Nothing beats the beauty and peacefulness of nature. Following the hectic and energetic times at L+B in Frankfurt I have retreated in my beloved France to enjoy some well-deserved time off. It strikes me time and again how beautiful natural light can be specifically early mornings or late afternoons when the sun (and daylight) battles the darkness.

It is still cold in the mornings, with a low mist still hanging between the hilly terrain that is my immediate surrounding, which results in this near painting-like view, reminiscent of Chinese mountain paintings. It is practically still black, white and grey tones, the colours still hiding, waiting for the natural daylight to increase in brightness to reveal its beauty. The birds a chirping in anticipation, there is no other sound…  

How can you possibly reproduce this artificially? Should we even want to reproduce this? Why not let nature be and we as lighting designers respect the dark, dawn and dusk. One bright artificial light in this “painting” would ruin the peacefulness and remind us of the industrialised world we live in.

It is not difficult to understand why I love this place, regardless which season of the year. It re-centres me, re-energises me and most of all inspires and motivates me to create and contribute my knowledge and expertise towards applying lighting to the best of my ability in consideration of nature and our planets natural habitat.

Lighting design is not only about lighting, but also about what NOT to light. Get inspired!