The lighting in mega-chain economy hotels is rarely inspiring. Harsh fluorescents and unflattering overheads dominate; regardless of the time of day or night, the brightness is glaring. Tapped to imagine the interiors of a new Shanghai outpost of Ji Hotel — an H World International economy hotel brand with 2,000 locations across China — local firm Vermilion Zhou Design Group created a bespoke lighting scheme that not only vastly improves upon corporate chain standards but also elevates the guest experience.

Jointly led by founder and lighting design director Vera Chu, creative director Kuang Ming (Ray) Chou and interior design director Garvin Hung, Vermilion’s approach centred on an intelligent, manually controlled, scenario-based system that modulates lighting based on the time of day, flow of people and even weather changes to achieve illumination levels that feel natural and customized to each space’s unique function. The goal is for the lighting to “subtly guide [guests’] perception of the differences between spaces, as if they are gently enveloped in a natural environment,” Chu says. It begins in the lobby, where the lighting will change with the time of day, applying programmed settings for daytime, evening, late night and pre-dawn. In the dining area, intensity can adjust to complement the activity at hand, varying based on whether staff are preparing, guests are dining or the space is closed.

The system comprises a series of wirelessly con-nected devices that can be automated or directly controlled. In public areas, this is accomplished through button remotes and fixed points. In the private suites, voice control can be added to dictate lighting scenes or tune the brightness by degree, or presets can be selected on a control panel; for instance, guests can modify lighting levels using an intuitive console that features a range of percentages to represent a spectrum of corresponding lighting circuits. “Guests don’t need to choose a scenario; they just need to know whether they want it brighter or dimmer,” Chu says.

Key to the overall scheme is what Chu calls “the concept of ‘seeing the light but not the lamp.’ ” Vermilion eschewed most direct sources, opting instead for indirect, ambient ones, with some focus lighting in specific functional spaces. To that end, the guest suites contain no point lighting. Instead, some fixtures are uniquely incorporated in TV screens and mirrors to add dimensions of controlled brightness; high-efficiency LEDs, meanwhile, are seamlessly integrated into wall panels, ceilings and furniture. In the lobby-level tea bar, a backlit display case showcases products, while ambient illumination is integrated into the wall coves and ceiling to create a sense of depth and tranquility. In the lobby itself, low-contrast indirect lighting fosters a sense of openness. The thoughtful combination of form and function is what makes these chiaroscuro scenes so effective.

Vermilion delivered a solution that was environmentally friendly and replicable for future Ji expansions, one that it has continued to enhance and improve on. By adapting to time changes, the intelligent system can achieve energy savings (up to 30 per cent, according to the firm’s calculations) through optimized brightness levels; the integration of power supply and controllers reduces unnecessary electricity usage. Plus, the lighting fixtures were designed to be modular, allowing each element to be independently repaired or replaced, improving their overall lifespan. It’s a complex system design, but one that is simple to maintain and conscientious of the human encounter.

For most design students, a graduation project is an exercise in aspiration. It’s the culmination of several years of study and research, the goal of which is to coax a company or more established designer to hire you for an internship or entry-level job. But for Esther Jongsma and Sam van Gurp, the founders of Dutch lighting studio Vantot, their thesis at the Design Academy Eindhoven became the foundation of a now-flourishing company. The project — Exploded View, a series of pendants that examines dimmability through the positioning of a moveable LED in relation to a gridded lampshade with a mirroring foil reflector — caught the eye of Microsoft, which commissioned the pair to create a custom version for its headquarters in Seattle. “It was one of the things that gave us the confidence to think: ‘Okay, if people really have this interest, we have to organize ourselves,’ ” says Jongsma.

That project laid the groundwork for what is now a near-decade-strong brand. “At the beginning, we focused on all kinds of design, but the main thing has always been lighting,” explains Jongsma, whose studio output includes indoor and outdoor systems as well as large-scale public installations. “There are just so many possibilities for research, both technical and emotional.”

Exploration into new technology, the designer says, makes up the core of their annual collections. “A big influence on Liiu was the possibility afforded by LED cooling with air,” she explains, referring to the modular lighting system Vantot launched in 2021. “Most lights nowadays require large aluminum elements to dissipate the heat, but Liiu is cooled by the air.” This allows for a minimal structure consisting of ultra-thin cables that run from the ceiling to either the floor or a weighted base. The modular diffusers — small cup-shaped shades that cantilever outward — are held in place by threading their corkscrew appendages around the wire, which also provides the electrical current; the framework precludes the need for screws, meaning Liiu can be assembled quickly and efficiently.

The technology also allows for a multitude of configurations. A recent installation in the atrium of the VDL Head Office in Eindhoven winds, helix-like, through the four-storey space like the illuminated tail of a lit sparkler. “We wanted to show lightness and movement,” Jongsma adds. “When it moves in the breeze, it looks like it’s alive.”

