Solight Design
{{Short description|Company that makes rechargeable solar lanterns}}
Solight Design is an American company that manufactures portable solar lanterns intended to provide lighting in disaster areas and to people who otherwise have no access to electricity. It was co-founded by architecture professor Alice Min Soo Chun.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/09/flat-pack-solar-light-that-could-change-lives.html|title=Flat-pack bulb brings light to disaster zones|last=CNBC.com|first=Anmar Frangoul {{!}} Special to|date=2015-02-09|website=CNBC|access-date=2016-08-30}} She designed the company's signature product, the SolarPuff lantern, which is based on an earlier product created by Chun and some of her students at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture.
Products
Solight Design offers portable, cube-shaped, water-resistant solar lanterns that fold flat when not in use. The high-end version is the SolarPuff solar lantern,{{Cite web|url=http://www.solight-design.com/storeall/solarpuff|title=SolarPuff |website=Solight Design|access-date=2016-08-31}} while the more economical version is the SolarHelix solar lantern.{{Cite web|url=http://www.solight-design.com/storeall/solarhelix|title=SolarHelix |website=Solight Design|access-date=2016-08-31}}
Each lantern includes a solar panel, a rechargeable lithium polymer battery, and 10 LEDs. Exposing the solar panel to bright sunlight for about 8 hours charges the battery. A button on the lantern switches between off, low, high and blinking. A fully charged lantern can provide 100 lumens of light for up to 8–12 hours. The SolarPuff lantern (expanded 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches, 2.9 oz (shipping weight 3.2 oz.), flat pack to 0.25 inches) is larger than the SolarHelix lantern (expanded 4.3 x. 4.3 x.4.3 inches, 3 oz (shipping weight 3.5 oz.), flat pack to 0.5 inches). The SolarPuff lantern's material, that functions as a light diffuser, is very high quality sailcloth used for upscale ship sails. The Solar Helix lantern's material is flexible, recyclable TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane).
History
Solight Design's co-founder, Alice Chun, is an architecture professor interested in solar-powered light. As explained in Chun's 2016 TEDx talk,{{Citation|last=TEDx Talks|title=10 Million Rays of Light {{!}} Alice Chun {{!}} TEDxBushwick|date=2016-06-15|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko1gkRfX8ys|accessdate=2016-08-31}} in dealing with her son's asthma –about 10% of children in New York have asthma {{Cite web|url=http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/asthma.page|title=Asthma|website=www1.nyc.gov|access-date=2016-08-31}}–Chun realized that poor air quality caused by pollutants was a growing problem, motivating Chun to find ways to incorporate solar power into daily living. In 2008, Chun made experimental inflatable units having a solar panel, battery, LEDs, and fabric light diffuser; these experimental units were used in her studies for "skins" of buildings. Chun received a 2008 Brunner Grant from the Center for Architecture Foundation{{Cite web|url=http://cfafoundation.org|title=Center for Architecture Foundation New York. Promoting awareness of the built environment through educational programs, activities and scholarships.|website=cfafoundation.org|access-date=2016-08-31}} to explore energy efficient building skins.{{Cite web|url=http://main.aiany.org/eOCULUS/newsletter/brunner-grant-pushes-project-to-next-level/|title=Brunner Grant Pushes Project to Next Level|access-date=2016-08-31}}
After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Chun challenged students in her design studio class at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture to develop solutions for disaster relief that would help an individual, instead of city-sized or building-sized solutions that architecture students usually consider. Chun realized her experimental units could serve as individual solar lanterns. Chun's students contributed the concept of a handle. Chun and her students filed a patent application for her inflatable solar lamp. Chun's students were inspired to create their own company selling inflatable solar lanterns, LuminAID.
