A Startup Figured Out How To Print Light Just Like Paper - And It Looks Like Magic

Imagine if light could be emitted by flat, razor-thin surfaces like paper, instead of round, circular bulbs.

That's exactly the type of technology Idaho-based startup Rohinni is working on, and it looks like it has the potential to change how all types of gadgets are made - from smartphones to cars, wearable devices, and of course, the traditional lamp.

Rohinni calls this technology LightPaper, and it can be printed and applied to near any surface, as CMO Nick Smoot recently told Fast Company's Tyler Hayes. To create LightPaper, Rohinni combines ink and small LED lights and prints them out in one single conductive layer, Smoot told Fast Company.

Rohinni's LightPaper is much thinner than current lighting technology such as OLED, which is used to power most super-slim TVs like the ones made by Samsung and LG. But based on what Hayes told Fast Company and the demos shown on Rohinni's website, it seems like the company is more interested in using LightPaper as a new means of backlighting for gadgets and everyday objects.

One of the most obvious use cases, according to Rohinni's website, is illuminating logos on products. Here's how it could look on a smartphone.

And a car:

With technology as thin as LightPaper, you'd ideally be able to install lighting directly into your bedroom wall as shown below.

We'll probably start seeing LightPaper implemented in products sometime in 2015, according to Fast Company, but it's unclear exactly where we'll see it. Check out the video from Rohinni below.