Now it’s time to take a close look at a small but competitive business making a difference for the Korean economy. This week’s spotlight is on Prism, Korea’s leading manufacturer of LED desk lamps.

Students and office workers in Korea spend a lot of time under the harsh and unnatural glare of fluorescent or incandescent lights. Long-term exposure to such artificial lights can cause eye irritation and blurred vision, which is why there needs to be a smart desk lamp with a high degree of light transmission. One Korean company is leading the country’s LED desk lamp business with vision protection measures as well as its user-friendliness and eye-catching design. Prism is Korea’s leading company specializing in LED lamps for students. Let’s hear more about the company’s secret to success from Prism’s CEO Kim Suk-ho.

Prism has been a developer and manufacturer of LED desk lamps and LED professional lighting systems since 2002. Unlike lamps that use fluorescent light bulbs, the brightness and intensity of the illumination of our LED desk lamps can be freely controlled. You can even control the color of the light. I believe that LED lamps are the best source of illumination for students. Since LED bulbs are compact, the lamps can be designed in many different ways. Prism has been using LED bulbs as a part of our desk lamps since 2008 and has been introducing new lines of LED products by developing new designs, scouting LED circuit specialists, and investing in LED development equipment. We currently have the most number of LED lamp models in this field, which allows us to satisfy the needs of different consumer groups.

Established in 2002, Prism was recognized as a solid manufacturer of inverter desk lamps. But its CEO Kim Suk-ho predicted that there would be another product that would make inverter lamps obsolete, just as inverter lamps replaced the desk lamps that used incandescent bulbs. So he was drawn to LED, which has an amazing 90% energy conversion efficiency, but uses just half the power of an ordinary fluorescent bulb. After devoting many years to developing an LED desk lamp, Prism finally rolled out a premium LED lamp in 2009. Prism’s effort to introduce the best quality light for today’s consumers has earned the company various certifications and design awards.

We have the most number of certifications in this business. We have earned KC from Korea, the ETL Listed Mark from the United States, Europe’s CE marking, Taiwan’s BSMI, Japan’s PSE certification, and the United State’s Energy Star. We are particularly proud of our Energy Star, because we are the only desk lamp producer in the world to have earned it. We’ve also won some prestigious awards in this field, such as Lighting for Tomorrow and New Generation Lighting. Prism lamps won the LED desk lamp categories in both awards. When we roll out a new product, our designers and technicians don’t just stop there, but keep thinking about which features to improve upon and how to incorporate more functions into a product. That way, we can continue providing new and better products to our customers. Such efforts have earned us high marks in product design not only from the domestic market, but also from foreign buyers in Japan and the United States.

Prism LED desk lamps are nothing like some low-end LED products. Equipped with a diffusion filter made with nano-plastic technology, Prism LED desk lamps are glare-free, therefore minimizing tiredness of eyes and heightening the visible light transmitted rate. It is not surprising that such high-tech Prism lamps earned so many domestic and foreign certifications. Last year Prism won the Commercial Energy Star certification, only the third one given out in Energy Star history, opening the door to the American market a lot wider. Prism products are not only eco-friendly and highly efficient, but their color and brightness can also be customized. The possibility of having a lamp that’s perfect for your eyes and personal taste was the main appeal for Korean consumers, who didn’t mind paying high prices to buy that one perfect lamp.

We are number one in Korea’s LED desk lamp business. Our market shares, both online and off, keep increasing. Even in the American and Japanese markets our LED lamps are recognized as well-functioning and beautifully designed products. When our lamps made it to Costco Wholesalers in the United States last year, people who bought the lamp sent letters to the company headquarters, asking how to buy more LED lamps since all of them had sold out already.

Prism’s exports to the United States, Brazil, and Japan amounted to more than one million dollars last year, further spurring on the company’s expansion plans to Europe and Asia. Having won well-deserved recognition at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair 2009, the largest lighting trade show in Asia, Prism introduced its models at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as well, garnering very favorable buyer responses with the lamps’ refined design and energy efficiency. Prism’s participation in those trade shows led to more sales deals with foreign buyers. The company is still striving to cram more new technologies and features into its product lines.

In order to solidify our position as the number one LED desk lamp brand in the world, we will step up our efforts to introduce more innovative products ahead of everyone else. We have been studying how to pack various functions into a lamp for many years. We have studied how to diversify the bulb color, control brightness, and put a timer function in a lamp. These efforts are paying off as Korea’s outdoor market has grown exponentially in recent years. Demands for practical and convenient portable outdoor lighting have spiked and we have introduced a new LED lantern named Cremoa크레모아 that is quite different from conventional outdoor lamps. It’s been only a month since the lantern was rolled out in the market, but we’ve seen some amazing responses. Together with major furniture makers in Korea, we are in the middle of developing LED lighting devices for desks, armoires, bookcases, and curios. Such projects enhance the functionality and quality of furniture as well as our lamps.

Prism has rolled out some very useful lamps, such as a wireless LED lantern for outdoor camping and furniture pieces embedded with their own light sources. Prism will continue to light the world with its convenient, efficient, and eco-friendly lamps.