Lighting Design Intermediate 1 and 2. Lighting Design Create a Word document and name it Lighting Design essay. Save this in your Art and Design folder

Lighting Design

Intermediate 1 and 2

Lighting Design

• Create a Word document and name it Lighting Design essay.

• Save this in your Art and Design folder.

How to plan the essay

• Paragraph 1 Introduction -using your own personal knowledge of lighting from your research. The page entitled Light Facts may help. Slide 4

• Paragraph 2 First piece of lighting (modern/contemporary). Remember to introduce the design by writing about who designed it. Describe it in detail. Analyse this using the Analysing Lighting pages. Slides 5 -7

» You can write notes on each area first and then write a paragraph on the piece. Use help on slide 8

• Paragraph 3 Second piece of lighting (historical). Analyse this in exactly the same way as the first.

• Paragraph 4 Describe the similarities, if there are any, between the two pieces. Are they the same type of lights? Do they look similar in any way? Are they both made from similar materials? If there are no similarities then you will need to write more for the next paragraph.

• Paragraph 5 Describe the differences between the two designs.• Paragraph 6 Which light appeals to you most? Why? Give reasons.• Short conclusion – any other comments about the two

designs that you have been looking at?

• Your essay should be approximately 1000 words. Maximum length (i.e. do not write any more than this) is 1500 words.

Light facts

• Translucent = to let light through• Lighting is not just for domestic interiors (the home). It is for public buildings, cafes, bars and restaurants.

• Lighting can create atmosphere in a space.

• Floor lighting, wall lighting, table lighting, spotlights will all give a space a very different look.

Analysing Lighting• Like any other area of design, Lighting has been designed. A designer has worked through a similar design process

that we work through at school. The designs that you are looking at are their solutions.

• When studying each Lighting Design, consider the following:

• Form What does the light look like? Describe it in detail. Imagine the person reading your essay has not seen the light.

• Function What is the function? Is it a free standing light, a ceiling light, a chandelier, a floor light…? Does it look as if it would be suitable to be this particular type of light. Give reasons for your answer.

more

Analysing Lighting• Target market What type of home or public space might it

be for? What style would this fit into? What age group of customer would buy this do you think?

• Materials used What materials have been used in this piece of lighting? If you do not have this information, then make a sensible guess.

• Has the design been successful? Do you think that the designer has

succeeded in creating a good design? An important point to consider, would the target market buy it? Would there be any safety issues?

Analysing Lighting• Your opinion This is the most important part of

your essay. You might really like or dislike the examples of lighting that you have been

looking at. You are not expected to like everything that you see. As long as you can justify your opinions about a design

then your views will be valued. You have to give reasons; for example “I do not like

this design as I do not think that the colours used complement each

other.” Or maybe “The scale (size) of this light would be too big for a domestic interior.” Remember to give reasons.

Words that you may find helpful

• Attached• Chandelier• Classic• Colourful• Constructed (made)• Contemporary (modern)• Contrasting (opposites)• Curvaceous (curved)• Detailed• Dull• Expensive• Fragile• Freestanding (not attached)• Heavy• Manufactured • Moulded• Neutral (plain colours, beiges etc)• Opaque (doesn’t let light through)• Opulent (rich)• Patterned• Reflective• Robust (strong, not easily broken)• Rough

• Rounded• Scale• Shiny• Size• Sleek• Strong• Surface• Textured• Translucent (lets light through)• Wall mounted

Contemporary* Lighting Designer: Tord Boontje

• *contemporary = modern

• Tord Boontje is from a place called Enschede in the Netherlands (Holland). He was born in 1968.

• He studied Industrial Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven (Netherlands)

• He then moved to London where he studied at the Royal College of Art.

• His studio is currently in south-east London. (see opposite)



• Most famous for his “Garland” light. (see opposite)This is made of metal and is just wrapped around a plain light bulb. This gives the person who has purchased the light the freedom to arrange it as they wish around the bulb. It is available in silver colour and gold colour.

