LUCTRA^® SUCCESS HINGES ON SOUTHCO SOLUTION

When Durable, a global specialist in premium office furniture and accessories, needed a robust friction hinge for its LUCTRA^® lighting system range, the company turned to Southco. Southco’s market-leading technical and engineering expertise, coupled with its aptitude for bespoke products, helped to deliver a winning solution for Durable and its customers.

LUCTRA^® is a highly professional biologically-effective lamp system, developed following extensive research into the benefits that stem from human-centric lighting solutions, i.e. lighting solutions that put the biological effects of light into practical use for the illumination of individual workplaces. Durable wanted to deliver an innovative, high-end lamp system to the market, and an integral part of this was a robust hinge. The challenge for Southco was to provide a friction hinge that guaranteed maximum stability, despite the long lever which enables the light source to be placed above the workplace, as well as optimum mobility to reach every area of the desk or work surface. The design also needed to allow sufficient space within the hinges to contain the wiring from the lamp’s touch panel to the lamp head.

Durable and Southco have therefore jointly developed a custom-made solution which perfectly fits the LUCTRA^® design while streamlining the assembly process at the same time. Originally, Durable was looking for a standard part to mould into its adaptors. Where Southco delivered real value, however, was by supplying a complete hinge assembly, rather than a standalone hinge element. The Southco’s hinge solution incorporates friction technology with a counterbalance spring to enable easy movement of the lamp’s lever while keeping the lamp firmly rooted to the desk surface. The fitting of the zinc-casted hinges to the aluminium profile had to be carefully designed from both a mechanical and aesthetical standpoint as the design specification sought to minimise material differences, tolerances and especially clearances, in addition to accommodating minimal design space.

The Southco hinges are an integral part of the LUCTRA^® lamps as they ensure the lamps stay in place and do not bend or lower, as is sometimes the case with other lamps on the market. The friction hinges offer maximum convenience to the user by allowing for single-handed operation for adjusting the position of the arm. With demand for human-centric lighting solutions expected to grow considerably over the next few years, Southco’s friction hinges are set to play a decisive role in the future success of the LUCTRA^® lamp range.

“Southco showed immense attention to detail and took real time to understand our requirements in order to pinpoint the solution that worked best for us and our clients,” said Jonathan Brune, Executive Manager at Durable.

Richard Pearman, Business Development Manager at Southco, added: “This exemplifies our approach to working with customers; instead of settling for a solution that simply works, we go to great lengths to get to the heart of the challenges facing our customers. By understanding our customers, the products they sell and their applications, we deliver solutions that will make their products even better. This ethos underpins everything we do and is a key factor in our position within the market.”

To find out more about Southco and the solutions it offers, please visit www.southco.com.

To find out more about LUCTRA, please visit www.luctra.eu.

Durable and the LUCTRA^® team can also be reached on 00800 00582872 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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