For a moment in time London shone under a gigantic glowing sunrise which transformed Trafalgar Square. The square was flooded with light to create the perfect summer sunrise and commuters were encouraged to relax and soak up the rays!

The ‘sun’ flooded the square with the equivalent of 60,000 lamps to create summer sunshine at one of the darkest times of the year.

The installation took up to six months to create and was designed by artists’ collective Greyworld, whose founder Andrew Shoben was delighted by the response of so many happy and smiling people.



This is an amazing installation, but on a more sober note, I am not sure how this fits in with Energy Efficiency with four million lumens of light output!!

Photo – Evening Standard 23rd January 2012

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The Lyon Fete des Lumieres was a magical occassion this year.  The city was filled with light and celebration at an already festive time of the year.

Paul Cocksedge filled the courtyard at Lyon’s Hotel de Ville with another amazing Christmas illumination; each year he brings a gasp of admiration from thousands of visitors to his works of art.  The installation called Bourrasque looks like reams of paper scattered by a gust of wind and soaring into the winter evening with each sheet luminescent and glowing.

The Bourrasque measured 25 metres and was over 15 metres high and each of the 200 A3 sized sheets were double sided and moulded by hand with the structure barely visible to the human eye. I would love to have been there!

Other installations were beautiful and innovative too, I especially like the ‘Stick men’ rushing around the town and the ghostly kites floating in the night sky.

To see more of these fabulous illuminations just google Lyon Fete des Lumieres and you will entranced by the artistry and imagination.

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In October Light IQ designed a twenty four hour garden for Grand Designs Birmingham. It featured amongst many fittings a neon sign titled ‘Come sit with me a while.

Neon lighting in   advertising has declined in recent years but it has become very popular as an art form, both for individual objects and integrated into architecture.

It is used for a wide range of applications including branding, events, entertainment, gifts and art.

In 2007 Tracey Emin designed her neon art work entitled ‘I Promise to love you’.  Many neon artists have created original works of art that advance the techniques used to capture their own artistic vision and I for one love the concept.

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Light IQ is happy to announce that their lighting design for the restaurant Rocksalt has been shortlisted for a Lighting Design Award!

Rocksalt, is the first solo restaurant venue for Executive Chef Mark Sargeant, former head chef at Claridges. The restaurant sits along side a listed brick viaduct, cobbled street, and an old fish market. With its spectacular view of the coast the building utilises natural materials which accentuates the dramatic architecture whilst ensuring nothing distracts from the ever-changing coastal views. A conscious decision was made to move away from trendy modern lighting schemes; instead Light IQ embraced the softer coastal aesthetic so as not to distract from the view.

The Lighting Design Awards 2012 are a prestigious lighting awards ceremony organized by the magazine Lighting. Light IQ has been shortlisted to win the award in the Hotels & Restaurants category. The winner will be announced on the 21^st of March, 2012.

Guy Halloway Architects, whom Light IQ worked with on the project have been shortlisted for the FX International Interior Design Awards for the firm’s design of Rocksalt.

The restaurant is the first building to be realized within Sir Terry Farrell’s master plan for Folkestone harbour. We were delighted to be involved with this project and look forward to seeing the regeneration of the harbour.

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This series of original and colourful lamps was created by Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture in Sweden. The series comprises six lamps, all of which are constructed from a piece of paper stretched and folded to form a unique shape. The series comes in four fabulous colours, magenta, cyan, amber and black.

Fredrik Kjellgren was inspired by his grandmother who made beautiful clothes from paper templates and introduced him to form and design at an early age.

The beauty of simple paper creates an inspiring series of lamps designed to enhance a visually dynamic space with great lighting.

Designers: F. Kjellaren, D. Andersson, J. Kaminsky, J. Rausch

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As I was travelling to work this morning I was perusing the Metro as usual when I saw this article.

