LED evangelist Teddy Lo combines art and commerce in real world
LED technology, once restricted to one colour for use in calculators and VCRs, is now a 'planet-saving' ubiquitous source of illumination
A suggested war cry for those save-the-worlders who have seen the light (and are partial to cold war-era sloganeering): better LED than dead.
The proclamation's modern application refers to the light-emitting diode's capacity to slash electricity consumption and bring about our exodus from the greenhouse of doom. No longer simply red readouts on rudimentary calculators, LEDs are the power behind pictures on jumbo TV screens, the transmission of information from remote controls, the intensely annoying scrolling text up the sides of the ICC in West Kowloon, and much more. But first, a taste of the gospel of the holy diode: Planet LED, recently published by Teddy Lo.
A heavyweight volume, weighing in at 3.2kg, the book is a celebration of all things LED: in design, art, the environment, the "new visual culture" of indoor and outdoor video displays and commercial and residential lighting. The book features contributions from the world's innovators in optics, photovoltaic cell production, digital video and advertising, hospitality-industry lighting - the credits are extensive.
The engine driving it, however, is author Lo, an LED evangelist and Hong Kong and New York-based LED artist and designer who has exhibited his creations on the "tech-art scene" in Asia, Europe and the United States.
"I started as an artist in New York, using LED for contemporary arts," he says. "Then lots of people asked me to do commercial lighting design with LEDs, so I got into the industry. I saw how broad LED technology was and how it affected the market."
Later, Lo joined the family firm in Hong Kong, which was also involved with LEDs and learned about manufacturing and how general lighting and video technology are influencing the lighting business in different countries.
"I've met so many intelligent and talented people in a wide spectrum of industries. That's why I had the idea for a book," says Lo, adding that he did not really get started until studying for a master's in lighting at Queensland University of Technology, when he needed to come up with two final assignments.