New At The International Furniture Fair 1999: Lighting For The Home No Light, No Life - And Definitely No Cozy Atmosphere

Furniture World Magazine

"Put on the light quickly" - everybody knows what happens: the room becomes visible, its structures come into view, its different areas are presented, an atmosphere is created. "Light does not simply illuminate, it tells a story", is how Ettore Sottsass, the great designer and lighting stylist from Milan, sees it. Light gives the round at the table a peaceful, cosy atmosphere, the reading light focuses attention on the reader and book. Light systems show the way, a spotlight draws attention to a picture, provides the sculpture with a lively shadow. "Festive lighting" conveys a non-verbal and unmistakable message that something special is about to happen here. Just as clothes maketh man, light creates atmospheres. It gives the heart a warm feeling or ensures a relevant distance, it provides an overview or simply shuts out the grey, everyday routine. Light and space are inextricably linked, light can change it and bring it to life. For many years, the INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE FAIR in Cologne has been the leading international market place for furniture. Here, the focus is on the home and its furnishings, the latest trends, the key markets and international contacts. At the INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE FAIR from 18 th to 24 1h January 1999, for the first time, KölnMesse will present lighting in a logical context with domestic furniture. More than 230 international manufacturers of home lighting who market their products mainly through the furnishings and lighting specialist trade, will be represented in Hall 14.1 in 1999. From then on, the lighting range will be presented there at two-year intervals in alternation with the kitchen range - lighting in the uneven years, kitchens in the even years. In recent years, new structures and complex situations have developed on the market. Lighting will, of course, also be represented in the new furnishings collections, which place the emphasis on their special characteristics and labels. Because, today, people are interested in individual style worlds. Home lighting expands the range of the INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE FAIR. In addition to the fascination which is always generated by the immaterial matter light, the material aspect, the form, also extends the creative potential that is experienced. Lighting designers, by nature, simply have an abundance of creative scope. Some, such as the "Poet of Light", Ingo Maurer, know how to put it to brilliant effect, and create new home atmospheres with their lighting. Ettore Sottsass puts it like this: "Light sets the stage for the comedy of life".