feedback is excellent, I would say. The first cabins produced have already been purchased by two very well-known brands in the fashion sector, as well as approved by others, and by two top-level tanneries. Everyone has appreciated the profiling versatility of our illuminant, allowing alignment with the old systems already tested”.
Gustavo Adrián Defeo, CEO Instrumenta
The fully profileable LED light booth developed by Instrumenta and Funkestudio
