Astro has a long history of stepping on the podium to receive awards from experts in the lighting design industry, and with the Dunbar Concrete wall light they proved again that "concrete is chic", while raking the award for it.
As early as 2013 they received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and from then on, they would go on to many other award successes.
One of the latest awards Astro has won is for the Concrete Dunbar 160, which highlights a new truth in the world of lighting: that concrete is now definitely chic.
Astro’s Concrete Dunbar 160 receives Red Dot Product Design 2018 Award
Astro’s Concrete Dunbar 160 won the globally-renowned Red Dot 2018 Product Design Award, warding off strong competition. Red Dot promotes the very best in design across all fields, and the award provides an internationally recognised stamp of excellence for the Dunbar 160.It is hardly difficult to believe that Astro’s Dunbar gained such a high accolade once you have seen it in person.
This fitting is a LED wall downlighter to behold; a solid and immaculately curved swathe of concrete, with a sharp linear edge from which exudes powerful, glare-free illumination.
The Dunbar 160 proves that concrete can be chic: there is an innate character and charm in the raw materials that are used to construct this piece.
It is IP65 rated, having been crafted in a meticulous manner where the raw concrete was reinforced by adding waterproofing additives.
Due to its aesthetic and design brilliance, there are strong arguments as to whether it should be placed inside or outside.
The IP rating and concrete build may suggest outdoors, but it is a showcase of lighting design that you may prefer to place in the interior of your home.
Astro Lighting Concrete Lighting Range
Astro’s concrete range extends well beyond that of just the award-winning Concrete Dunbar 160. They have a variety of different designs with similar aesthetics to this wonderful piece.
For instance, the Mast Concrete Wall Light has an equally interesting design; styled in the form of the mast of a ship that will proudly protrude from your home’s wall.
It provides gentle diffused down lighting which appears majestic emanating from underneath its concrete exterior.
The Dunbar 120, meanwhile, mimics the form of the Dunbar 160, just with smaller dimensions, having a height of 120mm.
This more compact piece would make for an excellent reading light, fitting snugly on the wall of your bedroom or by a sofa in your living room.
Astro also boasts the Oslo range, similar in style to the Dunbar, but with a rectangular rather than cylindrical shape.
The Oslo 120 LED provides eco-efficient down lighting from its 3.9W LED bulb and – like the Dunbar 120 – is ideal for task lighting in your bedroom, living room or study room.
Of course, they can also be installed outdoor, since they have a high IP rating.
Then there is the taller Oslo 160 LED, which measures 160mm in height and will shed strong lighting in its immediate vicinity.
With its IP65 rating, this excellently designed fixture poses the same conundrum as the Dunbar 160: should it be placed outside or inside?
Either way, it is a good problem to have – and you can always purchase more than one.
Why are concrete lighting fixtures suddenly in vogue?
So it seems concrete lighting fixtures are in vogue all of a sudden – but why is this?Astro Lighting (and their designers) have found that concrete lights can blend an industrial look with elegance and functionality to create unique and exciting pieces.
These are pieces that are deemed worthy of Product Design Awards from the most esteemed of judges.
Concrete ‘chic’ fixtures are the latest lights in a trend occurring in home décor, which fuses different kinds of styles to allow for freedom of creative expression.
By using the ‘raw’ quality of the building material concrete, designers can bring a hint of the dramatic to a home’s interior.
This can clearly be seen with Astro’s range of concrete lighting fixtures, sold here at Sparks.
They imbue an alliance of power and elegance to create something remarkable for their customers.
