Let's FOCUS on Interior Design: Lighting for Drama - Part I

Interior design professionals are accomplished at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this three-part series which I call "Let's FOCUS on Interior Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top interior design experts to explain how to create focus, balance and drama through the use of lighting.


The London Interior Design Professional is adroit at creating balance by fine-tuning the various lighting levels in a scheme and reducing global brightness. This process is critical in building mood and drama. Away from the field of interior design, think of how natural light works. Imagine the sleek freshness of a shaft of London sunshine through a skylight, which causes the gloomiest room to brighten up vivaciously. London's interior design professionals often use the word "emphasis" to describe the resulting contrast between brightness and shade.


For example, in a given interior design concept, the client will often ask for a favourite ornament or table to be highlighted. In such cases, the interior design professional may decide to wash the area around the highlight with low-level general lighting. A graphic artist or web designer uses the same approach to incorporate both bright-lights and contrasting dimmed-lights in a painting. Achieving proper emphasis is critical to any lighting scheme, whether in an interior design setting or not.


London's inclement weather can pose a challenge for those who work extensively with light. For example, many London photographers need to take special classes to learn how to use a light meter in order to measure intensities and guarantee the proper illuminative balance. The interior design professional doesn't need such fancy equipment and mainly relies on her eyes and ears. Instead, interior design professionals learn about reflectivity in their colour and lighting classes. Matt and gloss metrics, together with saturation quotients, all determine the reflectance value. An object that is highly reflective is difficult to photograph, but easy for the eye to make out. The interior design expert knows this, and understands how to use infill lighting to mellow out the contrast values and thereby create more cohesive and melodious interior design concepts.



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