Close to a decade ago, Nanoleaf’s founders came together to rethink the modern lighting narrative, taking the concept beyond the bulb to transform interior spaces and capture the beauty and light of the sky above us.

In 2016, this dream became a reality with the introduction of Nanoleaf Light Panels – the first product of its kind in the smart lighting game, transcending the boundaries of traditional lighting and decor. The impact was phenomenal, moving to #2 in the smart lighting category on Amazon within a year of launch and with high praise, received the CES 2017 Innovation Award.

It soon became impossible to browse the internet without seeing these lights in the background of Twitch streams, YouTube videos, and Instagram setups as they were immediately embraced by content creators all over the world. Everyone from huge streamers to world renowned DJs fell in love with the panels as they bridged the gap between light and sound to provide a truly unique experience for the creator and their audience.

Unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, these panels were sleek and beautiful, inspiring a wave of innovation in their wake and allowed Nanoleaf to grow from a small startup of only 10 people to a thriving global team of over 100, with products stocked in over 200 retailers across 100 countries.

As time progressed and new technologies were implemented, Nanoleaf took the feedback from their growing community to take the next step, which resulted in the form of Nanoleaf Shapes.

Nanoleaf Shapes encompass a number of improvements including a snap-on mounting system and linkers, smaller corners for a larger illuminated surface area, and an updated controller with additional buttons, a built-in Rhythm music visualiser, and NFC tap for easy pairing.

New features such as touch reactivity for touch gestures and touch games were also added, alongside a new technology called Connect+ that allows users to connect multiple different shapes including Hexagons, Triangles, and Mini Triangles. Not only is the new range a more interactive experience for users but also offers more design freedom.

With the recent Thread network protocol stepping into the industry, Nanoleaf also found a way to future proof these lights in an age of smart homes, doubling the Shapes controller as a Thread border router to provide fast and reliable control to Thread-enabled devices.

So where does that leave the OG Light Panels?

After all their years of hard work and finally finding a suitable successor, Nanoleaf will no longer be selling the original Light Panels online or in store. In other words, these Light Panels have moved to a condo in Florida to play shuffleboard and sip mojitos on the beach all day.

While they may be gone, the Light Panels will be graduating to a Legacy Product. This means that if you own a set of the Light Panels, you not only own a piece of history but will be able to use them through the app forever as support will never be removed. The Light Panels will also be able to be used through the Group Scenes feature that will allow you to sync them to new and future Nanoleaf lights.

And with a sense of urgency… Expansion Packs for the original Light Panels are still available through Nanoleaf’s Online Store with very limited availability.