Gantri Unveils Revolutionary Modular Wireless Lighting System with Helia Platform

Ian Yang, founder of Gantri, spotted an opportunity while dining at a restaurant. In the dimly lit setting, a small portable light designed to illuminate menus stood out to him as a product his lighting company should develop. However, he recognized a critical flaw: existing wireless restaurant lights were underpowered and lacked the features of full residential lighting solutions.

Yang explained,

“They’re very dim, they’re very small, they’re not really fully fledged, like residential full-power products.”

This observation led to the creation of Gantri’s Helia system, a modular platform for wireless lighting. The company, in collaboration with design studio Ammunition, unveiled three new wireless lighting product lines this week. These lines also debut Gantri’s new digital manufacturing platform, which empowers other designers to develop their own wireless light variations.

The Helia system, designed by Ammunition, integrates a battery, customizable LED modules, a touch-sensitive control, and a charging puck into a 3D-printed enclosure. This modular approach allows the system’s core components to be adapted into virtually any design imaginable.

Achille Biteau, director of industrial design at Ammunition, noted,

“All these components get assembled into a 3D printed enclosure, and everything is routed where it needs to be. It simplifies things a lot because all of a sudden you have that same platform that can be used on a range of designs. It could be in the hundreds or the thousands of designs.”

Gantri and Ammunition have collaborated since 2018, initially exploring wireless lighting design three years ago. Robert Brunner, founding partner of Ammunition, highlighted the shift in consumer behavior:

“We were just talking a lot about mobility and portable lighting and this idea that, well, people are very used to mobile things and charging has become just part of lifestyle.”

Traditional lighting, Brunner observed, has remained tethered to walls or ceilings, unlike other portable devices. He posed a key question:

“What if you allowed lighting to go where you need it, and then take the friction out of the idea of having to maintain and charge these things in a way you normally don’t do with lighting?”

As the concept evolved, Ammunition’s design team prototyped extensively, resulting in the modular Helia system. This system slots into Gantri’s 3D-printed designs, which the company has specialized in for over a decade. To validate the concept, Ammunition developed 10 lamps across three product lines, demonstrating the system’s versatility—from task and reading lamps to floor lamps and even a restaurant-style tabletop lamp for menu reading.

A standout feature of the Helia system is its charging mechanism. Unlike traditional USB-C or plug-in formats, Ammunition incorporated a charging puck, further simplifying the user experience.