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Te Chemical Brothers; lighting was a crucial if subtle part of the experience.’ He then went to the National Teatre School of Canada in 1997. ‘In theatre, I learned how to be mindful and sensitive to the needs of all the creators… the actors, dancers, make-up artists, costume and set designers.’
Many projects have inevitably been on Canadian turf, but the company has also worked in Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East. In addition to museum exhibits and brand experiences, there have been large-scale hospitality projects, and architectural lighting projects that range from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the Burj Dubai Tower to the lighting masterplan for Canada’s Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Clients have included Morgan Stanley and Google, Cartier and Dior, whose multiple travelling exhibitions, including ‘Dior: Designer of Dreams’, opened up a new market for the company in the luxury brand sector.
High-end brand promotion can often equate to high budgets, and the opportunity to go to town creatively. But
Above, from left
Dior Designer of Dreams, Brooklyn
‘When lighting has to interact in an environment with a lot of video mapping it is important to coordinate and match colour temperatures. The lighting plays a delicate role of highlighting the artefacts and the gentle contours of the decor. Sources are incorporated behind metal flowers and are gently backlit to create a subtle silhouette’
‘This is using small light sources to create intimacy and highlight the details of objects’
Bottom, left Dior Doha
‘Playing with the absence of light and the reflections of material lets us really create the perfect sensory experience. Sometimes you just need a few lighting sources, but really well positioned’
Roupinian maintains that the same fundamental principles apply even in the less obviously flamboyant contexts. ‘We often use the analogy of a “mille-feuille” French pastry, layer upon layer. I see a lighting scheme in the same way. We use the concept of layers of light, not trying to illuminate everything with single sources, but using a multitude of different, distinct lighting directions that all work together, delicately, to create an environment. We will often use smaller, less powerful sources to be able to create the layering effects.
‘We use this not only on museum or brand experience projects such as Dior or Cartier, but also in hospitality, food halls [and] public spaces. We are always trying to create an emotional/sensory reaction, making sure we create a sense of arrival in a given project.’
‘We are always trying to create an emotional/sensory reaction, making sure we create a sense of arrival in a given project’
One of the problems in the industry from a Canadian perspective, he maintains, is that lighting design has become a ‘spec-based’ design process, where people start their design with a product in mind, or with particular effects. ‘We shy away from this practice, our goal is much more to understand the psychology of the space, the objectives of our client, or the subject. Ten we work in lighting directions, quality of light, level of contrast. Only at the end of our process do we start looking at fixtures or product. ‘What really drives our process,’ he continues, ‘is the study of how people will feel in a space, how it will affect their mood, their behaviour. It is a very client/user-centric approach, where we want the users to be at the centre of the design process. It is about more than how it looks, but how do we feel in a space. Psychology is a big part of our work.’ In many of the spheres Lightemotion works in, there is ample opportunity to use coloured light to create conspicuous effects. Roupinian is judicious with colour, however, believing that a restrained palette can be equally if not more powerful.
‘I do not believe colour is always needed to make an impact. Te overuse of strong colour without justification often does not serve a project in the long run. It really depends on the subject and type of space.
‘We play most of the times with tonalities, or variations of white light,’ he continues. ‘I find we often have more impact
FAR RIGHT: PAUL VU
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