Small Yet Precise Hot off the heels of its success at the 2018 [d]arc awards, David Morgan puts Precision Lighting’s tiny Atto range under the microscope.
W
hen the author of a successful book series
on how to gain entry to medical and dental schools founds an architectural lighting
company, which goes on to create a series of
award-winning and innovative products, it is clear there is an interesting story to be told.
While Joe Ruston spent some of his career in
education, he has always had a passion for engineering and product
development. His degree in Engineering from Cambridge University was followed by an MSc in Guided Weapons Systems, and he then went to work as a Weapons Engineer in the Royal Navy.
In 2000, Joe and his son Alex founded Precision Lighting, as a UK spin off from an older US-based lighting company, Translite, in which Joe had an interest. Translite was sold to Lightolier at around the same time that Precision Lighting was born.
Based in London, Precision Lighting currently shares facilities and staff with sister company Remote Controlled Lighting (RCL). RCL
grew out of a custom product request to Precision Lighting in 2001
for remote controllable motorised lighting systems, and since then, the company has seen steady growth from two to 35 employees, all working on projects across the globe.
Precision’s focus has always been on manufacturing high quality display lighting systems for museums, galleries and retail
applications. The range includes a remarkably wide variety of
spotlights including some older types for MR16 halogen lamps, as well as many based on LED light engines. All the Precision
Lighting spotlights are NC machined from aerospace grade 6063T6 aluminium, which is particularly suitable for anodizing with a
consistent flawless finish. The sophisticated product design in the spotlight range is impressive, with full 360˚ rotation and rotation
locks for all movements. It’s fair to say, the name Precision is most definitely fitting for the product quality and attention to detail. One of Precision Lighting’s most recent developments is the
introduction of its Atto range, which won the KIT - Interior award in David Morgan Associates, a Londonbased international design consultancy specialising in luminaire design and development and is also MD of Radiant Architectural Lighting. Email: david@dmadesign.co.uk Web: www.dmadesign.co.uk
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the 2018 [d]arc awards. The Atto range was developed as a response to requests from lighting designers to make the existing Precision Lighting Pico range, originally introduced in 2011, even smaller.
Designers waited seven long years before the Precision team were
ready to launch the Atto range, but it seems it was worth the wait.