Halored / Custom solutions
Custom solutions: If the right luminaire doesn’t exist, we make it.
Halored designs, prototypes, measures and manufactures custom luminaires – from the architect’s sketch to the finished product, from a single piece to several thousand. Every luminaire comes with a measured photometric file you can actually calculate with.
Why custom-made
Almost every larger project reaches the point where the catalogue runs out. A profile has to be a few millimetres narrower to fit the architect’s detail. A façade element has to deliver exactly the light distribution that no standard product gives. Light integrated into a shelf, counter or handrail has to disappear into the material. The lobby pendant exists on the interior architect’s drawing, but no manufacturer makes it.
At that point there are two options: compromise the architecture or make the luminaire. Halored makes the luminaire. Custom luminaires are one of our largest lines of work, and almost every larger project of ours includes at least one luminaire developed specifically for it. Sometimes a project has several thousand of them.
Three levels – from adaptation to a new product
A custom solution doesn’t always mean expensive and slow. Most needs fit into the first two levels.
- 01
Adapted series product
We take an existing product and change what the project requires: length, colour, optics, colour temperature, control method, mounting. Fast, affordable, proven technology.
- 02
Made-to-measure luminaire
The same product base with new geometry – profiles that follow the exact rhythm of the ceiling, corners and curves, light lines integrated into furniture and building details, outdoor luminaires with the right IP rating made to size.
- 03
New development
A luminaire that doesn’t exist yet. We draw it from scratch together with the architect, develop the optics, mechanics and electronics, build a prototype, measure it and manufacture it. It becomes a product that stays in our range – the next project no longer starts from zero.
What we do
Linear profile luminaires
Made-to-measure LED profiles in suspended ceilings, walls and floors – continuous lines of light, corners and transitions without shadows or seams.
Façade and outdoor luminaires
Façade elements that deliver exactly the planned light distribution, static or dynamic, and outdoor luminaires built to survive an Estonian winter.
Light integrated into furniture and details
Shelves, counters, handrails, stair treads, bespoke furniture – light that is part of the detail, not attached to it.
Decorative pendants
Lobby, atrium and hall luminaires to the interior architect’s sketch, as a single piece or as a series.
Renovating old luminaires
The quality housing stays, the light source is renewed – an LED solution measured to give the same light the luminaire originally gave. Read more below.
Many of our products offer tunable white or RGB colour control and a DALI or DMX interface, so a custom luminaire works with the building’s automation as naturally as a series product.
How a luminaire is made
- 01
Sketch and brief
We start from the architect’s or interior architect’s drawing – a hand sketch, a detail or a reference photo. Together we define dimensions, materials, light distribution, colour temperature, control and quantity. We give a preliminary price range and schedule.
- 02
Engineering and simulation
We model the luminaire in 3D and simulate the optics, light distribution and heat. This is where we find out – before the first piece of metal – whether the luminaire will do what is expected of it.
- 03
Prototype
We always build a prototype. The architect sees and touches the luminaire, the client sees the light in the room or on a mock-up. Changes are cheap here – in production they are expensive.
- 04
Measurement
We measure the prototype with our own LabSpion goniophotometer and spectrometer: luminous flux, light distribution, colour temperature, colour rendering, efficacy. The result is an IES/LDT photometric file that lets the electrical designer and lighting designer run real lighting calculations – not with catalogue figures, but with the measured data of this luminaire.
- 05
Sample approval and production
The first piece is approved before the series. We manufacture the luminaires in our own factory: we assemble, test and inspect every unit ourselves. Before leaving our premises, every luminaire passes an electrical safety test to EN 60598-1 with a Gossen Metrawatt SECUTEST SIII+H tester. No luminaire leaves us untested.
- 06
Documentation and delivery
Every custom luminaire comes with a technical data sheet, an IES/LDT file, an electrical safety test report and a warranty agreed for the project. We deliver to the rhythm of the project – by room or by floor if needed.
Laboratory-grade measuring equipment
Halored is one of the few luminaire manufacturers in Estonia with its own laboratory-grade measuring equipment. The LabSpion Light Measurement System is a goniophotometer and spectrometer in one: it measures a luminaire’s light distribution in every direction and the spectrum of its light, and produces the same data that the large European manufacturers publish for their catalogue products.
For the client this means three things. A custom luminaire is no longer a matter of trust but a measured number. The electrical designer gets an IES/LDT file and runs the lighting calculation just as with any other luminaire. And when two prototypes look the same, the measurement tells which of them gives the better light in the room.
The same equipment also checks what we promise: every product series is measured before it enters our range.
