Branded lighting is a thing and Tapologie has a plan for it

Imagine a chandelier that looks like a hanging piece of art. Or a sculpture embedded with lights. Such works could be installed in hotels all over, if Aric Wanveer has his way.

Wanveer is founder and CEO of Tapologie, a startup based at the Emerging Technology Centers’ incubator at Eastern. Tapologie is an offshoot of Zero Gravity Creations and began with a crowdfunded, waterproof and reusable light bulb.
“We realized the hospitality and entertainment industries … could use it,” Wanveer said. So the company turned to contract work, building what clients wanted.
In a kickoff party last week at the startup’s office/showroom, that chandelier was one of the creations on display as libations streamed from beer taps — Wanveer can make those light up too, by the way.
The lighting is more than party tricks. Wanveer suggested that the technology could be used to create branded lighting.

“There’s people doing decorative, scenic lighting but not reusable or waterproof like ours,” he said.
Though Tapologie has only been a company for a year, Wanveer said the seven-year journey to the recent coming out party took four years of research and development and a months-long patent process.
Right now, the company has some early projects in Highlandtown and is working to secure deals with companies inside and outside Baltimore, though nothing’s yet been set in stone.
There’s good money in it, too. That chandelier? It would run about $6,000, Wanveer said.