Designing a light fixture is an intrinsically material and hands-on process. Yet the A.I. images saturating the Internet — dreamlike lamps, interiors, houses and more — might have us believe otherwise. All are irrefutably magnificent but ignore a core element of what constitutes design: the ability to build it in real life. More often than not, these otherworldly creations will simply never exist in the physical realm. Polish-born, Amsterdam-based product designer Jaro Kose, however, is exploring a return to materiality in the form of table lamps, a chandelier and a large floor lamp handwoven from recycled PLA filaments. Constructed from fibres that are normally fed into a 3D printer, the up-and-comer’s new series, “I Am Not A Robot,” harnesses a process of discovery that centres the human spirit of play and creativity. “I don’t want to pretend to be a machine; I just want to take parts from the 3D printer and work like a sculptor,” says Kose. “I want to show how differently human designers and A.I. can use the same tools.”

Informed by his study of iconography while working under Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, “I Am Not A Robot” mobilizes the silhouette of a classic table light but subverts it with a new materiality. “People will immediately understand that this is a lamp, but looking closer, you see all the details and imperfections, like my fingerprints imprinted in the solidifying material. Those imperfections are unique qualities that only humans can bring to the design process,” says Kose. “You can make another one that may look alike, but it’s never the same. It’s not mass production — it’s playful design.”

While crafting fully functional and safe-to-use lamps through his free creation process was the biggest obstacle Jaro Kose had to overcome, finding the perfect temperature of heat was also a challenge. At 60 degrees, the filament-woven lamps begin to melt and become wobbly. This led the artist-designer to look for low-heat voltage options, like LEDs — although he still suggests keeping the fixtures indoors.

Unlike the formulaic experience of A.I. programming, Kose’s creative process does not infer a solution; it is the process itself that yields beauty. Although plugging in a design brief will immediately provide an answer to the proposal, there is something intangible that is lost without human intervention. “With my lamps, as with any product design, the brief is just the beginning. It’s not the end. Because you have to answer the brief, but it’s up to you and your skills, how you play with it and what will be your answer. Sometimes, you might get further than needed and create something beautiful.”

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Clayp by Yurii Zhukov and Oleksandr Puzyrnyi

Yurii Zhukov and Oleksandr Puzyrnyi formed Clayp in 2021 as a platform to reconceptualize Ukrainian modern design through an eco-conscious lens. Along with lead designer Alisa Tiramisova and a team of skilled artisans, the brand crafts its weird and wonderful lighting and interior objects from mineral-rich clay that is sourced from deposits throughout the country. Blended with other natural materials like herbs, plants, marble dust and recycled paper fibres, Clayp’s one-of-a-kind illuminators are dried at 34 degrees Celsius to minimize energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint before being packaged in cardboard for shipping (the brand is currently researching new packaging materials that are even more environmentally friendly). And when the light has reached its end of life, it will biodegrade without leaving a trace. Sustainable and stunning — what’s not to love?

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Meld Collection by Emma Louise Payne and Phoebe Stubbs

For ceramicist Emma Louise Payne and glass-maker Phoebe Stubbs, the Meld collection of experimental lighting (and one mirror) was a two-year “labour of love” that expresses the duo’s shared approach to design — one that is both playful and process-driven. Free from the creative constraints of commissioned work, the two Brits took their time to develop the sculptural series, ensuring that the floor, table and cocktail lamps and wall light were reflective of both their talents and the admiration they have for each other’s skills. And they were successful. The cute and quirky pieces fuse silky-smooth glass discs or orbs hand-blown at Stubbs’s Gather Glass studio with Payne’s textural, ceramic-glazed stoneware (both portions come in a range of muted, earthy tones that can be mixed and matched) in a way that transforms humble materials into brilliant works of functional art.

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Some nice details by Verena Hennig

Feeling that lighting fixtures were often an “underrated detail” in an overall design scheme, Verena Hennig saw an opportunity. The German founder of industrial design, interiors and branding firm AKTTEM launched her latest initiative, Some nice details, earlier this year with a debut collection called Round 1. Made entirely from recycled food and transport packaging material, the doughnut-shaped fixtures are at once discreet and delightful. Offered in beige, black, mint green, rosé or white, the chunky circular lighting canopies can be wall- or ceiling-mounted and fitted with a simple pendant cord light (the circular form features a large hidden storage space to corral connection cables out of sight). Made on demand to reduce material waste and overproduction, the charming design can be seamlessly integrated into any interior style.

Radiating a soft white light, the tunnel beckons passersby to venture inside and take a moment to contemplate life — and the afterlife. Terminal for Tirana, located on the grounds of Mother Teresa University Hospital in Albania, is a permanent installation by Polish contemporary artist Karolina Halatek that embodies her fascination with near-death experiences (NDEs). “I’m deeply interested in the transformation this has on a person’s life,” she says of the phenomenon. “It’s strong, pro-found and permanent.”