Renovating old luminaires
In recent years we are asked more and more often what to do with old luminaires whose light sources are no longer made. These luminaires are often of remarkable quality: housings of solid sheet metal or even cast iron, diffusers of real glass rather than the plastic that is common today. Throwing such a luminaire away would be a waste – and for the space it was designed for, often an architectural loss as well.
Our engineers have developed ways to use modern professional LED light sources in these luminaires. The goal is not simply to “put an LED in”, but to keep the luminaire working the way it was originally meant to: the same light distribution, the same colour temperature and as close as possible the same luminous flux as the original incandescent, halogen or discharge lamp.
This is where our measuring equipment is indispensable. We measure the luminaire with its original light source or reconstruct its parameters, test different LED solutions with the LabSpion and choose the one that gives the light leaving the luminaire the closest result – not by eye, but by measured spectrum and light distribution. A renovated luminaire usually also gains what the original never had: dimming, DALI control and a fraction of its former energy use.
The result is a luminaire that looks as before, lights as before and works like new – with a measured photometric file that lets the renovated luminaires be calculated back into the project. And before it is returned, a renovated luminaire passes the same electrical safety test as a new product. Old housing, new light source, modern safety.
Who we work with and how
Architects and interior architects
Your sketch is the brief. Our role is to turn it into a luminaire so that the detail stays yours – not to bring it closer to a catalogue product. You approve the prototype.
Lighting designers and electrical designers
You get a measured photometric file, a data sheet and a product code that can be written into the project like any other luminaire.
Clients and contractors
You get one party responsible from design to delivery, an agreed price and schedule, and a manufacturer who is behind the same phone number after installation too.
Why Halored
- We design, prototype, measure and manufacture ourselves
- The whole chain – from sketch to measured luminaire – is under one roof and in the hands of one team. That is why we can promise quality that we actually check.
- No luminaire leaves our premises untested
- Electrical safety and compliance with current standards matter to us as much as the light itself. That is why we have invested in Gossen Metrawatt SECUTEST SIII+H testers: every luminaire we make passes an electrical safety test to EN 60598-1 before it leaves. Not a random sample – every one.
- Components come from the best in their field
- Our partners are well-known optics manufacturers, metal works and electronic component makers. We don’t make our own lenses or roll our own aluminium – that is done by those who do it best in the world. We do what we do best: the solution, the assembly, the measurement and the responsibility.
- People who know how
- A custom luminaire needs knowledge of optics, mechanics, electronics and lighting technology in one team. Halored has invested in this – the level of our engineers and technicians is the reason we can take on this kind of work at all.
- From a single piece to several thousand
- We make a single pendant for a lobby as readily as several thousand made-to-measure profile luminaires for an office building. The process is the same, the checkpoints are the same.
- The development stays
- Every luminaire developed for a project stays in our range. The next architect can start from it – and you get the assurance that the manufacturer will still be there in five years’ time when you need two more pieces.
Questions we are often asked
- Is a custom luminaire always more expensive than a catalogue product?
No. An adapted series product or a made-to-measure profile often costs as much as the nearest catalogue product that wouldn’t really suit the space. A completely new development is an investment whose size depends on quantity – and we tell you what it is before drawing, not after.
- How far ahead do we need to plan?
Adaptation: weeks. Made to measure: depends on quantity, usually a month or two. New development with prototype and measurement: several months. That is why the best time to involve us is while the detail is still taking shape in the sketch.
- Can we do the lighting calculation before the luminaire is finished?
Yes – after the prototype has been measured. The IES/LDT file is created at measurement, not at the end of production, and the designer can calculate with it while the series is still being made.
- Who owns the design?
A luminaire drawn by the architect is the architect’s creation. How it is used afterwards is agreed at the start of the project – exclusive to one building or an open product in our range.
- Do you also make just one piece?
Yes. A single lobby pendant or one special detail is as serious a job as a series.
- Is converting an old luminaire to LED worth it?
If the housing and diffuser are of good quality, usually yes – the price of a new equivalent luminaire and the loss to the room’s architecture outweigh the renovation. We measure the original luminaire, find an LED solution that gives the same light and tell you the price before we start. If renovation isn’t worth it, we’ll tell you that too.
- Is a custom luminaire as safe as a catalogue product?
Yes. Every luminaire we make passes a standard electrical safety test (EN 60598-1) with a Gossen Metrawatt SECUTEST SIII+H tester before it leaves our premises, and the test report comes with the luminaire. Custom-made doesn’t mean an exception to safety.
- Does a custom luminaire work with building automation?
Yes. We use the same DALI and DMX interfaces and the same control logic as in our series products – and our automation team is under the same roof.
Send us a sketch. We’ll tell you whether it’s an adaptation, a made-to-measure piece or a new development – and what it costs.
The first conversation is free, and it’s most useful while the detail is still taking shape on the drawing.