Seeing is believing!
Shanghai, 16th January 2010
As the old adagio goes, seeing is believing and nothing is more true than in lighting. We may think we know how the lighting effects are going to be but until we finally see the results it is often an (educated) guess. The more experience we have a s lighting designers, the better we can anticipate the end result.
But we don’t have to wait till the end to assure ourselves that the designed lighting is as desired. In fact we should never wait till the end. That is where our relationship with the lighting manufacturers come in. We can’t design from behind our desks and based on catalogue information only. We need to check out the light fixtures, hold them in our hands and visually inspect how they look, feels and its light interacts. With lighting technology moving fast forward and so many new products being released in the market we have to assure ourselves in the early stages of the design process that our lighting selection is the right one.
Many years ago I made a mistake by selecting a ceiling light without properly checking its dimensions, just based on the catalogue image. It looked nice and stylish. But when it was eventually installed it looked totally out of proportion as it was so much smaller in reality! Oops…
It is specifically the lighting effects that we need to see and understand. Over the years experience will help narrowing down the process of selection. But honestly, with all my years of experience I find it still amazing how much I still learn from actually seeing the lighting effects! In our office we have implemented the rule to always (at least as much as reasonably possible) make sure to “see” new light fittings before specifying them in a project. Seeing is believing and when we specify a product we need to truly believe ourselves that we are specifying the best possible solution!
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