It often feels like you are receiving light in its simplest form – not so much moulded by a lampshade but displayed on a facade, raw yet still changed. Light is presented on a surface, rather than through a surface.
Image credit: Full Moon by Cedric Ragot
Designers are using monotone colours and primal forms to ensure that the light itself remains the centre of attention.
Parasol Table Lamp by Jonas Forsman. Image credit: PDD
Frequently, the structure used by designers encourages the user to become the real player and master of light; conducting your own light show, experimenting with your environment.
Image credit: Ricochet Light by Daniel Rybakken
I loved Daniel Rybakken’s Ricochet lights at Milan design week last year. Typical of his work such as the Right Angle mirror, Rybakken plays with light and shadowing, using different material surfaces to bend and change light.
I highly recommend catching the Light Show while you can (it finishes on the 28th April), not only are there some beautiful pieces to look at, there is a highly enjoyable interactive experience that goes along with it. Highlights include Anthony McCall’s You, I, Horizontal that creates a three dimensional space by cutting through a dark room with light projected onto mist, and Carloz Crus-Diez’s Chromosaturation which forces the viewer to perceive their environment differently according to the light projected around them. Collectively, all the artists throughout the show are playing with light in a way that moves beyond the customary shade. Something that we will hopefully be seeing more of within the home environment in the year to come.