An Industry is Born

The Lutron story began in the late 1950s in Joel Spira’s makeshift lab in New York City. Spira’s first invention – a simple rotary dimmer that can still be found on many dining room walls today – marked the birth of the lighting control industry. Since then, Lutron’s innovations have resulted in numerous patents worldwide. In addition to the solid-state dimmer, Lutron innovations also include the first electronic dimming ballast for fluorescent lights and the first self-contained preset lighting control system. Lutron was also the first to successfully mass-market the dimmer, the first to successfully market systems of linked dimmers, and is still the only company to create systems of dimmers and motorized window shades that control both electric light and daylight.

In almost 50 years of innovation, Lutron has invented hundreds of lighting control devices and systems and expanded their product offering from 2 products to 15,000. The company has advanced the technology of lighting control while maintaining top market position by focusing on exceptional quality and design. Lutron continues to lead the market in high-quality lighting controls for fluorescent, halogen incandescent, magnetic low-voltage, electronic low-voltage and LED light sources.