Featured: Singapore Lighting Today
Chloe Fung, Senior Lighting Designer heading up our Singapore studio sat down with Singapore Lighting Today for a light Q&A about expanding in the region, as well as some of our latest projects and the future challenges we face as lighting designers.
Lighting Today: Lighting studio Nulty recently expanded in Asia by opening a new office in Singapore. What was the reason behind the move and what does this new studio aim to achieve?
Chloe: We’re excited to embark on a new chapter for Nulty in Singapore. We launched an office in Bangkok four years ago and have been steadily gaining new work in Asia ever since.
Singapore is the logical next step – it’s an incredibly creative city that champions progressive architecture and design, so we feel there’s a strong synergy with us as a practice. We want to play our part by setting new benchmarks for architectural lighting design.
It’s also important to us that we’re at the heart of the action. Our work is a collaborative process, and we achieve the best results when we’re on the doorstep of our clients and able to communicate on a personal level. Ultimately, our aim is to champion the importance of great lighting design – and hopefully have some fun along the way.
Lighting Today: Can you name me some projects that Nulty has completed in Asia recently? Which ones are your favourites?
Chloe: One of my favourite recent projects is Galeries Lafayette in the Upper Hills Mall, Shenzhen. The interior design team, Cardy Papa, curated an extraordinary shopping experience centred around a ‘Breathing Fashion’ theme, which gave us carte blanche to be quite imaginative with the lighting design. We focused on the fundamentals by establishing a backbone of ambient and functional illumination, then weaved in distinctive lighting elements to add drama. When you arrive, you’re greeted with an illuminated archway inspired by the architectural lines of The Eiffel Tower – a symbol of Galeries Lafayette’s Parisian roots. ‘Then as you walk through to the beauty section, you encounter a huge floral installation with globe pendants artistically suspended throughout. It’s an unexpected detail that turns the traditional beauty hall concept on its head. This playfulness continues in the women’s fashion department where an eye-catching illuminated pink mirror turns what could have been a simple pause point into a veritable wow moment. The final scheme is a success because we finessed the user journey to ensure that every viewpoint, interaction, and moment is memorable.
Lighting Today: What are some of the challenges you foresee coming from the lighting industry and how do you plan to overcome them?
Chloe: The biggest challenge that we face right now is how we balance creativity and technology, with the sustainability aspirations and budget for a project. It is obviously our responsibility as designers to be on top of the latest innovations that we’re seeing from manufacturers, but we need to design with a holistic mindset to bring the right proposal to the table. As clients seek more sustainable solutions, they need designers who understand every facet of light and have the experience required to produce beautiful lighting schemes that are also energy-efficient and contribute to the circular economy. And in the best attempt to beat the bottom line, quality rather than quantity of light will always be the distinguishing factor and the key to finding the most effective lighting solution to tune the emotional message.
Read the full Singapore Lighting Today article here.