Although she has not had an NDE herself, Halatek has spent some 10 years researching recorded instances and ruminating on how
to create “a space where art, spirituality and science intersect.” She has long wanted to do so through a public artwork that would give people a “glimpse of this experience and trigger ideas around it.”

As an artist who uses light as a primary medium, Halatek first developed the Terminal as a temporary piece for Stuttgart Aufstiege (“Ascents”) Light Art Festival in 2016, where its residency was twice extended due to its popularity. From here, the tunnel was transported to sit in front of the Kunsthalle Bremen museum in North Germany, where it stood for another prolonged stint. In 2022, Adela Demetja, independent curator and founder of the Tirana Art Lab, approached Halatek to partake in the “Art in Public Spaces” competition (launched and funded by the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation of Albania), in which her tunnel was one of eight winning projects by Albanian and international artists to be installed throughout the region.

For this iteration of Terminal for Tirana, Halatek worked with the same skilled technicians who built the Stuttgart installation, this time challenged with creating a walkable and luminous sculpture that was durable enough for permanency. Made from polyethylene and measuring six metres long by three metres in diameter, the cylinder has an opaque glossy white exterior and a milky white interior, which serves to diffuse the neon LEDs (100 six-metre-long strips powered by a nearby yet out-of-sight bank of solar panels) that give the tunnel its otherworldly illu-mination. “This is what people see during an NDE; they enter into the purest white light,” Halatek says.

The artist also collaborated with architect and urban designer Dea Buza of local firm Apparat Studio and landscape architect Elian Stefa, who worked to ready the site, a park adjacent to the hospital’s entrance. The two took care to respect the natural surroundings, incorporating three clusters of circular pink granite stools along a meandering pedestrian path while preserving all existing trees, plants and other vegetation.

“The landscape around it creates a different experience than in previous iterations,” says Halatek. “It becomes a way of meditation. The environment has become a part of the work: The essence of the work lies in the experience, and the surroundings help navigate it.”

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Galaxy by Cassina

PHOTO: Paola Pansini

Presented as a prototype during the 1949 Alexander Girard–curated Exhibition for Modern Living in Detroit, the Galaxy chandelier by Charles and Ray Eames was never put into production — until now. Collaborating with the Eames Office and using archival sketches and documents, Cassina swapped the original wooden sphere and brass tubes with PMMA and aluminum poles; the 36 LED-equipped rods in differing lengths project from the centre to illuminate a space with a celestial beauty.

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Vale Chandelier by A-N-D

Vancouver’s Caine Heintzman has developed a new chandelier iteration of his Vale lighting series for A-N-D. Using nearly invisible edge-to-edge connection points, its oblong acrylic lenses with prismatic surfaces are fixed together to form ghostly volumes with maximum impact. Available in configurations of three, six or 12.

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Melt Mini Chandelier by Tom Dixon

Recognizing that small spaces need statement-making lights that don’t overwhelm, Tom Dixon tweaked his iconic Melt chandelier (a collaboration with Swedish collective Front) into a Mini format. The cluster of four blow-moulded polycarbonate orbs measures 63.4 centimetres high by 54.5 centimetres wide, comes in five finishes and makes a perfectly imperfect focal point in compact spaces.

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Aluminum Bullet by David Weeks Studio

Originally designed in 1998 by David Weeks Studio as a modern alternative to formal glass chandeliers, the Aluminum Bullet has been revamped with the introduction of two new standard finishes: black satin and white satin. Retaining the iconic 1950s-inspired bullet shades, the chandelier has a timeless elegance that blurs the line between modern and traditional.

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Caramel by Marset

As much a sculpture as a wall light, Caramel by regular Marset collaborator Joan Gaspar emits a soft, warm illumination through its hand-blown translucent glass shade when on — and, when off, expresses a graphic interplay on the wall. Multiple circular glass shades (in white, green, cobalt blue or terracotta) can be linked together to form unique compositions. Available 2025.

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Dormus by Studio Luddite

Part of a 12-piece collection that fuses materiality, craftsmanship and innovation, the Dormus sconce by New York City– based Studio Luddite is composed of a single nebulous shape in two orientations: A concave brass backplate (in three finishes) is filled by a convex frosted-glass shade, playing with the idea of negative space between the two.

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Dune by Baulmann Leuchten

When conceiving the Dune lighting series for Baulmann Leuchten, German designer Werner Aisslinger took inspiration from the organic, bulbous forms of architect Antti Lovag’s Palais Bulles. Made from 3D-printed quartz sand, its spherical elements are seamlessly joined to form the sculptural wall light (as well as floor, table and suspension lamps).

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Heirloom Lamp by Origin Made

Designer and co-founder of craft-driven Porto-based Origin Made, Gabriel Tan worked closely with a generations-old family-owned lighting studio in Portugal to develop a versatile yet refreshingly simple fixture. Heirloom comprises a tapered metal base and opalescent glass globe; the polished brass portion (in three finishes) is left uncoated to naturally patinate over time.