This is ECC’s eighth year of partnership with the Interior Awards, having come on board as a sponsor in 2015. Director Richard Thornburn tells us which ECC product utilises the next innovation in lighting, how smart lighting and LEDs can help customers in reducing energy consumption and, on the horizon, a next-gen miniaturisation that will render the technical elements of lighting completely invisible.

What new products or innovations does the design industry need to be aware of?

Richard: A notable innovation to mention would be the belt in which you place all kinds of luminaires.

The Vibia Plusminus harnesses the design of a belt in a ground-breaking lighting concept that merges materiality and light. Featuring a textural, fabric belt that conducts electricity, it enables light to flow through space. Plusminus provides professionals with a powerful toolkit for creating personalised lighting effects and unique atmospheres with different luminaires. An impressive apparatus for distinctive creations, it presents designers and architects with infinite possibilities for integrating light into an interior project. 

What is your company doing to help specifiers and designers reach their clients’  sustainability targets or goals?

Richard: Being in the lighting industry, we’re lucky we are easily able to help clients reduce their carbon footprint in several ways. It may be as simple as swapping their old halogen light sources out to far more energy-efficient LEDs, or working with smart lighting solutions to reduce energy consumption.

What future trends, from your market segment, do you see on the horizon for the architecture and design industry?

Richard: Connectivity and miniaturization. Technological evolutions are enabling lighting products to disappear into architecture seamlessly. In addition, control systems are becoming more advanced and simpler to implement in projects with the help of smart lighting products. 

ECC specialises in lighting and furniture for residential, commercial, retail, hospitality, street and urban projects. The company represents the world’s leading lighting and furniture brands and brings these exclusively to New Zealand, continually searching the world for innovative designs and solutions to meet increasingly complex lighting and design requirements. 

ECC was established in 1909 by George Levett Thorburn and is now run by grandson Mike Thorburn, and great-grandsons Richard and Andrew. Mike has been the driving force behind the development of an extensive range of lighting and furniture products over the last 35 years.

Every item in ECC’s showrooms has been personally selected with an eye for the unique and original, something the business has a true passion for. ECC firmly believes in building long-term relationships with manufacturers, as evidenced by their 30-year association with iGuzzini, Flos and Artemide; brands that draw on the talents of some of the world’s leading designers.