Sunday Light: The light fighting winter blues

One of the worst things about winter is the short days. The dark and dreary mornings awoken only by the switch on of frazzling lights when your alarm clock intervenes. The latte of desperation just after the 4pm sunset, determined to push you through the remainder of your day. No matter what the clock says, it’s light that rules over us and our rhythms. How Icelanders sometimes live with only four hours of light a day, I don’t know.

What is SAD?

Although ultimately known to cause SADness, this is just an abbreviation - standing for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Best explained as low mood resulting from the changing of the seasons, SAD is usually most prominent in the winter due to reduced sunlight exposure. Currently, it affects over 12 million people across Northern Europe.

The phenomenon has led to an influx of different companies flooding social media with sunrise alarm clocks. These TikTok popularised products aim to imitate the sunrise, coaxing you to wake up naturally with artificial sunlight radiating from your bedside table.  This is in an attempt to keep your circadian rhythms on track and boost the morale that the winter months rob from you. Does it really work though? Yes, to an extent, but one little light can only mimic the sun so much. Meaning it can only be so effective. That is why a few of the pros have joined forces to take it a step further with both the tech and design this winter. Bringing us onto the solution of Sunday Light. Helping to realistically fill the sombre hours where sunlight lacks and reduce symptoms of SAD in the process. Providing all the wellbeing benefits of the sunshine, without the harmful UV rays.

From the marvellous minds of Royal College of Art and Imperial College London graduates Nat Martin and Sean Hammett. Sunday Light takes to newer heights than the bedside table by suspending from the ceiling, chandelier-style. Continuing the ideation of Martin’s first product that sold for seven figures and combining with the creative development backed by Hammett’s work in renowned fine-art studios. Bringing the benefits of light-therapy comfortably into the home in the form of a tranquil sky-blue SAD light.

What makes Sunday Light different?

Combining water with electrics is certainly not something that you would expect to be a success. Here, that is one of the innovative elements that sets Sunday Light apart. Water-cooling technology, developed by Martin and Hammett, circulates water throughout the structure in order to dissipate the heat generated by the LED light source. This LED isn’t your average twist-in lightbulb, in fact it’s 300 times brighter than that. Emitting 30,000 lumens and 10,000 lux at eye level over an area of more than two square meters. To put this into perspective, the light generated by the flame of one candle is equivalent to one lumen and the level of illumination when one square meter away from the candle is equivalent to one lux. Making this one bright light. The sheer strength of the LED is only made possible by the integration of this cutting-edge water-cooling tech.

Then again, when creating this product Hammett and Martin weren’t looking just “to design a light, but to design light itself”. So the great power it exudes is no surprise. You are probably wondering how this isn’t garishly blinding. The light emitted from the LED source filters down through a diffuse reflective panel. Washing the room with a mellow sunlight that is scattered using nanoparticles in the same way as the Earth’s atmosphere.

Avoiding the fuzzy head you get from sitting on your laptop in the dim light, or the drop in your serotonin when you whip open the curtains to only be faced with grey. Allowing you to dine, read, work or laze with a cup of tea under the bright blue sky – whatever time of day and in whichever season. Fulfilling Martin and Hammett’s goal of improving wellbeing in the world today, one light at a time.

Sunday Light is limited to only 100 pieces, each available for £8000, and can be installed in any residential or workplace environment without architectural intrusion.

Let the light in and find out more at www.sundaylight.cc 

For direct enquiries please contact [email protected] or call 020 3038 4978