Luchae was incorporated in February 2008 for the specific purpose of manufacturing light panels that would be used to backlight fine art paintings and fine art photography. The problem was that in 2008 the technology didn’t exist to make that practical. All of the existing light panels were too dim, had poor light color that didn’t enhance the image, were too bulky, as well as having endless other problems.
There were so many problems with that existing technology that we changed the lighting technology twice, changed major suppliers four times, and completely redesigned and retooled the project five times. The result is a light panel that now we can unequivocally state is the best in the world.
As we worked to overcome the technical problems with light panels; we discovered that we had failed to address an equally serious obstacle of how to print the images. At that time backlits were the only medium available for use with light panels. The problem with backlits is that they are too dark when the illumination is turned off. That turned into a multiyear quest to develop a printing process in which the printed image would look attractive when illuminated from the front and would look awesome when illuminated from behind.
Along this journey we discovered the need to include dimmer controls with each Luchae so that it would be possible for the consumer to easily adjust the amount of illumination from behind with the illumination from the front so that the Luchae would have a more balanced natural look. After years of struggling to get this medium to look flawless we are finally there with the result that we have started manufacturing and selling Luchaes through fine art photographers and artists.