In the beginning, light for humans only came from the stars: from the sun and its reflection on the moon. For thousands of years, mankind accepted its inability to see in the dark and adapted to the natural rhythm of the celestial bodies, sunrise and sunset. But this convention changed about 2 million years ago. The appearance of the controlled use of fire marked the beginning of the search for how to turn night into day at will. But obtaining light from burning material was very inefficient (it heated more than it illuminated) and unpleasant (smoke created pollution). Around 70,000 years ago, light began to be produced by burning fuels: first animal fat, later oil or wax and more recently gas and kerosene. This not only enabled a more efficient use of energy, but also necessitated a more specific design of the light source.
With the advent of electrical energy at the beginning of the last century, a technological development began which - regardless of the physical principle of light generation (incandescent lamp, fluorescent tube or metal halide) - replaced almost all other energy sources. The next step in light generation came with the development of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). For the first time, light moved from the field of electricity to the field of electronics. But for some reason, this revolutionary step has not yet fully permeated society; people look for lamps in the household appliance department, not in the electronics department. Our project for Artemide connects the first and the last moment in the history of light: the celestial bodies with electronics. On the one hand, we want light to change in intensity and direction - more according to the principle of phases than by moving parts of a mechanism. On the other hand, we want to recognize that the future of light is electronic and not electrical.
The special potential of electronics lies in its ability to transmit information that enables various forms of interaction, such as via a touch screen. Our project is therefore a spherical, movable, low-voltage luminaire that is activated intuitively by touch. Hence the name Huara, the aymarà word for star. Aymarà is the indigenous people of the Atacama Desert, the driest and darkest in the world. In other words: the place from which you can see the most stars on the planet. No wonder that by 2020, around 70% of the most modern astronomical observation capacity on earth will be located in the land of the Aymarà. Huara honors humanity's original source of light and the most modern technology.
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