With energy bills rising and the coldest and darkest days of the year ahead of us I thought this piece was interesting and a tribute to inventiveness; although it doesn’t really apply to us in Europe where at this time of the year we have virtually no sun.

The Liter is a light installation powered by water and sunlight. A 1.5 litre plastic bottle is filled with purified water and three tablespoons of bleach, to prevent mould. It is then fitted to a hole in the roof.

The suns rays are harnessed by the bottle, which refract inside creating a 50w glow in the room.

The bottle bulb was designed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been installed in 10,000 homes in Manilla. The project is expected to be expanded to India and Africa. A great energy efficient and free lamp!

Metro – November 17^th 2011

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This was an evening of light hearted fun with a Holoween theme hosted by Zumtobel at the Bega nightgeist.

The mysterious setting suited the evening’s theme and our design team used it to full effect.  The scheme chosen to use the fittings provided, was a glowing ghost creeping from behind trees and columns infused with purple and blue hues to the rhythm of Michael Jackson’s recording of Thriller. This created an atmospheric setting for an evening of friendly competition and team building exercises much loved by the Design team.

Bega is hosting a series of workshops at iconic locations across the UK. This is an enjoyable way of playing with Bega products and taking a ‘hands on’ approach to the application of the luminaires and how they look in situ.

Thank you Zumtobel for an evening of fun, good company, food and wine.

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A lighting Designer colleague of mine sent me pictures of the White  chandelier by Winnie Lui recently. She was captivated by the design and confessed she had been collecting bits and pieces for the last two years to make her own chandelier as the prices were unaffordable to her as yet!

I was very impressed and decided to have a look on the internet for some unusual and inspirational luminaires which were created by young designers with incredible vision. There were quite a few and I have included three of them in this blog.

Winnie Lui constructed her chandelier out of toys and other everyday objects, making a unique and beautiful lighting fixture. The luminaire not only throws out light but the objects create an interesting play of shadows when it is lit.  I look forward to seeing Natalie’s chandelier when it is complete and I am sure it will be spectacular.

Winnie Lui

The Bacterioptica lamp was designed for a couple who felt it reflected their chaotic lifestyle. The luminaire is a living organism in their home, made up of Petri dishes, metal rods and 15,000 feet of fibre optics. Each Petri dish represents a family member, therefore it grows as a household organism living and breathing the same air and bacteria.

Designed by Madlab

The Cloud Suspension Lamp inspired me for it’s simplicity.  I felt that if it was hanging above, you could almost feel that you were outdoors lying on your back and watching the clouds go by.  We need to feel the outside world when we spend so much time indoors andI loved the soft diffused luminosity of the luminaire.

Panik-Design

I look forward to seeing many more inspirational designs and when Natalie has finished her work of art maybe we will be allowed to photograph it for our blog. No pressure then!

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With London Fashion week in the news for the last few days, we were delighted to see once again light and fashion coming together. Last year it was an LED dress and this year Piers Atkinson has designed some highly evocative hats.

The neon hat is designed to turn heads; you certainly wouldn’t be missed at a fabulous fashion event or on a grey winters afternoon. This is a must have for the confident fashionista.

Piers Atkinson

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Light up your garden in style with the RockCoco outdoor chandelier from Fatboy.  Created by Dutch designers DeMakersVan, the RockCoco brings a 21st  century twist to the indulgent Baroque style of the 1700s.  While the over-all look may hark right back to the excesses of 18^th century Europe, DeMakersVan

have added a few new features to give the chandelier its edgy look.  Transparent plastic completely contrasts to the mainly gold chandeliers of the Baroque era while still maintaining their elegance.  However, it also makes the RockCoco the first chandelier able to withstand outdoor conditions.  Red wiring running through gives the otherwise colourless light fixture a shocking burst of colour while subtly hinting at the curling brocade of the Baroque era.  This chandelier would set the atmosphere for any outdoor gathering hanging delicately suspended and emitting a warm glow – just as its counterparts would have done over 300 years ago.

Image from trendhunter.com

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