In 2010, Chun founded a non-profit organization, Studio Unite, renamed to FAARM (Focus on Architecture Art Research Making), to help use architectural approaches to disaster relief and people lacking electricity.{{Cite web|url=http://www.faarm.org/#mission|title=FAARM – Focus on Architecture Art Research Making|website=www.faarm.org|access-date=2016-08-31}} Some people lacking electricity use kerosene, with devastating effects to their health.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/09/flat-pack-solar-light-that-could-change-lives.html|title=Flat-pack bulb brings light to disaster zones|last=CNBC.com|first=Anmar Frangoul {{!}} Special to|date=2015-02-09|website=CNBC|access-date=2016-08-31}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/solarpuff-lantern-inspired-origami-and-earthquake.html|title=SolarPuff lantern is inspired by origami and an earthquake|access-date=2016-08-31}} While helping via FAARM, Chun met Dr./Ambassador Alison Thompson,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2016/06/07/leading-by-being-in-the-right-place-at-the-wrong-time/#22a4d09b5983|title=Leading By Being 'In The Right Place At The Wrong Time'|last=Fox|first=MeiMei|website=Forbes |access-date=2016-08-31}} who is now the executive director of FAARM.{{Cite web|url=http://www.faarm.org/#about|title=FAARM – Focus on Architecture Art Research Making|website=www.faarm.org|access-date=2016-08-31}}
File:Dr. Alison thompson delivering light.jpg
File:Dr. Alison thompson delivering light solar.jpg
File:Syrian Refugee camp wedding.jpgSyrian refugee camp wedding in Idomeni, Greece. The pitch black campsite illuminated by solar lanterns called SolarPuff. Love is everywhere, you just need light.|alt=Imagine a bride in a white wedding dress covering her head to her ground. The groom wearing a dark jacket and button up collared shirt. Refugees who are living in the camp are dressed up in dresses and long pants. Solar lanterns called SolarPuff illuminate the scene.
Chun realized that her inflatable solar lantern could be improved by eliminating the mouth nozzle, which could transfer germs orally, and then invented the origami-like folding SolarPuff solar lantern, which does not require mouth inflation.{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-weinkauf/let-there-be-light-invent_1_b_10823542.html|title=Let There Be Light! Inventor Alice Chun and Dr. Alison Thompson Bring Solight's SolarPuff to the World|last1=Poet|first1=Gregory Weinkauf|last2=pundit|date=2016-07-11|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=2016-08-31|last3=Writer|first3=Award-Winning}} A patent for her folding solar lantern was granted to Chun in 2015. In 2011, Chun founded Material Intelligence Project, Inc. (MIP), renamed to Solight Design, Inc. with Stacy Kelly as co-founder,{{Cite web|url=http://www.solight-design.com/our-story/|title=Our Story|website=Solight Design|access-date=2016-08-31}} to market her SolarPuff solar lanterns.
FAARM has distributed Solight Design's SolarPuff solar lanterns to Cameroon, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, Liberia, Nepal, Senegal, Greece, Turkey and Syria, bringing much-appreciated light to poor people and disaster victims.{{Cite web|url=http://www.faarm.org/#about|title=FAARM – Focus on Architecture Art Research Making|website=www.faarm.org|access-date=2016-08-31}}
In 2015, Solight Design began offering the more economical SolarHelix solar lantern.
In 2015, the New York Times advised its readers that the SolarPuff solar lantern is a good gift.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/02/fashion/weddings/05REGISTRYLIST.html|title=Gift Ideas for an Outdoor Summer Feast|last=Rohrlich|first=Marianne|date=2015-07-02|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-08-31}}
In 2015, Solight Design operated a Kickstarter fundraising campaign,{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/solightdesign/solarpuff-a-unique-little-solar-light|title=SolarPuff: A Unique Little Solar Light|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-31}} achieving 1200% of its funding goal as one of Kickstarter’s featured projects, raising $446,940 to fulfill backer's pledges and to send solar lanterns to earthquake victims in Nepal and to an orphanage in Haiti.{{Cite web|url=http://rmof.org|title=RMOF|website=rmof.org|access-date=2016-08-31}}
In 2015, Solight Design provided solar lanterns for Malala Yousafzai's talk at the opening day of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/s/photo/detail/643/0643861.html|title=Malala Addresses General Assembly at SDG Summit 2015|last=Garten|first=UN Photo/Mark|date=2015-09-25|access-date=2016-08-31}}
Awards
- 2016 Architizer Award,{{Cite web|url=http://awards.architizer.com|title=Architizer A+ Awards|website=Architizer A+ Awards|access-date=2016-08-31}} Lighting Accessories, Jury Winner {{Cite web|url=http://awards.architizer.com/winners/archive/?event=3&id=3|title=Architizer A+ Awards|website=Architizer A+ Awards|access-date=2016-08-31}}
- 2011 Core77 Design Award Runner Up, DIY/Hack/Mod {{Cite web|url=http://www.core77.com/posts/20279/core77-design-award-2011-solar-puff-runner-up-for-diyhackmod-20279|title=Core77 Design Award 2011: Solar Puff, Runner-Up for DIY/Hack/Mod|website=Core77|access-date=2016-08-31}}