IP44.DE

IP44.DE is a young company, both progressive and conservative. Conservative when it comes to quality standards and precision in finishes. And progressive when it comes to using technology. Our story in all this? We are only at the very beginning.

It all started with a question as obvious as it was brilliant: why shouldn't outdoor lighting be at least as elegant as the ones we enjoy in our homes? It was with this in mind that we created our very first outdoor lighting fixture 30 years ago. Since many clients, designers and architects were won over by our answer, we continued our thinking with many other lighting fixtures, materials, technologies, mistakes and successes. So it was from a modest experiment that the company IP44.DE was born, founded at the time by Bernd Schmalhorst, who is still its director today. Our initial desire to offer high-end design and our conviction that all places deserve to be illuminated in the most beautiful way possible have not changed.

Outside and inside

It is no coincidence that at first glance we often mistake our outdoor lights for beautiful indoor lights. After all, their aesthetics are just as impeccable as if they were exceptional indoor lights. They always carry the most reliable technology to ensure a long life in the great outdoors. It is therefore no coincidence that IP44.DE has continued to illuminate many places of exceptional beauty for 30 years now.

1993

The story of IP44.DE began in 1993 in the family lighting shop in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). At that time, our lighting specialist shop had been in our family for three generations. It had already completed many ambitious projects, but was constantly faced with the same problem: when it came to outdoor lighting, we simply had no decent lights to offer our customers. So we started designing them ourselves.

Details

We owe our name to a well-known industry standard. "IP44" essentially certifies that a luminaire is resistant to outdoor use. And this is the case for all our luminaires. But we have gone even further than all existing standards, right from the start. With surfaces that are both aesthetic and durable. With unalterable materials such as glass, stainless steel or cast aluminium. With high-quality electronic components such as extremely efficient and durable LED technology developed in-house. With our manufacturing partners who assemble them for us according to the most stringent specifications. And because our origins say a lot about our typically German quality standards, we decided one day to integrate the extension "DE" into our name. Since then, we have been called IP44.DE.

While we were making our first models with the means at hand, we quickly moved towards collaborating with seasoned designers, specialized in the creation of lighting fixtures, and we opened ourselves to their ideas and concepts. We quickly received our first design award, which many others would follow. From an aesthetic point of view, our outdoor lighting fixtures are as perfect as the most remarkable indoor lighting fixtures.

At the same time, we have made a name for ourselves in the world of architecture and, in close collaboration with designers and architects, we have completed numerous projects for the commercial, public and private sectors all over the world. Today, our lighting fixtures can be found all over Europe, but also in the United States and Asia, in many exceptional locations. And that is probably the greatest compliment we can receive.

When asked today what distinguishes IP44.DE from other, otherwise quite respectable, outdoor lighting collections, the general answer is that it is the combination of an exceptionally aesthetic exterior appearance and impeccable operation.

It may seem obvious, but it is far from it. Indeed, with the overwhelming heat of the summer months, the rain of spring, the mist of autumn and the cold of winter, outdoor lighting fixtures are subjected to extreme weather conditions. From the selection of materials to the electronic components, we design our lighting fixtures so that they can withstand all weather conditions for a long time.

For some, these "details" may seem secondary. But as the famous designer couple Ray & Charles Eames said so well, "details are not details, they are what make the product."

Requirement

In our constant quest for perfection, we have continued to evolve over the past 30 years. And the world has changed too. Today, façades, outdoor spaces and gardens are an integral part of any self-respecting architectural project. After all, they are the first thing you see of a building. At the same time, the importance given to outdoor lighting has also grown.

On the other hand, however, many things have remained the same. For example, we still claim to be a family business. This means that we are a small entity and, in terms of distribution power, this is rather a disadvantage. On the other hand, it is a huge advantage because we can concentrate on the essentials, namely our specialty, which is to design perfect outdoor lighting with a recognizable design. We have always only manufactured lighting that we could recommend with our eyes closed.

What has also not changed is our curiosity and our desire to experiment with new things. We are persistently looking for ways to create ever more sustainable and energy-efficient outdoor lighting – inspired by the maxim of entrepreneur Philipp Rosenthal who said: “He who stops improving, stops being good”.

This is how we constantly strive to improve ourselves down to the smallest detail. In this respect, we can also count on the designers who have been with us faithfully for a long time. For example, with Klaus Nolting, we have now extended his bestseller "slat" into two further variants: "slat one" with a single lighting strip and "slat spike" as a version for planting in the ground.

Completely different in form, but no less popular: Sebastian Büscher's creation "shot". This luminaire, inspired by a cannonball or a throwing weight, is now hung on the walls. In the "shot hook" version, it can be hung on the facade at any height and thus transformed into upward-directed lighting.

All these new features do not in any way mark the end of the IP44.DE story, quite the contrary, because we feel that we are only at the beginning of our story. And even if today no one dares to say what will happen in 30 years, we will continue to develop ourselves, our luminaires and outdoor lighting in general. Because we are convinced that whatever they are, all places deserve to be illuminated in the most beautiful way possible. This requirement is our mission.