Born and evolved in (not so sunny) Gothenburg, Sweden
The Solros story really began in 2015 when inventor and engineer Jon Ramstedt started discussing how to invent a sunshine harvesting and distribution system for the consumer market with his friend and colleague Daniel Johansson. For a few years, the two had been developing very large sunlight systems for another company designed and produced mainly with large corporations as target group. The projects they where involved in led to innovative solar light setups all over the world, great for learning about the various markets but, in Jon’s and Daniel’s minds still lacked potential outside the few rich organisations that could afford the quite expensive setup. They realised the potential and huge impact a consumer product could have on the world – a consumer priced product could very well become revolutionary and bring real sunlight to dark rooms while simultaneously reducing electricity consumption, making for a truly sustainable and future-proof investment.
Creating a consumer market yet efficient sunshine harvesting system became the duos passion. They started what was to become Solros in 2015 and experimented with mirror discs that followed the sun and reflected concentrated sunbeams onto a bundle of optical fibers. After teaming up with designers and strategists Milan Kosovic, Fredrik Bengtsson and Mathias Strömberg as well as the founders of engineering company Essiq, the first generation prototypes was a great success, reaching 10k lumen effect indoors on good sunny days.
However, finding a mass production setup that reached the same light quality was harder: to keep the mirrors cheap, they would have to be made out of aluminium – which proved to be a lot more unreliable than the steel prototypes.
So, in order to reach the same light levels, the team needed to come up with a new solution and did so in the fall of 2019, when the Solros 2 was born: instead of a reflective mirror dish, the sun was concentrated with the help of a glass lens instead – this technique was superior and reliable in a way the aluminium mirror never was. Finally, a marketable product ready to take the world with storm.
Time to let the sunshine in!
The first Solros film (spring 2018).
Jon Ramstedt – inventor and founder – in his garage, assembling one of the first prototypes.
Solros 2: In the frosty November days 2019, a new generation Solros prototypes saw the light of day. With the lens solution, we finally cracked the most central problem with mass production of the Solros 1 – the attenuation that happened with less-than-perfect mirrors
The Solros 1 managed to catch the light perfectly but the aluminium mirror planned for the mass market did not meet our high standards, managing to reflect only a portion of the light the steel prototype did.
Quick Facts
Founded: 2015
HQ Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Number of Employees: 7
Country of Assembly: China
Support e-mail: info@solros.com
Solros in media
Media on Solros generation 1 (mirror dish in 2018):
Grun Energie:
“Schwedisches Gerät bringt echtes Sonnenlicht, wo es gebraucht wird”
Feber:
“Ta in solljuset till hemmets mörka vrår – Svenska Solros fångar strålarna med fiberoptik”
The Green Optimistic:
“Solros Real Light: Swedish Device Brings Real Sunlight Where Needed”
Eco Inventos:
“Sistema usa fibra óptica para llevar la luz del sol a cualquier habitación tu casa”
Treehugger:
“Solros delivers sunlight in a cable from dish to table”
Eco Urban Hub:
“Solros Captures Real Sunlight For Interior Lighting?”