SHEDDING LIGHT: THE LOOMING IMPACT OF LED SIGNAGE ON THE NEON COMMUNITY by Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez often based overseas.” This increase in shipping equates to an increase in the carbon footprint of the piece. It also means that when clients go with an LED option, there are fewer jobs for local neon benders. DeLyser believes that a recent cultural interest and revival of neon has helped to counterbalance this effect—but only to a certain extent. “LED has represented a significant deskilling in a highly skilled industry. A 15-year-old with a glue gun can install LEDs. Not so tube bending,” notes DeLyser. “The technology in today’s neon signs has mostly been around for about a century. There are signs all over the country today that are 90-95 years old and still working outdoors every night. Neon has proven itself to be very, very durable.” Unfortunately, the immediate availability of LEDs has resulted in them becoming an increasingly popular alternative. But are consumers really putting their money into something that will last for decades, the way that neon does? “[LEDs] have been getting more reliable, but typically run into a lot of problems. Since they’re not very old, nobody knows how long they’ll really last,” shares DeLyser.
The battle between neon and LED lighting first came to my attention on social media. Neon benders such as Bay Areabased Meryl Pataky have been spreading awareness of the environmental and cultural pitfalls of mass-produced LED signs, in contrast to traditional “cold cathode” neon illumination. The growing popularity of LEDs, which stands for Light-Emitting Diodes, has undoubtedly directed revenue away from skilled glassmakers who create neon while also having a greater negative impact on the environment. To top it off, multiple members of the artist collective Pataky founded, She Bends, have pointed out direct plagiarism of their designs by companies manufacturing LED décor lights. By taking a “rope” or strip of LED lights and flexing it into the shape of lettering, these companies are able to make a product that approximates the appearance of a neon sign. A true neon sign is made by meticulously heating and hand-bending glass tubing into the desired shapes, then sealing the tubes and pumping them full of noble gasses that illuminate when excited by electricity. Pataky and others allege that LED companies have been known to steal
the designs of existing neon benders, as well as make fraudulent claims to manufacture real neon. One example of this trend can be seen in the Neon Beach Company, which has gone so far as to put the word “neon” in its name without producing any actual neon. Another tactic commonly used by LED sign companies is to spread false statements that neon signs are toxic, get too hot, are short-lived, or are non-recyclable, all of which are untrue. “They benefit from the out of context and very generalized information that most people know which is that LED is more efficient than incandescent bulbs. Okay, that has nothing to do with neon,” says Pataky. “Neon signs are sometimes made by larger sign companies, but often by little mom-and-pop shops. These shops are typically located in the towns/cities where the signs will be installed—local people making a local product,” states Dydia DeLyser, Ph.D., a cultural-historical geographer and Associate Professor at California State University, Fullerton. “LEDs, though they may be installed by small sign companies, are produced by major corporations, often global multi-nationals,
Pyre (2018) by Kate Hush, a neon artist and member of the She Bends collective.
An LED copy of Kate Hush’s work "Pyre," as seen on the Neon Beach website. (www.neonbeach.com)
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GASNEWS
FALL 2020
VOLUME 34, ISSUE 4
