Special lighting design and technical layout for jewelry stores

With the development of modern economy, the jewelry industry has developed rapidly, and the huge market potential is obvious to all. Jewelry space display is an emerging industry. In order to fully convey the brand, style, culture and concept of jewelry to consumers, successfully complete the perfect combination of sales and brand culture, and truly reflect the value of jewelry, the importance of jewelry space display design cannot be ignored. Jewelry lighting is an important part of jewelry space display. The following introduces the basic principles of jewelry lighting and common lamps.

 

1. The purpose of special lighting for jewelry stores

The color emitted by the light source itself is the “light source color”, and the color reflected by the jewelry when illuminated by the light source is generally called the “surface color”. With the exception of some gemstones that have a fluorescent or phosphorescent effect, jewelry itself is non-luminous.

Although natural light is the most ideal light source for appreciating natural gemstones, in actual sales, due to site restrictions, merchants often have to choose artificial lights for lighting. How to use the appropriate light source to show the value of jewelry – this is the purpose of jewelry-specific lighting. When decorating stores or counters, some jewelers generally only pay attention to the brightness of the light, and only consider whether they can make the overall store feel gorgeous and magnificent. However, they ignore the proportion of light sources, leaving no difference between the subjects and non-subjects of sales. .

 

2. Design principles followed by jewelry store-specific lighting systems

Jewelry store lighting is relatively more professional than general commercial store lighting, and the lighting system is more specialized. In the design, lighting systems of different specifications should be used according to different characteristics of jewelry. Therefore, when purchasing lamps, we must carefully consider the principles that the lighting system must follow.

 

(1) Choose the correct illumination value.

Jewelry exhibits require high illumination, 2000 to 2500lx. The same illumination cannot be used for jewelry products with different characteristics.

 

(2) The brightness of each area must be appropriate.

Jewelry displays have certain similarities with general commercial displays. Light is used to distinguish different areas, and the brightness of each area must be appropriate. The brightness and illumination of the display area (the area where the exhibits are located, such as booths, exhibition walls, display cabinets and shelves) should be high. Walk-in seating areas and transition spaces should have lower brightness.

 

3. The light requirements of different jewelry materials

In order to protect the rights and interests of consumers, the international and domestic jewelry industry requires that the colors of natural gemstones be evaluated uniformly under uniform conditions, so there are certain requirements for the light source of gemstone lighting in stores. The earliest commercial lighting (glass cabinets) used full-spectrum incandescent lamps with good color rendering. 

Generally considered to be the most suitable light source. But since 1996, tests have been conducted and it has been found that removing the interference spectrum of 15nm and 580nm can allow jewelry to achieve better display. Taiwan’s jewelry-specific lamps use a unique reflective coating to achieve this. Therefore, if LED can be introduced into jewelry lighting and its spectrum selected, different types of jewelry can be illuminated to achieve better results.

 

(1) Diamond

Diamonds There are very few colored diamonds in nature, and under normal circumstances, they are evaluated individually. The unified grading of diamond color is mainly for the vast majority of white diamonds with slight yellow color, and mainly evaluates the visibility of the yellow component in the diamond.

 

Traditional diamond color grading uses the color temperature of sunlight from the clear northern sky from morning to afternoon, which is 4800K. Currently, most diamond grading is done in laboratories, and internationally the colorimetric method developed by the American Jewelry Institute is used. The colorimetric method is to compare the standard sample with the standard color grade under the diamond lamp of the standard light source (color temperature 5000K-5500K). 

If the color of the diamond is consistent with the standard sample, the color grade will be the same as the standard sample. If the standard sample is at the two poles, Among them, the color grade of the diamond is at a lower level. Appropriate strong light irradiation will make the diamond more shiny, because the pavilion of the diamond has 25 faces, and all the light hitting the faces will be reflected from the table. The strong white reflected light will improve the color grade of the diamond.

 

(2) Colored gemstones

There are many varieties of colored gemstones, and the colors of the same gemstone are also extremely rich. When observing the color of colored gemstones in an environment with a low color temperature of sunlight, there will be more yellow tones in the light, which will enhance the color of red, purple, yellow, yellow-green and other warm-colored gemstones. color grade. Under the bright light of midday, observe colored gemstones colored by the elements chromium and iron. Gemstones that are colored by chromium elements, such as rubies and emeralds, will emit red fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun, making the colors of rubies and emeralds rich and bright. 

In contrast, red grossular garnet, which is colored by iron, not only cannot produce fluorescence, but iron ions have a strong absorption effect on light, making the color of the gemstone darker. Only by understanding the cause of jewelry color can we determine the required waveband and spectral distribution. For example, for sapphire lighting, spectrum selection should be carried out in the 600nm-700nm spectral band.

