Lighting For Special Occasions – Mystery and Theatre
Interior designers today are highly-qualified multitasking professionals – it’s not just about pretty fabrics and gorgeous furniture any more – design professionals need to understand flooring, structures, plumbing constraints, heating systems, security features, electrical outlets and much more besides. One of the most important parts of an interior designer’s job is lighting, and this can one of the most technically challenging and complex elements of the profession. In this four-part collection of articles which I call “Notes from a London Interior Designer,” I draw on my substantial experience from working alongside some of London’s most celebrated interior designers to reveal the secrets of this fascinating field.
If you are outside London and have a beautiful mansion with expansive grounds, floodlighting may be a perfect solution for magnificent drama. This can also be a perfect choice for castles or temples and other places of worship. Interior designers will often select mercury-based illuminators, which cast a powerful bluish light into the air. This can be perfect on conifers and it creates a fabulous contrast when used alongside filament-based yellow bulbs. Many of London’s best-known interior designers like to recess floodlights down into the earth or tuck them away in a group of bushes in order to reduce glare and make the garden environment more welcoming. These powerful illuminators are often recommended for extremely leafy areas of your garden or for the furthest corners of more expansive grounds.
Candles are magical because of the way the light moves with the wind. Interior designers can install burning garden flambeaus alongside a path in order to draw the eye along an arc. Occasionally, London gardens will have standing water features; I have seen interior designers create concepts that require candle nightlights to float glistening on the water during luxurious soirees. Windproof glass vessels protect the candles and make sure they won’t be extinguished if the breeze picks up.
I would be remiss as an interior designer if I did not mention a few safety issues here. Most London Interior Designers are fully qualified in all the latest lighting design codes, but please do remember that open flames should never be left unattended and it is critical to make sure candles do not come into contact with leaves, branches or flowers.
In the next article in this collection which I call “Notes from a London Interior Designer,” I will talk about how to bring water features to life using light.
Lily Candice is regular article writer for Interior Design London – Global Interior Design Consultancy Company in London, UK for interior design services.
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