Everything is Illuminated

These brilliant lighting systems allow you to create your own compositions, brighten up dead zones and enhance the architectural genius of your space. If you’re looking for more striking additions to elevate your interiors, don’t miss our feature on Statement Table Lamps for Your Home.

Sticks

Pure and graphic, the minimalist aluminium rods of STICKS – designed by Arik Levy for Vibia – can be used to transform linear light into a floating sculpture, to brighten corners and to highlight architectural elements using light. Create your own layout by adding connectible STICKS or stand-alone models to your composition. The STICKS measure 1.5m, 2m or 3m, linking together to reach a maximum length of 6.5m with a single electrical connection.

Wiring

Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, better known as Studio Formafantasma, are Italian designers based in Amsterdam. Since graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven, they have developed a body of work characterised by experimental material investigations and a critical approach to the significance of objects as cultural conduits. Studio Formafantasma’s WIRERING light range for Flos includes a belt-like electrical cable and a ring containing an LED strip. The cable – often considered something to hide – is the focus, cleverly drawing attention to the transmission of energy through the design.

Infra-structure

Vincent Van Duysen, a Belgian architect based in Antwerp, is well known for his restrained, pared-back design. His INFRA-STRUCTURE range for Flos is tubular, and compatible with a wide range of light fixtures, with magnetic fastening and mechanical safety locking that make it possible to combine vertical and horizontal elements to generate 3D combinations in infinite variations. The graphic simplicity of the elements – and the speed with which they can be combined – allows for a creative approach to any space.

Flat

The FLAT collection is one of three lighting collections created by Japanese designer Ichiro Iwasaki for Vibia. The FLAT hanging lamps are expressed as metal planes that descend from above and terminate at different heights. Hanging from cables suspended from the ceiling, the pendant fittings are both delicate and strikingly graphic, and seem to almost float overhead. They reflect light from their surfaces too, projecting an enveloping luminance into a space.

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The post Everything is Illuminated: Clever Lighting Systems appeared first on Visi.

A single string of battery-operated LED lights can turn a dull day into a celebration.

Visit your local party shop to buy battery-operated LED string lights. Unlike fairly lights with incandescent bulbs, the LEDs aren’t a fire hazard. Since most LEDs come in a cold white light, make sure to ask for ones that emit a warm light. Then shop for accessories to dress the pinhead-sized bulbs to suit your celebration.

We pretended the circus was in town! Paper cupcake cases make great shades, but even better are these little crowns with domed lids that we found in the baby-shower department of the shop. We bought ours at Home Stuff in Johannesburg: a string with 20 LEDs (R19), crowns (R9 each) and cupcake cases (R21 for 10).

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Francesco Abbate, Managing Director of Spazio Lighting, highlights five key trends to look out for this year.

1. GOLD AND BLACK

“Art Deco-inspired black and gold decor was front and centre at Euroluce 2017. Warm metallics paired with striking black walls and furniture add a dramatic yet stylish effect to interior settings.”

2. CUSTOMISABLE HAND-MADE SINGLE PIECES

“The modern consumer is spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing lights. Designers are getting into the habit of creating single pieces that can be altered and added onto to create a custom light based on a customer’s specific requirements.”

3. THIN WIRES

“Creating a clustering effect with lights is another trend on display at Euroluce 2017. This makes for a dramatic lighting feature in, for example, a double-volume staircase. It is done by using a single base with a number of thin wires hanging from it, each with its own light.”

4. BATTERY OPERATION

“We are all very conscious of the global movement towards energy efficiency. Using rechargeable battery-operated light fittings are energy saving and give you an element of portability.”

5. WARM WHITE LEDS

“Warm white (2 700 K) LED lighting creates an inviting atmosphere, and complements the warm metals and rich tones that we are seeing so much of in lighting and design.”

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Luminous LED lights by artist and designer Lisa Swanepoel are generating a warm glow this winter.

Lisa Swanepoel credits a love of saturated luminous colour and an admiration for the artists of the 1950s and ’60s who pioneered geometric abstract art as inspirations for her latest design venture, a collection of Perspex LED lights.

The Perspex is laminated with one or more layers of translucent vinyl and cut by hand, so no two lights are alike. To put a collection like this together, one has to understand how lights can transform a space. “I had to think of these lights as mood enhancers and intense colour accents rather than functional lamps,” she says. “I have many lights in my home to accomplish a warm glow throughout by way of various small pools of warmth – like a spotlight on a wall or a halo for its own bubble – all to achieve a 3D light space.”

Vibrant colour is a source of delight for Lisa. “And the idea of offsetting these colours further by backlighting them with an iridescent glow excites me greatly,” she says.

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Paul Pamboukian, lighting designer and director at Pamboukian Light Design, sheds some light on the science behind LED.

What is LED lighting?

The typical red LED (light emitting diode) indicator lights found on most electrical appliances that indicate power were developed in the Sixties and LED lighting as we know it today is a relatively recent development of this basic technology. The development was so revolutionary that the inventor Shuji Nakamura, regarded as the inventor of the blue LED, was one of three recipients of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics.

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