 

(3) Jade

More than 80% of the world’s jadeite comes from Myanmar, so international standards require the cloudless sky from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the summer solstice as the standard light source. Since jadeite is colored by iron and chromium, the species and water of jadeite have a great influence on the grade of jadeite, so different spectra must be used for lighting. Ordinary jade can adopt a color temperature of about 3200K, which is biased toward red and yellow light colors. 

A continuous spectrum with a color temperature of 2800K-3200K can be used, but under such color temperature conditions, it is difficult for truly high-end jade to stand out. The color temperature of high-grade jadeite needs to be between 4500K and 5500K, the color rendering property must be Ra>90, and a light source with a wider spectral range should be used.

 

(4) Gold and platinum

The spectral reflectivity of the gold surface is only 50% at 500nm, and can reach 92% at 60nm. Therefore, when setting the spectral distribution of the lighting source, you can choose a larger value between 600nm and 650n. The color temperature of the golden lighting source is 2800K, and the illumination value should be Eh≥2000lx.

 

4. Jewelry display lighting methods

Compared with display lighting, jewelry display lighting is more specialized and systematic. In jewelry display, showcases generally use local lighting, also called accent lighting, which is a category of space display lighting. The fundamental purpose is to highlight the exhibits. Lighting is determined based on the type, shape, and display method of the exhibits. 

The brightness of local lighting is 3 to 5 times stronger than the brightness of basic lighting to enhance the communication of exhibit information and highlight the luster, texture and material of exhibits; different light color displays, the particularity of different exhibits, and always keep in mind the Protection of exhibits.

 

5. Professional light sources currently used in jewelry stores

(1) Fluorescent lamp tube

In the past, fluorescent tubes were the light source that jewelers had to use when appraising and purchasing jewelry, and were only suitable as basic lighting in the store. Now it has been gradually withdrawn from jewelry store decoration.

 

(2) Tungsten halogen lamp

Tungsten halogen lamps are compact and easy to control, but have low luminous efficiency and short lifespan. Its color temperature is low and the light is yellowish, which can easily distort the color of jewelry, so it can only be used for gold lighting. And because of its low light efficiency and poor chromaticity, it can only be used for accent lighting. 

Since the light source is very close to the jewelry, thermal radiation can easily cause aging and discoloration of the jewelry. Also, because of its low light efficiency and low heat dissipation capacity, it is a high-energy-consuming light source and is limited to a very small amount of accent lighting. Currently, it is only used in a small number of display windows. .

 

(3) Metal halide lamp

Metal halide lamps have better color rendering, high luminous rate and long life. In the past, metal halide lamps have always been used for jewelry lighting, which requires sufficient light, penetrating power, and generally speaking, it is bright. However, metal halide lamps also have shortcomings, such as high heat and high power consumption. 

In recent years, metal halide lamps have changed people’s prejudice against them in the past. They are energy-saving and environmentally friendly light sources that are strongly advocated internationally. They are also a mainstream product for accent lighting in the jewelry industry. They are suitable for placement on high ceilings or on light strips. .

 

(4) LED jewelry light

The booming development of the jewelry industry in China has promoted the continuous emergence of domestic jewelry stores. LED light display technology has also continued to mature, and its commercial applications have continued to expand, promoting the development of LED jewelry lighting systems. The jewelry lighting system is more specialized than general store lighting. 

It requires the light of the lamp to bring out the color of the jewelry. At the same time, it can reduce heat. Nowadays, traditional metal halide lamps can no longer meet the requirements of merchants in jewelry lighting. First of all, the illumination light of metal halide lamps contains ultraviolet rays; secondly, the color rendering of metal halide lamps is not high, and a large amount of heat will be dissipated when the metal halide lamps are working; thirdly, metal halide lamps consume a lot of power and increase electricity bills. is an important factor that jewelers pay attention to.

 

The LED jewelry lamp solves the above problems. The LED light source used in the jewelry lamp itself is a cold light source, and the light emitted does not have any heat. At the same time, when LED jewelry lamps are working, the heat generated during the electro-optical conversion process is much smaller than that of traditional metal halide lamps. Moreover, the light of its light source is determined by the wavelength, so the light does not contain ultraviolet and infrared rays, so it will not cause much damage to the jewelry. 

Another point is that the color rendering of LED jewelry lights is very high, the light color is pure, and the color of the jewelry is illuminated. Classification of LED jewelry lights: single LED jewelry lights, multiple LED jewelry lights, curved LED jewelry lights, LED jewelry light bars, LED jewelry counter lights, round ultra-thin LED jewelry lights, column LED counter lights, LED showcase ceiling lights Ceiling lights etc.