LIGHTING PANELS

There is described a method of manufacturing a lighting panel, comprising the steps of (a) printing a plurality of electrically conductive traces onto a planar surface of a substrate; (b) mounting a plurality of light sources onto the plurality of electrically conductive traces on the planar surface of the substrate at mounting positions such that the plurality of electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the plurality of electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the plurality of light sources; (c) providing a polymer sheet over the plurality of light sources; (d) providing a stack-up of the substrate with the printed plurality of electrically conductive traces, the plurality of light sources mounted on the planar surface, and the polymer sheet onto a composite base; and (e) applying pressure and heat to the stack-up and the composite base to embed the plurality of light sources into the composite base so as to be flush with a top surface of the substrate, and to embed portions of the substrate into the composite base underneath the plurality of light sources at the mounting positions.