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Nanoleaf goes to the dark side

Nanoleaf goes to the dark side

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The smart lighting company releases limited edition Ultra Black Triangles to celebrate its birthday

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Nanoleaf has manufactured one thousand units of its new Ultra Black Triangles light panels.

Nanoleaf is turning 10, and to celebrate, the Kickstarter-founded smart lighting company is releasing a limited edition set of its iconic Shapes lighting tiles.

The Nanoleaf Shapes Ultra Black Triangles cost $219.99 for a set of nine LED light panels and are an all-black version of its Shapes Triangle panels. The original triangle panels are all white when not displaying any of their 16 million colors; the new panels are all black when dormant.

Nanoleaf says the black light panels, which it is only making a thousand of, are slightly dimmer due to the finish, with a more saturated look when lit. This makes them even more suited to ambient, mood lighting as opposed to the functional lighting their brighter counterparts can provide.

These shapely LED smart lights are app- and voice-controllable.
These shapely LED smart lights are app- and voice-controllable.
Image: Nanoleaf
When the lights are off, the panels are all black.
When the lights are off, the panels are all black.
Image: Nanoleaf

The black finish does add a touch of drama to the modular, color-changing panels, and, assuming you like geometric black wall art, they also look good when the lights are off. This is something of a problem with the standard Shapes line, which look like blank white LED panels if they’re turned off (because that’s what they are). Nanoleaf’s Elements line addressed this with a wood finish look, but those panels aren’t capable of color, only tunable white light that you can adjust from warm to cool.

Essentially a smart light, Nanoleaf Shapes panels can be turned on or off, brightened, dimmed, and changed color using app or voice control. The big selling point is that these panels can play lighting animations, illuminating in multiple colors simultaneously while dynamically shifting.

You can activate these vibrant scenes from the app or by tapping the panels themselves, turning your light panels into a simulated waterfall, fireworks display, or any number of other undulating, flashing scenes.

The Ultra Black Triangles are black all over, even down to the controller, mounting accessories, and power supply.
The Ultra Black Triangles are black all over, even down to the controller, mounting accessories, and power supply.
Image: Nanoleaf

A built-in Rhythm Music Visualizer makes the lighting scene pulse in time with music playing in your room, and you can mirror your computer screen to the panels as well — very cool for an immersive gaming experience.

The limited edition Ultra Back Triangles have all the same features as the white Shapes, including compatibility with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and more. With Wi-Fi and Thread radios on board, they can also act as a Thread Border Router, a key feature for the upcoming Matter smart home standard.

All of Nanoleaf’s Shapes line, which features hexagons, triangles, and mini-triangles, are modular panels that can be pieced together to design different geometric patterns on your wall or ceiling.

The Nanoleaf Shapes Ultra Black Triangles Smarter Kit contains nine panels, connectors, a controller, and a power supply and costs $219.99. It’s available starting today at go.nanoleaf.me/nanoversary. A three-pack of extra panels is $69.99.