• The light sells for £15 and Tord is pleased about this: ‘It makes it an affordable, democratic product.’


• *contemporary = modern • His work features flowers, animals, birds and insects.

• His work is seen as magical and romantic.

• He produced a collection of lights, tables and vases etc. that he called the ‘Wednesday Collection’. He called it this because Wednesday ‘is a mid-week day and these are all things for every day, things to live with.’

opposite: • Midsummer light. Materials: Two layers of

strong synthetic paper with a cone inside that keeps the paper away from the light bulb.

The light comes in a flat packaging and has a finished size of diameter 50 x 70 cm.

• The light is made in 5 different colours; white, fuchsia pink, sky blue, fire and lemon/lime.



• Who and what inspires his work? Where does he draw inspiration from?

• ‘I constantly look at contemporary art and craft. Historical sources are important to me too. I always research whenever I work on something new to try and become aware of the subject. Fashion is a great inspiration for me – I love the experimentation and the speed with which ideas are tested.

• Opposite: Midsummer light in white.

I am always drawn to things that are conceptually (about ideas) and visually exciting. Sometimes just going for a walk in the park where I live is the most inspiring thing – seeing a shadow, a puddle or a leaf.’



• What inspired Tord Boontje to work in lighting?

‘Darkness. Often we have too much light. Also light can be a powerful tool to influence a space. I like the dappled light in forests, and the glitter and sparkle of ice, cities, crystals and parties.’

Above: Midsummer light in lemon/lime



• For more information on Tord Boontje and to see more of his designs go on to his website:

• www.tordboontje.com

http://www.tordboontje.com/

Contemporary* Lighting Sharon Marston Lighting

• Specialising in the design and production of lighting.

• Exploring the properties of modern materials to create sculptural organic forms.

• The range includes pendants, wall-mounted, table, floor standing lights and fibre Optics lights.

• Public, commercial and private commissions undertaken.


AboveTitle: filament panel detail 'Bluebird Restaurant' Materials: polypropylene, mono-filament and fibre optics Dimensions (cm): L375 x D25 x H225


Spiral Pleat table light

DimensionsH 45cmW 30cmD 30cm

MaterialsWoven nylon

ColoursWhite, lilac, pale blue, gold, pink


Lunar table light

DimensionsH 40cmW 20cmD 20cm

Materialperspex, polypropylene, steel base

Colourswhite

Retail price£165


Lunar table light

• DimensionsH 40cmW 20cmD 20cm

• Materialperspex, polypropylene, steel base

• Colourswhite

• Retail price£165


*contemporary = modern

For more information on Sharon Marston and to see more of her designs go on to her website:www.sharonmarston.com

**** On the website you cannot copy the chandeliers onto a document as they are moving images. All other lights would appear to be o.k. ****

http://www.sharonmarston.com/

Historical lighting designer: Louis Comfort Tiffany

1848-1933

• Tiffany's lifelong fascination with light led to his innovations in stained glass but also inspired him to find new ways to incorporate electric lighting into his designs. Beginning in 1885, with his work on the Lyceum Theatre in New York, Tiffany pioneered the artistic adaptation of the light bulb. A few years later he created distinctive metalwork and blown-glass lighting fixtures for the Havemeyer house, but it was not until 1899 that he publicly introduced his first table lamps with bulbs shielded by colourful leaded-glass shades.

• The majority of Tiffany lampshades were essentially leaded-glass windows wrapped around a light source. Composed of intricate arrangements of semi translucent pieces, they were perfect complements for early electric bulbs, shielding the eyes from the bright light and directing it downward. They provided soft illumination inside a delightfully artistic object.


1848-1933• After his father's death in 1902,

Tiffany became vice president and artistic director of Tiffany and Company. His familiarity with jewelry manufacturing at the firm, as well as the collaboration with his father on several pieces for the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, undoubtedly inspired him to produce jewelry at his own workshops. He began experimenting, in much secrecy, with the design and fabrication of jewelry intending to introduce his work at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.


