About Arca Lux

Arca Lux is a product development program originating from Reuben Wu’s experience creating his Lux Noctis Series.

Reuben Wu transforms familiar landscapes into other worlds. Reuben’s visual work ranges vastly from highlighting the effects of climate change through the eerie depictions of disappearing glaciers in Peru, to capturing the atmosphere of the Javanese volcanoes, documenting Mars simulations in the Utah desert, or utilizing drones to light landscapes in ways never seen before as part of his Lux Noctis series. All of these trips required exhaustive planning, significant travel, and a robust haul of gear tailored for the task. Arca Lux is Reuben’s product development collaboration with Mark Falvai to create the best gear to support such missions.

A modern Renaissance man who has mastered a wide range of specialities, Reuben left school an industrial designer, turned touring musician notably in Ladytron, and now focuses on creating visual art that challenges our accepted perceptions around landscapes. His commitment to reinterpreting landscape photography gave birth to the Lux Noctis series. Inspired by diverse elements from science fiction to chiaroscuro painting, Reuben leveraged drones and LED technology to cast impossible light onto obscure nighttime landscapes. By taking himself to some of the world’s most breathtaking vistas and utilizing technical abilities and available tools of multiple industries, he has brought to life the idea of places we want to believe exist on our home planet. These images are only achieved by working through logistical challenges, long miles through unpredictable conditions, and by staying alert into the early hours of the dawn to capture the unseeable.

Integral to his work is how Reuben carries his tools to these far off destinations. Outdoor gear and military issue equipment had always been of interest since school, but finding the perfect camera bag for pole-to-pole exploration of Earth is a seemingly impossible challenge. Reuben approached Mark Falvai, the designer, engineer, and co-founder of Chrome and Mission Workshop, to work with him on creating such a camera bag. For over 25 years, Mark has made products for people like Reuben with a core design ethos is to provide solutions for people going outside no matter the weather, duration, or circumstance. His body of work consists of products intended for people who cannot afford to be diverted from the task at hand by equipment failures and breakdowns nor can they rely on other people or infrastructure to help them accomplish their task that day.

Years earlier, Mark had been tasked with creating a bespoke pack for Mars volcanic environment simulations for NASA’s BASALT team to use in the rugged and unpredictable conditions near the Kilauea caldera. In evolutionary design terms, this modular backpack is Arca Lux’s closest cousin and the first instance of Mark creating a backpack with a removable back panel in conjunction with his Arkiv modular system. This design allowed the radio hardware to live in the main compartment while the back panel and personal accessories could be switched out for the team member carrying the communications equipment on that day’s simulation. Photos of the BASALT Mobile Communications Unit above by Evan B. Dudley.

Working through a couple variations, Mark and Reuben were able to assemble a kit made specifically for the Eclipse pilgrimage. With all the miles traveled, the harsh conditions, and rigorous itinerary, it was the perfect trip to set the bar on what the Arca Lux concept would support. Even so, the trip resulted in a myriad of design changes that are being put into affect for the next prototype. In the coming months, stay tuned for developments of The Arca Lux modular camera bag by following @itsreuben or signing for the Arca Lux newsletter below in the footer.