If you’ve been paying attention to recent furniture exhibitions in Italy and Germany, Boris Niessing is only confirming what you already know. 

“Upgrading cabinets with light is a clear trend across Europe right now,” he said. “We are in close contact with leading European kitchen manufacturers, and they are very emphatic that the two main drivers of demand right now are, first, lighting, and second, sustainability.”

Niessing is the managing director of Germany-based lighting manufacturer Elektra GmbH, and he is still buzzing with the energy generated from earning an Interzum Award at this May’s behemoth fair in Cologne. Their new low-profile spot ring light uses less raw material and reduces manufacturing waste by 50 percent over traditional puck lights. That raises the bar for under-cabinet LED lighting. 

Sustainability was THE main topic at Interzum this year, and Elektra scored a direct hit. 

“Less is more” is core to Elektra’s DNA, Niessing explains. The company strives to engineer systems that reduce installation, mounting and wiring requirements for cabinet and furniture manufacturers, while also giving them a design edge. These are all features customers are drawn to. 

Factory-installed lighting systems 
To this end, the company has engineered a system of electrified rails that can be embedded into shelf and cabinet panels, allowing installers and users to adjust shelves as they normally would without fiddling the wiring every time. It also streamlines manufacturing and installation for cabinet and closet manufacturers. 

“We bring electrification into cabinets through rails embedded in the partitions or sidewalls, which channel power to recessed luminaires integrated into the shelves,” says Niessing. “This permits you to change your shelf heights without rewiring anything on the job site. All the necessary components — the power rails and the luminaires — are installed in routed channels at the cabinet factory like any other hardware. It’s important to note that you don’t need power rails on both sides of the shelf. Only one power rail is required on one interior vertical panel, further reducing machining and materials.”

Niessing emphasizes that there are no visible wires, connectors or power supplies. Everything is fully integrated into the wood components. No matter where you or your customer position the shelves, the lights will have power. You don’t have to call an electrician every time you want to make a change.

Installation and maintenance advantages are obvious with potential uses, well, everywhere. Niessing says this technology was pioneered by and is unique to Elektra, and being embraced by OEM and custom cabinet manufacturers as a way to add style, function and value, with minimal costs. 

Returning to the topic of efficiencies, Niessing says Elektra strives to deliver all of this performance and flexibility with the fewest possible number of components across all its designs. It not only manufactures its own products, which include linear LEDs, recessed and spot lighting; but also it engineers the tooling to make them. This, Niessing says, positions the company to quickly respond to unique requests from OEMs looking for proprietary solutions. 

Light in every space
Removing shadows from dark corners in kitchen work areas and closet nooks, lighting up deep cabinet and drawer interiors, adding a little extra sparkle to your wine rack, creating a glow around your toe kicks, steps, stairs and even at crown mouldings, designers are finding more creative ways to use low-profile, low-wattage lighting around homes, apartments, condos and even RVs.

On the commercial side, Niessing says Elektra’s lighting solutions are found throughout Europe adding a healthy glow to produce in grocery stores, making pharmacies and convenience stores more attractive, and spotlighting must-have items in athleisure boutiques. 

All Elektra LED lighting can be dimmed and controlled for color temperature.  Some systems can be controlled by an app. Surface-mount versions of many of Elektra’s products are available for after-sale installation.

You can specify Elektra GmbH through Richelieu Hardware. Look for Elekta at this year’s Executive Briefing Conference in September, Italy’s SICAM Fair in October and KBIS next spring. 

Learn more at https://elektra.de/en/.