Daniel Kaye
CEO
RocketLife
TT: How did the journey of RocketLife start?
RocketLife is a company of designers, programmers, artists, and engineers with special expertise in visual effects technologies. Team members have designed and shipped more than 100 products used by millions of people around the world and won multiple awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development. We make creative software, consumer electronics, and even a mobile game where you can save the earth from giant mushrooms. We believe the best products and technologies come to life when you bring diversely talented people together and let them follow their passions.
We developed Light by RocketLife because we love lighting and existing systems could not deliver the look and features we saw in our heads. Conventional LED lighting systems limit you to one colour at a time or preset patterns. Light by RocketLife lets you tell stories, from beautiful sunrise and sunset sequences on your wall to sophisticated holiday lighting, attractive animated displays, and unique wearables.
TT: How did the idea of adding dynamic lighting to wearables crop up?
Our goal with Light by RocketLife is to bring artistic lighting to a huge variety of applications by making it easy for anyone to create personalised visuals. Wearables are a perfect example of an artistic 'canvas' for personalised lighting, so we targeted wearables early on when we designed the hardware to run from an internal rechargeable battery.
TT: Please elaborate how Rocketlife can produce special effects in wearables.
In addition to its ability to run from battery power, Light by RocketLife lets designers animate up to seven groups of LEDs at once by drawing virtual lights on a photo of their project. For example, a designer could load a photo of a jacket and draw different animations for the sleeves, lapels and back. The LightBox hardware holds numerous custom patterns, which can be changed instantly via bluetooth from a mobile phone.
Light by RocketLife supports many types of popular LED strips, discs, strings and grids, giving designers numerous creative layout options. Most important, the system supports multilayered effects, so designers can create sparkles, gleams and rich colour transitions.
TT: People look for washable wearables. What is your take on it?
The LightBox controller supports a variety of popular LED strips and arrays, including waterproof models. Designers can choose the best off-the-shelf LEDs for their wearable project, and consumers can then unplug LightBox before washing the item.
TT: How many customised LED wearables can be produced in a day/month?
RocketLife will produce the Light by RocketLife system for others to use in their products.
TT: What kind of developments do you foresee in wearables a few years from now?
LEDs will become available in many more shapes, at increasingly affordable prices, enabling a spectacular range of new designs. We plan to update our software and mobile apps to support even more advanced effects and layouts.
TT: What new innovations do you plan?
We will continue to improve the capabilities of the Light Effects Designer software and LightMobile app, adding even more creative features. We also plan to work with partners and customers to develop a range of hardware and applications for new business opportunities. We are already incorporating sensors into our technology and see an exciting future for them in interactive wearables.
TT: What is the design strategy at Rocketlife? Who designs your wearables? What is the strength of your design team?
RocketLife designed the Light by RocketLife lighting system for businesses and consumers to use in their own products and projects. We do not design commercial wearables ourselves, but welcome partnerships with others to develop them. Our team is accomplished in software and mobile app design, graphic design, user interface design, industrial design and electronics. Tying it all together is our team's background in creative storytelling technologies, including film, television, music and graphics.
TT: What are your advertising, marketing and promotion plans?
We designed Light by RocketLife for a wide range of customers and business applications, from home decorators to education, automotive, fashion, art, retail and more. One of the reasons we launched on Kickstarter was to start building a creative community around our system and identify top market segments. As a technology company, we use strategic partnerships with global distributors and manufacturers to bring our technologies to market.
TT: Which are your major international markets? Are you planning to expand to any other region in the near future?
The first version of the LightBox hardware will sell in the United States and Canada. We plan to expand globally after that.
TT: Does India seem to be a potential target market in the future?
Absolutely.
TT: What percentage of your sales is through brick & mortar and what through e-marketplace?
Currently, all our sales are online.
TT: Can this new technology be used in home fashion and textiles?
We designed Light by RocketLife to be highly flexible and extensible. The unique look and ease of set-up makes it ideal for home, holiday, and architectural lighting. Battery power and Bluetooth control open a wide variety of applications in fashion and textiles. (PC)
Published on: 18/12/2018
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