Always Seen in the Best Light
For almost 15 years, Blair Hopper has designed and successfully marketed innovative solutions for upscale hair salons around the world. An avid Mac user, Hopper found Ashlar-Vellum Xenon™ in his search for professional CAD and 3D modeling software. He tells us:
The criteria for me was it had to be Mac-compatible, because I have a big disdain towards PCs. So basically that’s why I came across Ashlar-Vellum. You guys do Mac and PC. And I saw enough evidence from looking at it that it was a real quality product so I ended up buying a Xenon.
Starting with the design of the Freestyle weightless blow drying system, Hopper continues to develop ground-breaking products such as SpectraLights, a high-lumen LED lighting system that drastically reduces power usage and increases safety, while providing natural light.
Hopper tells how lighting traditionally used in beauty salons tremendously distorts hair color. He saw how salon clients needed to see their results in natural light and started researching LED lights long before they were ever on the mainstream market.
In 2008 Hopper prototyped the first LED light fixture with 1000 lumens that could replace a 100-watt light bulb. At that point about the only LED lights commonly available were little 25 lumen bulbs, mostly for nightlights. Hopper designed these new 1000 lumen lights into lighting platforms with the blow dryers that install easily into a sheetrock or drop ceiling.
In developing the fixtures, Hopper realized that they no longer needed 110 volts and high currents up in the ceiling. Instead of having to facilitate a 15-amp circuit for every ten 100-watt incandescent or halogen light fixtures, the new LEDs drew 17 watts, accommodating about 70 lights on one 15 amp circuit, drastically lowering power requirements. Hopper is now working on a new prototype that reduces the 17 watts to a mere 9 watts with each LED still providing 1000 lumens.
A former contractor and self-taught inventor, Hopper has learned by doing. That’s one thing he really likes about Xenon:
What was really nice about the Ashlar-Vellum software was that I could teach it to myself real easy…I ended up learning everything kind of on my own.
Learn More
Read more about Blair’s success using Xenon CAD and 3D modeling in this other Ashlar-Vellum proven success story:
See more designs by Blair among those in these Galleries:
See more of Blair’s work on his website.