Nanoleaf Shapes brighten up a space in dark times

Reviewed By Buddy McClelland

During the COVID lockdown, a room that started life as a fun little “gaming cave” in my apartment quickly began to feel more like a solitary confinement cell. The same four, white, sterile and windowless walls and not much sign of escape. As a millennial trapped in a renters market there isn’t much hope to change colours or spaces traditionally – enter Nanoleaf, a modular set of transforming smart-light panels with the potential to change the vibe of a room at the touch of a button.

Over the past month I have been lucky enough to get my hands on both a Hexagon Starter Kit and Mini Triangle Expansion Pack – both a part of Nanoleaf’s Shapes series. Each panel boasts the ability to display from a range of over 16 million colours, be quickly installed and respond to sound as well as touch and app based user commands.

With a seemingly endless potential to customise colour, design and display I was eager to see how these lights could impact my space and overall my mood toward it.

What follows is my experience and tips for using Nanoleaf:

INSTALLATION

• Once you land on a pattern (easier said than done!) for your space you can use the double sided tape strips provided to stick the panels up and clip them together.

• After searching on reddit the best advice to protect your walls is use actual branded 3M strips for added quality.

• The lights do require a power supply – so consider this in your design. They can also be installed around corners if using the Nanoleaf flexible linkers.

IMPACT

• Immediately the room is transformed, and the mood changes depending on the colour or colour pattern you select.

• There is an almost endless combination of colour and brightness settings that can be selected.

• Personally I enjoy using the warmer autumn colours when working from home and love switching into the darker greens, blues and purples when gaming.

CONNECTIVITY

• Nanoleaf provides both a desktop and mobile app to completely customise and control your light display.

• If you aren’t creative like me, the search and download feature of user created colours and patterns is amazing!

• Voice connectivity is available to all major smart speakers.

Overall, the Nanoleaf Shapes series takes any spare space and allows you the opportunity to install a completely modular, customisable and connective smart light set up. It definitely brightened up my space and spirit in some dark times. I wholeheartedly recommend them for anyone looking to add some mood and creativity to their space!