58|PROTAGONISTA Light is also fundamental in identifying the values of a brand by the sensation aroused by a space. Changing specialties. You have also designed luminaries, such as N-Twelve and the sculptural Darklight, in your office. What concept should not be left out in a luminary? The same concept that shouldn’t be left out of any design project: functionality. Both luminaries you mentioned are sculptural and have a strong design imprint but above all they do their job: shine light. As a personal anecdote, N-Twelve was born in Mexico, one day, at a friend’s house. He was asking for my advice on a luminary he wanted to install in an area of the dining room. I offered to design a luminary for him and called it N-Twelve: N for Norman, my friend’s name, and Twelve because there were 12 people present that day. I am obsessed by shapes and proportions, and in this luminary everything is perfectly designed. In addition, it has the chromatic palette of Le Corbusier, beneficial for health and an indirect source of light that avoids bothersome shadows while you are eating, since it is in the dining room. The other luminary, Dark Light, is also a personal project and as the name suggests it’s a “dark light”. We wanted to create an indirect wall light, a zenithal wallwasher but when it reflected light frontally, it created a geometric play of asymmetric linear shapes and projected shadows through the smoked opal glass. Hence the name Dark light. There is a zenithal light and a scenographic light that generates those shadows. They are two exercises that have been very popular and we feel proud of them. Are these luminaries a product of creative inspiration or do they fill a need from one of your projects? I don’t manage the concept of inspiration very well. I don’t see myself as an artist. To me, design is a product of reflection, of seeking a concrete use or function. Those luminaries filled existing needs in different projects. Dark Light, for example, was created to fill a single wall with light. It’s destined for hotels, for their halls or transit spaces as well as for bed heads. It is a large format, something I was personally missing: a luminary that could fill a wall and could generate an emotion while being functional. That was Dark Light’s story. Regarding N-Twelve, we wanted to find an indirect light that was decorative, charged with formal design. One that could occupy many spaces in a home and under it, you could share a meal, look at other people’s faces without bothersome shadows being cast over the table and food. Is bigger now the understanding of the role of light in projects? There is a lot of talk about it and there are many specialized media such as you, for example. Light is being democratized and that is very important. Not long ago, there were synonyms but they lacked the sensitivity. Today, there is great sensitivity to find sustainable products, such as wood; or the issue of color and its influence in the environment and the emotional state of a person. This same chromatic palette can be used in lighting. For this reason, we design a project as a whole. The creative process is global and the last thing we work on is formal language. We can start from the end too, like when we explain the project to a client. First, we design the chromatic palette, how the colors, working with light, will affect the materials and the textures. Lastly, we design the projects and solutions to achieve it. How do you see the future of the lighting field? I categorically state that light is the future. I stand by it. The lighting field is not going back. It’s done with candles and flames and now it’s evolving in leaps and bounds. The OLED is coming son, and this means that the lighting field is becoming democratic. I see the future of lighting as optimal and is not going to stop. It’s like computer science. When I was young, I studied computer science for two years while I did