Balloon light

Balloon lights (also called lighting balloons) are a specialized type of luminaire used primarily for lighting in the motion picture industry, night highway construction, incident management, and public security applications such as police checkpoints. These luminaires typically consist of one or more high-intensity lamps surrounded by a translucent fabric balloon. The balloon acts as a diffuser to soften and disperse the light. The upper portion of the balloon sometimes has a reflective inner coating to direct more of the light downward. Some commercial products use a blower to expand the balloon, while others have an umbrella-like internal wire frame. The device is essentially an industrial version of a Japanese paper lantern.

The lighting balloon was first patented in Germany on October 26, 1924 (patent #427894). Until the 1990s, several patents were issued, although the application was utilized very little in Western countries. The lighting balloon industry has been greatly modernized by the company Airstar.

Airstar is inventor and world leader in lighting balloons. Airstar manufactures lighting balloons of variable sizes, high powered, inflated with air or helium. Their concept was totally innovative : homogeneous light, glare-free, shadowless, high-covering power at 360 degrees, mobile and 100% diffuse light. The balloons are made of envelopes custom designed fabrics coated with specific treatments. Foldable, easy to transport and set up, the balloons do not require many technicians. Airstar is currently working on all markets : events, rescue, law enforcement, construction, road works, architecture, sports, fashion, etc.

Founded in 1994 by Pierre Chabert, Airstar immediately worked on the international markets, giving to the company one of its main distinctivenesses: the international vision and the open-minded attitude. Today, Airstar is represented by over 120 distributors and 13 subsidiaries in more than 40 countries all over the world. Definitively, Airstar is a network that never sleeps. Thanks to the creativity and the visionary mind of our founder, the permanent awareness of markets needs and the colossal budget dedicated to R&D, Airstar has satisfied thousands of professionnal customers, whom several are the most requiring of their respective markets: James Cameron for the Titanic (Motion Picture Industry) who was the first big customer, and in any order, Audi, BMW, Disneyland Resorts, the US army, French firemen, Rescuers, Dior, Schneider, Quiksilver, etc…

...
Wikipedia