THE TOUCHPOINT BETWEEN
LIGHTING DESIGN AND IRRIGATION:
JEWELRY STORES
May 7, 2021
What do irrigation and lighting design have in common? Surprisingly, many things, especially if the context of the lighting design project is related to jewelry stores.
The necessity of both irrigation and lighting design is to achieve the best result on every single element – the plant or the jewel – with as little energy consumption as possible, considering that they need high levels of, respectively, water and light inputs. How to do so? By being extremely precise.
Jewelry stores represent one of the common challenges in lighting design today, since the need for high levels of light together with highly customized light qualities meets the various sustainability goals of each store situation. Being it a showroom, corner shop or flagship boutique, both ceiling and furniture integrated light has to be properly addressed on the valuable goods, without any waste.
Designing a jewelry store implies finding the right balance between different illuminance levels. Diffuse and direct light are necessary not only for the general illumination but also inside the showcases that contain the jewels. Moreover, the lighting fixtures created for showcases require a sort of miniaturization, for becoming almost invisible and to direct all the attention towards the jewel and its precious details, which are enhanced in their dimension and shape.
There is another matter: white and yellow gold, diamonds, colored gemstones, stainless steel and all the other elements that compose the final jewel or watch, require different light colour temperatures to be properly enhanced. For instance, diamonds – that reflect light – need cooler temperatures, similar to those of daylight, while yellow gold or red rubies are better enhanced by warm lighting tones. Combining the quality of illumination for the single components of a jewel or a watch is a great challenge: the risk is to leave behind some elements’ hues while favoring others.
Metis Lighting embraced these challenges by designing unique jewelry stores with specific custom lighting fixtures. In 2014 Metis Lighting realized the lighting project for the Bulgari Flagship Store in Via Condotti, Rome.
Peter Marino was the architect in charge and the client’s briefing was a celebration of the brand balancing between modern and classic. The intervention involved the store in all its parts: from Custom Ceiling Suspensions, ceiling details until the various showcases with dynamic colour temperature, light was shed on all the stars, the jewels and their background with meticulous attention.
Light is a precious tool and handling its various features with mastery permits achieving both aesthetic and sustainability goals, all at once.
Dior / Leo Torri
