Light up what you make.
GlowUpLED is a bespoke LED studio. We work alongside artists and makers to put light into the things they build — from the first conversation to a piece that can be made again.
In partnership with Yakisugi Design, Mangawhai
We don't sell a light. We make one with you.
Every piece starts as somebody else's idea — a sculpture, a sign, a door number, a shower in the bush. We sit alongside it: work out how light belongs in that object, build one to prove it, then make it repeatable.
Your object leads
The light is detailed around the piece — its material, its edges, how it is seen at night. Nothing is bolted on afterwards.
One partnership, one thread
The same people take it from sketch to prototype to a finished run. No handover, no brief lost between a designer and a factory.
Made to be made again
A prototype that can only exist once is a nice night out. We resolve the detail so the second, tenth and hundredth are the same piece.
An outdoor shower,
lit from the inside.
Yakisugi Design came to us with a slab of charred timber, copper fittings and a carved pattern — and one question: could the light feel like part of the object rather than something added to it.
Two continuous lines, recessed the full height of the face, so the piece reads as a single lit form from across the garden. Warm enough to sit against copper and scorched grain without going green.
One built and lived with. Channel depth and diffusion tuned until the run looked solid rather than dotted, gear sealed and drained for a wet, outdoor life, and the whole thing checked at dusk — the hour it is actually used.
The detail is now a spec: channel, lengths, sealing, gear position, a pre-wired loom. The next shower gets the same light without starting again — and the same detail carries into the street numbers and posts that will follow.
Concept. Prototype.
Manufacture.
Three stages, one team, in partnership the whole way. Most projects live in stage two the longest — that is where a good idea becomes a piece that holds up indoors, outdoors, 4 seasons, for years.
Concept
We start with your piece, not a catalogue. Material, scale, where it sits, how it is seen at night.
- A conversation, then sketches over your own photos
- Where light can physically live in the object
- Colour and warmth chosen against your material
- An honest read on what is hard, early
Prototype
One real piece, built and lived with. This is where the detail gets resolved — nothing goes to a run on paper alone.
- Full-size sample of the lit detail
- Diffusion, channel and mounting tuned by eye
- Sealed and tested where it will actually stand
- Reviewed together, changed, built again if it needs it
Manufacture
The resolved piece becomes a spec we can repeat — one at a time, or a run of them.
- Documented build: channel, lengths, sealing, gear
- Pre-wired and pre-configured looms, labelled
- Components sourced and held so the next one matches
- Scales with you — a one-off now, an edition later
One, or a hundred —
the same detail either way.
We are set up so the jump from a single commissioned piece to a repeat run is a production decision, not a redesign. The prototype settles the detail; after that it is quantities, lead time and how much we hold on the shelf for you.
Every partnership is shaped differently, so we work the numbers with you — and we will tell you plainly when a piece or a run does not make sense.
Commission, small run, edition — the same documented build behind all three.
If it can be built,
it can be lit.
A short list of what we are good at — and a fair description of where most projects land. If yours is not here, it is still worth the conversation.
Light set into material
Recessed runs in timber, metal and stone — light that reads as part of the object, not a fitting on it.
Letters, numbers, marks
Names, street numbers, signage and sculptural lettering, drawn to what the flex can actually bend to.
Outdoor and wet
Sealed, drained and detailed for weather — gardens, decks, showers, exposed coastal sites.
Off-grid
Where there is no power to pull, we size panel, battery and runtime around how you will really use it.
Gear you never see
Control gear hidden, mounted and labelled, with the cable run planned into the piece from the start.
Colour that suits the work
Warm whites through to full colour and slow movement — chosen against your material, not a swatch card.
The piece is the point.
The app just gets out of the way.
Everything we build comes with the GlowUpLED Control app — power, brightness, colour and a handful of looks, on your phone. Set it once and forget it, or change it with the seasons.
Tell us what
you're making.
There is no price list, because there is no standard job. Send us the piece — a photo, a sketch, a rough size — and we will come back with what we think is possible and what the first step costs.
Almost there
Your email app should be opening now with the details filled in — just hit send. If nothing opened, email us directly at [email protected].