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Watt a bright idea

Concordia engineers-turned-entrepreneurs take DIY approach to lighting
October 21, 2013
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By Alyssa Tremblay

The challenge of trying to sell a new product with an unfamiliar brand leaves many budding entrepreneurs stumbling in the dark.

Yet when that product literally glows, the future can’t help but look bright.

Dodecado is a do-it-yourself alternative to traditional lamps and light fixtures. Drawing its name and design from the dodecahedron, a 12-sided, three-dimensional shape, each Dodecado unit is roughly the size of a tennis ball and houses an LED light inside its casing. Put two together and they stick magnetically; stack more to create a custom light sculpture.

Dodecado LED blocks
Stacked Dodecado blocks create custom light sculptures.
Single Dodecado block as a night light
Single Dodecado block as a night light.
Stacked Dodecado blocks
All photos by Eihab Baqui

"It's like LEGO but with building blocks of light," explains Eihab Baqui, BEng 05, who came up with the idea with Sarathkumar Kumaraiah, who attended Concordia.

Baqui and Kumaraiah met as electrical engineering students in Concordia’s Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. They later worked for eight years at a start-up involving LED lights. A powerful, more eco-friendly alternative to traditional halogen bulbs, LEDs are about the size of a pinky nail and have an average lifetime of 50,000 hours.

Sarathkumar Kumaraiah, MEng 06, and Eihab Baqui, BEng 05 Sarathkumar Kumaraiah (left) and Eihab Baqui holding Dodecado lights | Photo courtesy: Eihab Baqui

Their experience at the start-up helped them make connections with local suppliers. Baqui estimates that 50 to 60 per cent of each unit is made in Quebec.

Sustainability, both economic and environmental, is a key part of their business model: even Dodecado’s reusable packaging converts into a pencil holder and coaster.

They started Ledamp Industries in April and in six months, have grown their brainchild from napkin sketches to a family of fully functional products.

In September, they took Dodecado to the New York Maker Faire, a convention for crafty folk. The response, Baqui says, was fantastic.

“We were fortunate enough to get a booth in a dark space right near the entrance, so as soon as people walked in we'd get a huge crowd,” says Baqui. “People were asking, 'Where can I buy this right now?'"

The answer is Kickstarter.ca. Dodecado is one of the first projects launched on the Canadian version of the popular crowd-funding website. A $56 pledge rewards donors with one unit and a deck to power it, shipping included to Canada or the U.S.

But Kumaraiah says their minds are on “life after Kickstarter,” trying to convince distributors to carry Dodecado mechandise. Most, however, would rather employ the two highly skilled engineers than sell their product. Brand recognition is the biggest hurdle keeping Dodecado off the shelves.

“We made a product which everybody likes, but when we go to try to market it, the question is always, 'Who are you guys?'" says Kumaraiah.

Kumaraiah and Baqui plan to start building that brand by setting up an online store and expanding the “Dodeca universe” to include more functionality and accessories. Multicoloured LEDs and portable rechargeable units with a 2.5-hour battery life are already available, with plenty of other ideas coming down the pipe: ceiling and wall mounts, solar-powered decks and an app to change a unit’s colour via smartphone.

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