The concept for a scalable, flexible light source that could be shaped and sized for a broad range of applications and installed as easily as a light bulb found its way to Vancouver Canada and in 2009 a group of researchers and engineers formed Cooledge to transform the concept into a portfolio of products.

The company’s founders recognized several fundamental problems in lighting that needed to be addressed including form factor, efficiency and sustainability, cost, scalability and ease of use. They understood that if you could change the shape of a light source, less material would be needed to construct a fixture thereby lowering cost and improving sustainability. If efficiencies could be very high, energy consumption would be lowered, and if it could be done without thermal management, new, lighter and less costly materials could be used for lighting. Lastly, LED systems were proving to be technically challenging and the team recognized that creating products that were simple enough for anyone to install was a high priority.

The company’s first light sheet product was introduced in 2013 and received the Design Excellence Award from Lightfair for it’s innovative approach and advancing the state of the art in lighting. Light sheet also received Architectural Products’ Product Innovation Award and a Progress Report Award from the Illumination Engineering Society.

Cooledge is backed by both venture capital and grants from the Canadian Government through the SDTC program.