Journal ·
Why solar light?
Our light wasn't invented for balconies. It was invented for places without a socket — and that changes how you look at it.
Where there is no electricity, light gets expensive. Anyone who wants
to read, cook or work after sunset lights a candle or a paraffin lamp.
Both cost money, day after day. And both burn with an open flame — in
densely built settlements, a real danger.
That is what the Sonnenglas was invented for in 2013: a safe
replacement for candles and paraffin lamps in regions without a power
grid. The maths is simple. The sun shines for free, a battery stores
it, and in the evening it comes back as warm light. No smoke in the
room, no flame next to the bed, no daily spend on fuel.
Safe means something practical here: a child can fall asleep next to
the light. A gust of wind cannot knock over anything that burns. And
when money runs short at the end of the month, the lantern still
glows — the sun sends no bill.
That the same lantern now sits on balconies in Berlin and garden
tables in Zurich was never the plan — but it is good news. Every jar
is made by hand in our Fair-Trade-certified factory at Victoria Yards,
Johannesburg, and creates real jobs there: more than 50 full-time
positions in a region where youth unemployment runs above 60 percent.
And the climate? Simple too: over their lifetime, our lights prevent
more CO₂ than their production generates. Every jar replaces light
that would otherwise have to burn.
So why solar light? Because it is the plainest way to turn a sunny
afternoon into a bright evening. And because a light invented for
townships loses none of its story on a balcony. It brings it along.