• Although designed and constructed in much the same way as the windows, the shades differed in that each was assembled on a solid wooden form and utilized a prescribed cartoon to indicate the shapes of the individual pieces of glass. For custom-made lighting, several sketches might be drawn. Once the composition was approved, it was translated into a watercolour cartoon, with thick dark outlines indicating the placement of the leading. The cartoons often show only a section of the design, which was repeated several times around the shade.

• This process resulted in a certain amount of conformity among the shades produced at Tiffany Studios. The degree to which they varied depended upon the palette and the different kinds of glass selected. Each artisan needed a painter's sense of colour to balance the multitude of subtle chromatic nuances, as he or she selected and joined literally hundreds of pieces into complex compositions. It took a skilled worker as long as a week just to choose and cut the hundreds of pieces of glass.


• By 1906 more than 125 shades could be ordered from Tiffany Studios; prices ranged from $30 for lamps with small shades in geometric designs to $750 for those with most elaborate floral patterns. Even at the lower price range, the lamps were considered luxury goods.

• Despite their great appeal, Tiffany remained ambivalent about his lamps. The leaded-glass shades were left out of his lavish biography by Charles de Kay, which included every other medium in which he worked. His plan of designing unique decorative objects for the home conflicted philosophically with the manufacture of items, such as the shades, in multiples. The patterns, models, and increasing volume of orders led to uniformity, and the conflict between the reproduced object and the ideal of a unique work of art must have been difficult for Tiffany to reconcile in his role as a creative artist.


Lotus (or Water-lily) table lamp, 1904–15 Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933)AmericanTiffany Studios (1902–1938)Leaded Favrile glass with bronze base,H. 26 1/2 in. base; 14 5/8 in. shade (67.3; 37.2 cm)

This is one of Tiffany's most effective floral lamps, with its subtly toned buds and blossoms cascading from the shade crown to its irregular border formed by creamy color-tinged petals. A variety of glass was used to replicate the color and texture of both the flower and the watery bog, seen in the translucent rippled blue glass between the pink opalescent stems. The organic character of the lamp is accentuated by the bronze support, which replicates broad, flat lily pads clustered around a base with climbing stems that disappear into the blossomed shade.


Elaborate peony shade with standing lamp, 1904–15Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933)AmericanTiffany Studios (1902–1938)Leaded Favrile glass, bronzeH. 63 x Diam. 22 in. (160 x 55.9 cm.)Inscribed: (on shade) Tiffany Studios New York;(on base) Tiffany Studios New York

Many of Tiffany's lamp designs were adaptations of motifs from Tiffany's windows. The spring flowers wisteria, magnolia, and peony were among his favourites. The peony is seen here in a profusion of blossoms, which vary slightly in colour around the lamp in hues ranging from pale pink to deep red amidst verdant leafy foliage. The size and shape of the individual pieces of glass mimic the actual petals and leaves of the flower itself.

Background to Art Nouveau (style of

Tiffany lamps)Art Nouveau was a

late 19th Century international design movement (trend).

The timeline for Art Nouveau was mid 1880’s to approx 1910.

Art Nouveau involved design, architecture and the decorative arts.

• Art Nouveau used the natural world as inspiration for designs. Flowers, leaves and birds are common features of work.

Background to Art Nouveau (style of

Tiffany lamps)Words used to describe Art

Nouveau work:• Decorative• Elegant• Ornamental

• Elongated shapes (tall as if stretched)

• Flowing lines• Stylish• Natural motifs (images)• Detailed

• Designers whose work was in this style are as follows:

• Louis Comfort Tiffany 1848-1933 (lamps and glassware)

• Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1868-1928 (architecture, furniture, textile design, interior design, painting)

• Antoni Gaudi 1852-1926 (architecture)

• Emile Galle 1846-1904 (glass and furniture)

• Rene Lalique 1827-1886 (jewellery and glassware)

Documents

Lighting Design Intermediate 1 and 2. Lighting Design Create a Word document and name it Lighting Design essay. Save this in your Art and Design folder