There’s Kinect in my LED: meet AREA, the gesture controlled kitchen lamp

Have a look at AREA, the gesture-controlled LED light. It’s another perfect slice of the future, bathed in a warm white light. AREA, by German designers Dreipuls, is “magic”, according to the website. It looks like a standard kitchen or office light but with a very neat and expensive looking twist: the LED lights inside AREA can be pulled and pushed, switched on and off with the wave of a hand.

Dreipuls hasn’t revealed much about the inner workings of AREA, most likely to keep this light all mysterious and sexy in the eyes of the consumer. Tying a sensor into an LED light is nothing new. Think of those lights outside your home that activate whenever it detects movement. It’s the same principle, just tied to better hardware. AREA was going to be a bland modular under-cabinet lamp but has broken free of those limiting shackles. Each LED module can be 60, 90 or 120cm in length and Dreipul says that multiple AREA units can be connected, up to a maximum of 3-meters. With 24 LED’s in each unit, there’s a lot of light to love.

AREA’s sensors are a little more reactive than the cheap ’80s hardware that’s been crammed into current lighting technology. How many LEDs light up is all dependent on user choice. Wave a hand like a wand under AREA and illuminate half the LEDs. Or, wave a finger under the first LED and create a runway of light. The AREA product book rambles on about “tangible user interfaces” and “brilliant eye-catching designs”. We just think it’s a pretty cool piece of tech.

Don’t ask about the price though, chiefly because it’s “on inquiry only” says AREA’s product page. “There`s virtually no limit to your imagination,” could be said of the price as well, which we reckon will be hundred of Euros.