Light Tape is the coolest, most innovative Richmond company that you’ve seen and admired but never heard of. If you’ve been to The Dome IMAX theatre at the Science Museum of Virginia, seen the movie Tron: Legacy, or caught a glimpse of the light-up advertisements on some of Richmond’s GRTC buses, you have experienced what some are calling the future of electroluminescent technology.
Light Tape is the coolest, most innovative Richmond company that you’ve seen and admired but never heard of. If you’ve been to The Dome IMAX theatre at the Science Museum of Virginia, seen the movie Tron: Legacy, or caught a glimpse of the light-up advertisements on some of Richmond’s GRTC buses, you have experienced what some are calling the future of electroluminescent technology.
Light Tape is an ultra thin, lightweight electroluminescent material that produces a bright, even, and luminous glow and can be applied to almost any surface. It’s between 0.01 and 0.01 inches thick depending on the color, thinner than a credit card, and flexible enough to contour around a six-millimeter diameter object.
“We take different layers of precious metals, coatings of phosphors, and then some other special cookie dough items that go in there and we layer them all in on a coating and then we process these big rolls, about 40 inches wide by 1000 feet long,” said Lauren Davis, Business Development Leader at Light Tape.
“The way it actually works is that when the electricity is applied to the light tape, it excites the phosphors and causes them to illuminate. much like your plasma screen television or your old Indiglo watch, kind of the same concept.”
The tape is manufactured in large shining panels and strips that can be shaped and cut to fit any design. Their massive and seamlessly illuminated light panels have been used as backlighting for eye-catching architectural designs and advertisements.
“For backlighting we focus on the billboards, around Richmond there’s a couple buses with ads on the side that are lit up with Light Tape… We do billboards, bus shelters, all kinds of stuff like that, and we also do a lot of back-lighting of bars,” Davis said.
Locally the Belle & James, Fat Dragon, Lemon Cuisine of India, and the new restaurant Shagbark that opened last Thursday feature light design elements by Light Tape. The backlit honey onyx bar at the Belle & James (top image) is a beautiful and elegant example of Light Tape’s potential applications.
Light Tape also provides accent lighting for a more discreet but infinitely sophisticated addition to both residential and commercial spaces.
“We do a lot of applications for after-market products so we worked with Boeing and Airbus airlines to do in-seat lighting and then we worked with some car manufacturers and companies like that that incorporate light tape into their finished product,” said Davis. “And then we also do outdoor accent lighting so it’s kind of like a neon replacement, more green, more friendly, it doesn’t have any glass or bulbs to break.”
Light Tape uses 40 percent less power than traditional LEDs at equal brightness and can run for 40,000 hours, or 10 to 12 years in a commercial business setting, before needing to be replaced.
“Of course over the years it’s been improved upon. Higher-end phosphors, different color offerings, advanced power supplies and electronics… it’s way more controllable now versus ten or so years ago,” Davis said.
Light Tape was originally based in Cambria, California where the future president and CEO of Light Tape, Steve Pendlebury first discovered an exciting business opportunity in the form of a father/son duo experimenting with phosphorus luminescent technology. In 2004, he quit his job at Honeywell, bought a share in the company, and became a partner. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Pendlebury bought out the original owners in 2007 and moved Light Tape back to Virginia where he grew up.
Today, Light Tape’s offices are located at 1320 N. Boulevard and Light Tape has expanded distribution of its unique product worldwide, with partners in Columbia, the UK, the Middle East, and South Africa.
Light Tape was used in the set design, costumes, and construction of a billboard on Sunset Boulevard for the movie Tron: Legacy (pictured above), it’s been used in live shows for the band Franz Ferdinand and will illuminate billboards across the country advertising Netflix’s new original movie The Little Prince beginning Friday, August 5th.
