Walk into a dark room and flip on a light. The illumination spreads across the walls and tables. Darkness retreats and the room takes on a very different feel. Lighting lead to amazing nuances in the feel of a room. Pendant lighting and Vaxcel lighting can provide a certain elegance and focus the light in a room. Whether we are lighting a room or attempting to bring light to aspects of our lives the fundamentals remain the same.
Above all, shadows are not the problem. The goal of light design is not to remove all the darkness, but to shape the light, to create highlights, lowlights, and areas of focus. If a room is blasted with light removing all shadows, the space becomes less comfortable and institutional. Creative lighting can make a small room feel larger and larger rooms feel quaint. By highlighting certain areas the eye is led and fed the images that the designer prefers. The flat unattractive wall can be shaped with shadows to create depth and texture. The light can be directed onto the best features of the room whether it is the fishtank in the corner or the statue of Johnny Depp in the corner. Every space has its positive areas and difficult spots that can be used to the best advantage. Often it is the very design obstacle that a room presents that creates the most innovative solutions and helps create a more interesting space.
In our day to day existence we are similar to a room that needs to be lit. Every person on the planet has strengths and weaknesses. Our biggest error is that we believe our flaws need to be hidden. If we create our world like we might light a room we will quickly understand that the first order of business is to figure out what the center of focus is going to be and what other elements of our lives need to be lit up. If we if we try to but 100% energy into every detail of our lives it will be like trying to blast light on every corner. There will be no sense of depth or attention to detail. The whole room or life will seem washed out and cold.
A perfect lighting plan isn’t about removing all imperfections of a room or trying to cover them up. It is about incorporating them into the room, using a dark spot for contrast, or turning a giant flat space into something captivating. In our everyday existence there are a hundred possible points of focus. Putting our energy, our light, onto the most important areas helps create our values, our goals and how we spend our time. In our example of lighting design, light demands energy. The same is true for us to live. Where we put our focus require energy. If we try to place energy into every aspect of our day to day life, the emotional cost could be dramatic.
Plan a lighting design for your day to day experience. Decide what is important, where you want to spend your energy and what can take less of your focus. Walk into a well lit room and draw ideas about focusing attention.
