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DETAILS
South Beauty Taipei provides guests with a visual ‘story’ designed to enrich the dining experience. A 1000 square metre handpainted ceiling illuminated by cove lighting while a loose-knit LED ‘waterfall wall’ allows guests to glimps the plumes of fire created in the kitchen. Tables are precisely framed by halogen downlights, or closely illuminated by bespoke light pieces.
intimacy, NASA quickly became Copenha- gen’s hot ticket, garnering international acclaim and launching Torpe onto the inter- national scene.
In 1999, he left the nightclub industry behind to focus on product design, predom- inantly furniture pieces, in collaboration with the likes of Moroso, SP Haus, Hay and Haworth, and others. Global recognition has since brought with it a series of commis- sions to work on branded spaces around the world, allowing Torpe to draw on his thirty years of experience.
“Branded spaces give you the ability to really put your thumbprint on something: to create the furniture and the lighting and the graphic design… to create the space itself,” he says.
He contrasts his own approach to that
of a ‘typical’ interior designer, someone who creates surfaces and then brings in a separate lighting design and graphic design consultant, before taking credit for the look of the entire space. “It all creates a lot of bumps in the road, whereas we just go in and do it all, with a big focus on the light- ing, because its so important,” he says. Notable projects have included SUBU in 2007, a restaurant in Beijing that takes its cue from Torpes work at NASA, and Copenhagen’s first cupcake bakery, Agnes Cupcakes. The latter eschews the tradition- al metrosexual, pastel interior in favour of a very Scandinavian, streamlined approach. Different colour temperatures are used to create a hierarchy within the space, providing depth to its simple, straight lines: 4000K on the marble backboards, 3000K
to ensure the cakes on display have an appealing glow, and 2700K within the main room of the shop to give it a welcoming, cosy feel. As a blanket policy, Torpe never includes spot or track lighting without spec- ifying honeycombs or snoots to conceal the source, ensuring the customer’s eye isn’t drawn by the luminaire, but rather by the area being lit.
“I try to educate the people we work with so that they look at technical lighting – retail lighting for instance or restaurant lighting – in the same way as you would theatrical lighting, in respect of false light- ing coming out of the back of the fixture, or achieving the right colour rendering,” Torpe says.
In 2011, the Dane launched the Bei- jing-based Wang Torpe Studios with business
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