One of the most notable early product developments from SGM since its strategic acquisition by Golden Sea in 2025 is the new POI range of outdoor luminaires. Developed entirely from scratch in a remarkably tight timeframe of just 12 months, this comprehensive product family marks an impressive addition to SGM’s established architectural lighting portfolio. Lighting designer David Morgan takes a closer look at the technology, manufacturing background, and engineering features that define this new chapter for the brand.
Companies, much like people, travel along a wide variety of paths throughout their operational lifespans. While some business entities maintain continuous family-based ownership across multiple generations, others pass rapidly through various different owners, corporate structures, and geographic locations. SGM firmly falls into the latter category of dynamic corporate evolution.
Founded in Pesaro, Italy, in 1975, the company built its early reputation on a colorful catalogue of iconic disco-era products. These early offerings included illuminated dance floor modules, specialized smoke machines, and dedicated lighting controllers. After changing Italian ownership in 2009, SGM underwent a major restructuring in 2012 under the leadership of former Martin Professional founder Peter Johansen. Johansen successfully relocated the company to Aarhus, Denmark, relaunching it as SGM A/S and decisively shifting its corporate focus toward advanced entertainment and architectural lighting solutions.
The company’s next major historical turning point occurred in August 2024, when it was acquired by Golden Sea, a prominent Chinese lighting manufacturer. This acquisition neatly coincided with SGM’s 50th corporate anniversary in 2025. Under the stewardship of Golden Sea, SGM has successfully retained its operational headquarters in Aarhus, its core research and development team, and its distinct Danish operational identity, all while benefiting significantly from the financial backing and logistical scale of a much larger global manufacturing group.
Golden Sea currently boasts group sales in the region of $170 million and employs approximately 1,600 people worldwide. The expansive corporate group also includes Ayrton, the high-end French entertainment lighting company that was originally acquired in 2017 as a small enterprise and has since grown steadily under Golden Sea’s ownership.
The broader organization is now steered by a new management team headed by industry veteran Jessie Lilly. Lilly brings extensive sector experience, having previously worked for Martin Professional, Speirs Major Light Architecture, and Lumenpulse. Under this renewed leadership structure, SGM has carefully rationalized both its entertainment and architectural product ranges, actively developing new and revamped luminaires tailored for both sectors.
Willem De Plus currently oversees architectural product management. The initial stages of all new product development are undertaken directly in Denmark. Once the overarching design approach is fully resolved, the engineering and production teams at Golden Sea take over the manufacturing process, managing production engineering all the way through to the final commercial launch.
The first major tangible result of this extensive organizational revamp is the POI, or Permanent Outdoor Installations, range designed specifically for the high-end architectural market. Developed completely from scratch within a remarkable 12-month window, the range underscores the substantial resources, engineering capacity, and manufacturing efficiency available within the broader Golden Sea group.
The POI range is comprehensive, comprising wide wash luminaires, narrow beam projectors, and linear grazers. All of these fixtures are built around standardized 45mm diameter colour-mixing lenses, multi-chip LED RGBW light engines, and sophisticated internal driver systems. While some of the specialized lenses have been developed entirely in-house, others utilize industry-standard optical components sourced from LEDiL.
The wash light luminaires share a robust rectilinear aluminum die-cast construction. They are currently available in five distinct sizes, ranging from the smallest single 15W light engine housed in a compact square format measuring 88 by 88 millimeters, up to the largest 250W model in a rectangular format measuring 280 by 470 millimeters and incorporating 32 individual light engines. Two even larger sizes are currently listed on the company website as being under active development, with the largest 850W luminaire slated to utilize active cooling and incorporate 36 light engines.
Beam angles across the wash range span from 10 degrees up to 100 degrees, alongside specialized elliptical distribution options of 10 by 60 degrees and 60 by 10 degrees. Lumen output scales proportionately, starting at 421 lumens with all LEDs running at full power for the compact 15W version, and reaching up to 11,822 lumens for the high-output 250W model.
The narrow beam luminaires feature a complementary circular profile aluminum die-cast construction. Like their wash counterparts, they are offered in five distinct physical sizes. The smallest unit features a single 15W light engine within a 90mm diameter profile, while the largest 250W size measures 372 millimeters in diameter and integrates 30 light engines.
The standard beam angle for this projector series is a tight 7.5 degrees. Installers can utilize an external optical film accessory to modify the standard beam angle up to 80 degrees, as well as achieve elliptical light distributions of 7.5 by 40 degrees and 7.5 by 60 degrees. Lumen output for the beam range spans from 407 lumens for the 15W model up to 10,192 lumens for the 250W variant. It is worth noting that the add-on beam-shaping optical film reduces total light output by approximately 10 to 12 percent, depending on the specific film variant selected.
The linear grazers represent a thorough modernization and reworking of the i1 Linear luminaires previously reviewed back in 2023. These updated fixtures now incorporate the exact same 45mm color-mixing lenses and multi-chip light engines utilized throughout the wash and beam product families. By contrast, the original legacy versions relied exclusively on single-color light engines paired with non-color-mixing lenses.
The smallest linear grazer operates at 25W utilizing five light engines, constructed from an 87 by 84 millimeter aluminum extrusion complemented by die-cast aluminum end caps. The largest current production size runs at 100W, delivering up to 3,630 lumens with all LEDs operating at full power, and spans a total length of 1,220 millimeters. Available beam angles range from 10 degrees up to 60 degrees, alongside an elliptical lens option of 10 by 60 degrees.
Physical samples provided for testing performed consistently well, producing cleanly blended color light outputs across the visible spectrum, despite exhibiting minor color separation when viewed at very close range. The luminaires are meticulously detailed and robustly constructed. Notably, up to 60 percent of the ADC 12 aluminum utilized for the die-cast housings is sourced from recycled material. Furthermore, SGM has engineered these luminaires to facilitate straightforward dismantling at the end of their operational lifespan, aligning directly with circular economy principles.
Although the beam and wash models within the POI range do not present a radically distinct visual identity—sharing a generalized design language common to several other high-quality architectural lighting brands on the market—the fixtures genuinely stand apart through the incorporation of several advanced technical innovations.
The most intriguing technical inclusion is branded as DryTech. This is a patented active dehumidification system designed to combat internal moisture. Any humidity that manages to find its way inside the luminaire housing is actively removed via an electrolysis-based dehumidifier utilizing a solid-state polymeric ionic membrane positioned between a porous anode and a porous cathode.
Equally impressive is the factory-calibration process applied to each individual luminaire. The system employs a proprietary algorithm to ensure consistent white light and color mixing performance across mixed combinations of fixtures. When multiple luminaires are set to a specific color or color temperature, they automatically match one another as the system dynamically adjusts the color mix, removing the necessity for manual color level calibration during commissioning. Although the standard RGBW array offers native white options primarily in 3000K and 4000K, SGM’s onboard software allows the mixed white color temperature to range widely from 2000K up to 10,000K when managed via DMX control.
Additional technical features, while also available through select other high-end manufacturers and drivers, include a dynamic thermal control system and a color boost system. The color boost function dynamically maximizes available light output based on the chosen mix of whites or colors, pushing performance right up to the maximum thermal and electrical capacity of the luminaire.
The rapid development of the POI range stands as a notable technical and organizational achievement for the newly restructured company. It will be interesting to observe how these advanced technological platforms perform in real-world architectural projects in the years ahead.
www.sgmlighting.com
David Morgan runs David Morgan Associates, a London-based international design consultancy specializing in luminaire design and development, and is also managing director of Radiant Architectural Lighting. Email: [email protected] Web: www.dmadesign.co.uk
