Evening in a South African township during a power outage, a child holding a solar light

Our Story

From an idea against candles and paraffin lamps to a solar factory at Victoria Yards — told from Johannesburg.

Watch the film · 1:23

Johannesburg, 2013. South Africa is living through power outages, and in the city's townships the lights go out in the evening — or come from candles and paraffin lamps, open flames and smoke in crowded rooms. Out of that observation grows a simple idea: a preserving jar, a solar lid, a battery. The jar stands in the sun all day; at night it glows.

A woman stands in a corrugated-iron doorway, holding a Sun Jar by its wire handle

Johannesburg, 2020

In the sun by day, in the home by night

Photo: Stefan Neubig
Two children run down a dark lane during a power outage, each carrying a solar light

Power outage

Safe light for places without electricity

Candles and paraffin lamps burn with an open flame. A solar light only needs the sun of the day before.

Photo: Jodi Windvogel
A boy does his homework at a table, the only light in the room coming from a SOMO
Photo: Jodi Windvogel
Homework during a power outage
A woman holds a glowing SOMO in a narrow lane
Photo: Jodi Windvogel
Evening in the lane
A child reads at a table by the light of a SOMO, an adult sits in the dark beside them
Photo: Jodi Windvogel
Reading while the grid is down
Children read together in a dark room by the light of a Sun Jar

Johannesburg

The first Sonnenglas wasn't a design object. It was a tool, invented out of necessity

Photo: Stefan Neubig

Born out of necessity

From solder joint to design award

From hand-soldered improvisation to award-winning design, made in Africa. Module by module, step by step.

  1. The first solar module seen from below, a hand-soldered circuit board with LEDs, open on a black lid
  2. An early solar module seen from below, the circuit board in a black lid
  3. A later solar module with a small circuit board and wires in a black lid
  4. A later solar module with a yellow-framed circuit board in a dark lid
  5. A solar module in a clear housing
  6. A solar module in a light housing with a yellow cover over the charging port
  7. A smaller solar module in a light housing
  8. A generation 6 SOMO seen from below, six LEDs in a circle on a dark blue circuit board

Back then

Soldered by hand, open on the lid, no housing. Improvised because there was no other way, and it still changed lives. Basic, but good: some of them still shine today.

Today: SOMO Gen 6

100 lumens, 3000 K warm white, dimmable. Charges by sun or USB-C.

Social Impact by Design. Proudly Made in Africa.

  • Red Dot 2025
  • iF Design Award 2023
  • German Design Award 2021

Sonnenglas, winner of the Red Dot, the iF Design Award and the German Design Award

The whole story of the module

Today, with over four million sold, the Sun Jar is one of the bestselling solar lights in the world — and the principle hasn't changed: gather sun by day, glow by night.

Quiet, meaningful impact over loud, superficial statements.

— Our manifesto
Two makers laugh while assembling SOMO modules at the factory in Victoria Yards

Victoria Yards, Johannesburg

Every Sonnenglas is made here by hand

See the factory
Photo: Stefan Neubig

Today that idea fills a factory: Victoria Yards, Johannesburg. People build every Sonnenglas here, in steady, fairly paid jobs — Fair-Trade-certified, in a region where youth unemployment runs above 60 percent.

Whoever starts here learns a trade: soldering, electronics assembly, welding, robotics. 100 percent of profits flow back into the company and its people. And the factory itself runs almost entirely on solar power — a solar product, built with sunshine. If you're in Johannesburg, come by: the factory is open to visitors.

front view

Sun Jar Classic (Complete Set · incl. SOMO)

The jar that started it all: the Sun Jar — still made at Victoria Yards.

View product

The jar became a system: the SOMO light module now moves from the Sun Jar into the Light Carafe, onto the Adventure Mount and back again. It is the world's only solar light certified with the Blue Angel. We call it our Solar System.

Two children hold glowing SOMO modules above their heads in the evening and laugh

Welcome to the Solar System

It began with a candle nobody has to light anymore

Photo: Jodi Windvogel

Stay in the light

News from our workshop in Johannesburg — a few times a year, honest and short.

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