5 Things to Know: March 7

Inside Lighting will be on the ground in Frankfurt, Germany next week as the global lighting industry gathers for Light + Building, the massive biennial trade fair that runs March 8 - 13. The event typically draws a heavily European audience, with manufacturers, designers, and technology groups arriving from across the continent and beyond. Roughly 2,000 exhibitors are expected this year, and about 60 percent represent the lighting sector.

North American exhibitor participation remains relatively small. Fewer than 25 exhibitors typically come from the United States or Canada. Among those making the trip this year are WAC Group, Bold Lighting, Tokistar, Ambor Structures, Autani, the DALI Alliance, and the Zhaga Consortium.

For many manufacturers, the primary draw is less about booth traffic and more about insight. Europe often runs ahead of the U.S. and Canada on sustainability mandates, circular design thinking, and certain architectural lighting trends. Companies attend to see what might soon cross the Atlantic and to gauge how evolving regulations and design philosophies are shaping the next generation of luminaires and controls.

Lighting design will also take center stage Tuesday night when the International Association of Lighting Designers hosts the IALD International Lighting Design Awards in Frankfurt.

And in a moment when geopolitical tensions have sharpened awareness of potential security risks, it’s worth noting that Frankfurt itself does not host any U.S. military installations. The closest major facilities are Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) away and home to U.S. Army Europe headquarters, and Ramstein Air Base, about 115–120 kilometers (around 70 miles) from the city and the largest U.S. air base in Europe.

Inside Lighting will be reporting from Frankfurt throughout the week.

Signify is reshaping its Supervisory Board with a set of proposed moves that appear routine on paper but signal a subtle shift in oversight priorities.

The company announced that Jeroen Drost will become chair on March 1, succeeding Gerard van de Aast, who will remain on the board until his term expires in 2027. The arrangement resembles a planned handoff rather than a break in governance, with the former chair staying inside the boardroom during the transition.

Two new directors are proposed: Barbara Holzapfel, a German-American executive with enterprise software and SaaS experience, and Jeroen Hoencamp, a telecom veteran known for leading large-scale digital integration efforts.

The backgrounds are notable. Neither addition comes from traditional manufacturing ranks. Instead, both bring deep experience in software platforms, digital infrastructure, and business transformation — areas increasingly central to connected lighting systems and services.

Board member Rita Lane will step down after a decade of service. With her departure, two Americans remain on the board — Holzapfel and Sophie Bechu — both dual citizens.

Taken together, the board refresh suggests Signify’s oversight priorities are tilting toward the digital side of the lighting business.

For decades, lighting lead times have come with a quiet caveat: estimated. Everyone understands what that means. Projects slip. Factories run late. The fixtures arrive when they arrive.

A UK distributor is now attempting to attach consequences to that reality.

Brokis at EDC, the London-based partner for Czech glass lighting brand Brokis, has introduced what it calls the Bohemian Precision Guarantee — a delivery policy that refunds customers when shipments run late. If an order misses its promised timeline, designers receive 5% of the order value back per week, capped at 20%.

On a £20,000 order, that could mean a £4,000 refund.

The policy emerged from a complaint the company’s founder, James Apichart Jarvis, heard repeatedly from designers: they don’t necessarily need faster lead times. They need accurate ones.

In most lighting projects, suppliers quote timelines but carry little financial downside when they miss them. Designers, meanwhile, are left managing angry clients and stalled installations.

Jarvis says the guarantee is meant to rebalance that equation. “This isn’t a promise of speed,” he says. “It’s a promise of certainty.”

More than a century after the incandescent bulb changed the world, Thomas Edison’s legacy still flickers through today’s lighting industry.

A recent local history feature revisits Edison’s ties to Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where researchers are combing through historic newspapers and records to better understand his time in the region. Local historian and Watsontown Glass Company owner Rick Wolfe reviewed old newspaper accounts of Edison’s visit.

One detail stands out. While Edison drew attention during his time in the area, some residents reportedly skipped the opportunity to see the famed inventor because they were too busy tending to their crops.

The story is part of the America250 initiative highlighting figures who shaped the nation. In hindsight, missing a chance to see the man who helped electrify the modern world might qualify as one of history’s more quietly regrettable scheduling conflicts.

Polybion and Mexico-based design studio Natural Urbano have introduced Lapso, a luminaire made from bacterial cellulose.

The lamp uses Celium, a biofabricated material grown through bacterial fermentation and formed into thin sheets. Each fixture is handcrafted from five cellulose layers, creating natural variations in tone, density, and texture so that no two pieces are identical.

When illuminated, the translucent material reveals layered gradients and organic patterns. When unlit, the ruffled form reads more like a soft sculpture, emphasizing the biological qualities of the material.

Lapso debuted at The Biofab Fair during the 2025 London Design Festival, highlighting one of the early uses of bacterial cellulose in lighting design. The lamp is available in two versions: Natural, which retains the warm tone of untreated cellulose, and Humo, a darker dyed variation.

Each piece is made to order and ships worldwide with an estimated two-month lead time.