Nanoleaf is a smart-lighting tech company that centres their business on the why. With a focus on people and intuitive design, they’re changing the game with their beautifully simple lighting panels.
Our lead designer and resident techie, Leyton, got the chance to try out Nanoleaf’s natural-aesthetic Element panels, so here’s his impression!
Setting Up my Nanoleaf
It was super simple to get everything going – the hardest part was figuring out what configuration I wanted to put up! The hexagonal panels were all ready to be linked out of the box using the snap connectors, which are invisible once the panels are mounted. This leaves the configuration absolutely seamless, giving a really smooth and sophisticated aesthetic.
The biggest consideration at this point was choosing what pattern to display, as the panels are mounted using adhesives, meaning they can’t be easily reconfigured. These adhesives are simple to use, though, and if you do want to change things up, they come off the wall without leaving a mark – particularly good if you’re renting!
Once mounted, the panels are really easily lit up – plugging the power cable into just one hexagon powers the entire set straight away, making it a real ‘plug and play’ moment. Even without the app, there’s a discreet remote attachment you can place on any part of a panel that lets you control dimming, music sync, mode change, and of course turning the panels on and off.
Let There Be Light!
The panels really are beautiful with amazing brightness capabilities. You can choose between white light and warm orange – a good design choice, considering coloured lighting might look strange through bamboo – and the different pre-set patterns are great for setting a mood. For instance, having the panels glow softly, almost like ripples of water, is very comforting, creating a relaxing mood.
A great benefit to the wooden panels is that even when you’re not using them, they look great – like a piece of art on the wall. As the entire network of panels is powered by just one cable, you can even unplug the white cable when you’re not using it to make it 100% seamless, giving you wall art during the day and beautiful lighting at night.
My favourite thing about Nanoleaf is that it integrates directly with my other smart lights and power plugs using Google Home. I have quick access to control intensity and modes from my phone after connecting the Nanoleaf app to Google Home, and the voice activated features are great! You can name your Nanoleaf panels and just ask your Google Home speakers to turn them on – for me, that’s ’turn on honeycomb’, and they turn on immediately. You can name it anything you like, but honeycomb just made sense!
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