Design a shadow

Yuichiro Noguchi
Aug 25
2 min read

Updated: Aug 26

Lighting is not just about shining brightly.

At the same time as shining light on what you want to show, you can also hide what you don't want to show.

In plays and concerts, with the opening of the performance, the lighting in the venue goes out and the spotlight hits the stage. This will allow the audience to naturally concentrate on the stage, but what if the lights in the audience are still on?

High-quality hotels and restaurants are also improving the quality of various things, including meals, by making good use of lighting.

On the other hand, when it comes to us in the house, it is natural that every corner of the room is bright, and the brighter it is, the better.

However, I'm worried about the messy kitchen area during a meal, I'm worried about the dust on the floor when I'm relaxing in the living room, and I'm worried about the hair falling in the changing room... I'm supposed to be studying, but before I know it, I'm curious about other things nearby.

During the day, it is inevitable that you can see various things in the room due to the external light, but when it comes to relaxing time at night, you don't want to worry about unnecessary things if possible.

Originally, lighting is arranged for the purpose of illuminating something.

It is a place where you need the lights necessary for various things, such as the dishes on the dining table, the lights in the hands of the person sitting on the sofa, the lights that illuminate the favorite things placed on the cabinet, and the lights of books to read at the bedside. To the place.

However, even if you shine on the dining table with your favorite pendant light, if the light of the downlight pouring down from the ceiling is strong, the light of the pendant light will be erased.

The lighting of the house is like a spotlight directed at an actor if you compare it to the stage. Just as there is no lighting that illuminates an empty place on the stage, the light of the lighting without purpose in the house is an unnecessary existence that only makes you spend extra care.

You don't have to spend the whole day in a dramatic space, but at least if you can spend your daily life in a wonderful space with shadows and depth, you will feel that your daily life has been enriched many times just because of that. It's a thing.

As stated in Shuntaro Tanikawa's essay "In Shadow Praise", it is the invisible part that arouses people's imagination and makes the visible part more attractive than the world where everything is visible.

It's not bad that you can see everything well, but by actively using the darkness, you can eliminate unnecessary noise in space and focus your consciousness on what you want to see.

Why don't you get the luxury of spending such a "comfortable daily life"?