There is a wealth of options available in the electrical accessories market including new colourways, glass and wood-framed fittings and many more that can subtly create a designer look and feel which can elevate an interior – boosting margins and creating new opportunities for upsell. Mark Booth, Managing Director, Gira UK tells us more.
The progression of KNX system technology throughout the home has made linking devices much less complicated, so that a variety of devices can share one single, simple network and work together as required. Therefore you can offer more ways to control and influence lighting protocols depending on the type of smart living experience your customer is looking for.
Additionally, with the health and wellness market continuing to dominate consumer spending, it makes sense for designers to suggest chromatherapy as a lighting option and also to advise the end user regarding colour temperature as this can completely transform the user experience.
All together
Multi-function controls are something to consider, like the Gira touch sensor 3 which allows many intelligent building technology functions to be conveniently controlled at the press of a button, so it’s possible to switch on bathroom lights, dim them, raise or lower blinds and save or call up light scenes, for example. In the process, its operation adapts to the occupants’ needs. If functions ever change, the button assignment can be easily reprogrammed. The number of saved functions depends on the number of buttons.
I think the greater desire for personalised technology into the home means that regardless of age or background, we will want lighting controls which support the way we want to live our lives. For the grey market, this might mean an extra emphasis on clearly configured controls and call systems, and for a young family – ensuring that controls can be child-proofed would make sense. The sheer variety of switches and components available is triggering all sorts of ideas in terms of future integration, so the smart home possibilities that we see today are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of having highly-individualised homes which knows exactly what we like and when we like it.
Future design
Our aim is to continue designing and manufacturing intelligent build solutions which answer current trends. Black is a colour which has been elevated to new heights, viewed as the design classic for 2019. Our introduction of new Design Lines like our Gira E2 in stylish Matt Black is perfect for answering the industry’s growing desire for monochromatic interior schemes which embrace black hardware, fixtures and fittings. Plus, it’s no secret that one of today’s main concerns is finding an outlet to plug in your smartphone when it needs charging and a spare plug in any home, is now a thing of the past! Sadly, the market does not reflect this clear need for more outlets as most UK manufacturers typically offer only 1-2 gang frames, as standard.
Likewise, our Studio Design Line epitomises luxury specification at the highest level. A true expression of leading-edge design where a square becomes a circle, the new Gira Studio Design Line will awaken the static nature of a bare wall to elevate a space to new degrees of form and function. For the ‘modernists’, Gira recommends Studio Flush Mounted: a contemporary design with sleek, ultramodern attributes that is accentuated through the lustrous glass cover frame.
Indoor lighting
Meanwhile, Plug & Light makes indoor lighting smart and light control incredibly simple. Plug & Light is a defined interface which unites light control and power supply. Combined with appropriate light top units, Plug & Light offers easily controllable indoor lighting – from dimming to warm dim. The open system can be used in the most common flush-mounted device boxes, also in British Standard, and besides the controller, it reconfigures the handling of the associated light top units.
Each design line by Gira is able to support more than 300 functions so flexible indoor lighting can come to life for the end customer with ease and provide an infallible solution for professional electricians, installers and system integrators.
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