A new dawn with Solis

Introducing the exceptional new range from Schneider Electric

World-class design, premium materials, and precision engineering come together in Clipsal Solis™ – the ground-breaking new range from Schneider Electric.

From the Latin for “sun”, Solis is an exciting new benchmark in interior style for New Zealand homes from the global leader in electrical design and manufacturing.

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Tim Turrini-Rochford, Schneider Electric’s VP Design Asia Pacific, touching Clipsal Solis.

Clipsal Solis™ – the new solution

Schneider Electric has created Solis to be the electrical solution that partners perfectly with exceptional New Zealand architecture and interior design projects.

Its refined form, functionality, and premium finishes are backed by Schneider Electric’s world-leading engineering, making Solis the new quality choice for design professionals.

Tim Turrini-Rochford, Schneider Electric’s VP Design Asia Pacific, says work on Solis was careful and considered as it had to meet a market need for a beautiful, functional product that could sit easily in high-end projects for specifiers, while satisfying the technical requirements of electricians and delighting residential homeowners.

“Solis is pitched at a certain segment who will really want it,” says Tim. “It is for professionals with a certain type of client.”

Tim Turrini-Rochford and Jim Hannon-Tan sitting at a table with electronics.

World-class design

When assembling the design team for the new range, Tim says it was crucial to use designers who understood the Australian and New Zealand markets and their unique needs. He brought in internationally renowned designer Jim Hannon-Tan to lead the project. Jim’s extensive portfolio includes work for design names such as Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders, Magis, Muji, Flos, and Alessi, among many others.

Jim and the Asia Pacific Design Lab team were given a very broad brief. “It was very much in terms of delivering on themes like having to be timeless and having to work in a variety of applications, and removing extraneous decoration” explains Tim. “We might have a product that will sit in a wall for 20 or 30 years, so we have to tap into themes that are consistent across decades.

“What we do fundamentally has a function first, and that function is the most important thing. So the design is more about elevating that to something that is pleasing, or expressing that function in a really interesting, novel, or high quality way.”

The final design

An early part of the process for the Solis team was working out how far they could push the design, creating five “wildly different” concepts as a starting point. Tim says these ranged from sculptural to super minimal and flat; some were fully electronic, while another was machined from a single piece of stone. “We had to find that point where we could be different, but still understandable.”

The Schneider Electric design and engineering teams worked closely together throughout the process, and sought feedback from interior designers, architects, electricians and residential homeowners. Tim says the final designs had an overwhelmingly positive reaction from those groups.

“I love people’s first reaction when they see Solis,” says Tim. “It’s a functional object, but with a beautiful form. The aim was to be really honest about what it is and what it does. It’s to be honest with materials, it’s to be considered in every detail that is put in there.”

Solis’ playful asymmetry references the ‘golden rectangle’ and its pure geometric form. Its elongated rectangular plate connects to the geometry of the home and the organic circular button indicates the human element.

Clipsal Solis elongated rectangular plate.

The beauty of Solis

Clipsal Solis is available in two ranges: Solis Series features a fine matte texture in either black or white – monochromatic simplicity at its finest.

Solis T-Series elevates the design to a new level in brushed brass, anodised aluminium, and a world-leading white ceramic, which Tim says is game-changing.

“How do you bring a ‘better’ white? We had to look for something that was going to be new, so we’ve used an industrial ceramic borrowed from high tech industries. It’s an incredibly tough, super hardwearing material that helps to resist dirt, fingerprints and scratches. It also has a satiny soft, quite luxurious texture.”

He says the materials complement the timeless yet contemporary design of Solis and complete the experience of the range for the end-user – transforming a mundane daily activity into a pleasurable interaction. “Solis is designed to be a very tactile experience because you touch a light switch probably more than most other things in your home, so it should feel good.”

Tim Turrini-Rochford and Jim Hannon-Tan holding the final design of Clipsal Solis.

A new level in quality

Tim says they are excited to launch Clipsal Solis as they believe it is superior to what is currently on the market in terms of design, finishes and the electrical engineering underpinning the range.

“Finally, architects and interior designers are getting an electrical product that is as considered as their projects. The amount of detail they put into their work is the same amount of detail that we have put into creating ours. Solis might be a small part of their overall design, but it brings the same level of quality and attention to detail.”