Lighting is critical when it comes to displaying art, and the light source has a huge effect on how the artwork appears. Daniel wanted to move to an all LED solution for the gallery. Ultraviolet and infrared light can easily damage the pieces and cause them to fade, but these elements are largely absent in LEDs. Another key benefit of LED technology is long life. LEDs are expected to last 40,000 hours—ten times the life of a halogen lamp—which also attracted Daniel.

“I wanted to move to LED fixtures, as I believe they’re the future. We’re a carbon neutral company, and the energy-saving aspects of LEDs appealed to us. I’d seen RCL’s spotlights on various dealers’ stands over the years, including Masterpiece, and was impressed by their technology.”

For Daniel, RCL spotlights with LED technology seemed the logical choice. The ability to aim and adjust the brightness of the spotlights individually using a simple handheld remote control meant that the lighting could be changed quickly without the need to work at height.

A total of 34 DR2 spotlights fitted with RCL’s LED head are in use at Daniel Crouch Fine Art. The LED head was designed around the need for a very smooth beam with long life, energy savings and a very high-quality white light. The head is available in 8°, 11° and 24° beams, and the power consumption is up to 66% less than the halogen equivalent. Unlike the products of some other manufacturers, the head is fully dimmable and cooled by a cold-drawn natural convection heat sink. Cree LEDs were selected due to their high efficiency and excellent color rendering.

RCL has supplied spotlights to a number of commercial galleries including, Philip Mould, Carlton Hobbs, Richard Green and Tomasso Brothers Fine Art. In addition, they supplied over 700 fixtures to exhibitors at this year’s Masterpiece art fair, a five-day event that brought together over 150 of the best-known dealers in the art and antiques, including Daniel Crouch Rare Books. Most significant of all, perhaps, is the fact that Christie’s uses RCL products in both their London auction houses with nearly 1,000 lights installed.