Led there be light
In what seems like a never ending saga of building a house we were faced with the question what about lighting not so long ago. From what I understand most people don’t really think about light, but they should really. Light is no longer just an essential element that is needed when it is dark. Light and illumination can bring a personal, artistic or dynamic touch to your home. It sets a mood, so Geert and I both agreed that we needed some research on this matter. The best surprise of this research was that Belgium is blessed with some leaders when it comes down to light architecture/design.
We had no clue where to start
Luckily the Internet and Google became our partner in this investigation (aren't they always?). The outcome of the research was all the more surprising to be honest. According to our research two companies are at the forefront of light design and a coincidence or not both of them are situated in Roeselare. Roeselare seems it has a lot to offer design wise, you also have "'t Casteelken" there. You see work from designers like Antonio Citterio, Ame Jacobsen, Maarten van Severen etc. But back to the two light leaders, they are:
Deltalight
Deltalight was a name that rung a bell in my head. When visiting it came back to me that their Flash website had won a lot of prizes in the past. Despite the implementation to go full screen :) The negative effect of an all Flash site is that they aren't that visible on Google. They could benefit a lot from making their site up to par code wise. Deltalight's big catalogue is called the "Lighting Bible". I filled in a form to receive it and after like 14 days I actually got it. Could be faster, but I think it is not that bad for such a heavy and expensive well designed catalogue.
Wever & Ducré
Thanks to our electrician we had the privilege to visit their headquarters and get a tour in the showroom. It's great to get inspired and see all the possibilities with such a simple thing as light. Actually not that simple because to me it sets my mood and light is also the creator of all living things when you start to think about it. The big catalogue of Wever & Ducré is my favorite because it so well designed. The colors, the typography, photographs and placement of items makes this a winner. I'm not afraid to say that I couldn't do it any better.
Choosing was actually the hard part
When you have so much choice it becomes hard in finding just what you want. We had some basic ideas of the style that we want for the house but in these big books almost everything is not an afterthought but a well designed product. Let's say that we spend a decent amount of time in the catalogs to find what we want. But eventually we did and we ordered light from both Deltalight and Wever and Ducré. Light used up a big part of our budget but I'm 100% sure we won't regret it one bit if we are to relax in a cozy atmosphere in a few months time.
Led there be light
No the title is no typo :) I'm referring to the Light Emitting Diodes, the newest thing in architectural light. LED can be used anywhere in your home to add colors to your home decor or to accent some design elements. It's great for creating an atmosphere. Leds are energy efficient, emits no heat and last longer then regular light bulbs. RGB LEDs means 16 million colors at your fingertips to create any kind of lighting we desire.
We choose some led lights for our bathroom, just above the bathtub to be more precise. Another part of the house were we placed led light is in the wall of our stairs to illuminate them. Like with any design decision the clue is not to go overboard since kitsch is always looking around the corner :)
