Paris College of Art, France
‘Light is both an artificial and natural instrument that we experience every day, it has and will continue to shape our perception of art and architecture throughout history.
Within the fall semester Lighting design will be approached from a creative point of view, from the basics of the eye and how we perceive light through to the technological aspects that we, as specialists, need to consider.’
Machan Enever, creative director at Hawksbee, was approached by the Paris College of Art on a recommendation from Geraldine Fourmon at Sybille de Margerie Design based in Paris.
Machan was contacted by the college to produce a new syllabus for the Faculty of Interior Design on the subject of Light. A session would take place every week. The course aimed to provide students with a basic awareness of what light is. All students were new to the subject of Light.
Students learnt to understand the physiological and psychological aspects of light in art and architecture and learnt to define lighting design project intentions in different types of spaces, for examples a retail interior, a residential landscape or a religious façade.
‘ I personally wanted to provide a course where few conceptual limitations. There would be wide spectrum of choice, there would be no set path to an answer. And this in itself is a challenge.
I wanted to provide interest and intrigue into the physiological and psychological aspects of light in art and architecture.
I wished for student to produce work that was not only for a legitimate reason but because they wanted to research an experiment to then learn to understand light. Being able to create and disrupt boundaries, to walk through space and feed on the environments that are not necessarily ‘textbook’.
Of course, we discussed lighting technology, guidelines and units of illumination. However this can be learnt. Creativity is Innate.
I was very proud of the students, I had an utter respect and admiration them and the the material they produced over the semester, I hope they learnt as much as I did from them and the experience.’
Machan Enever, Creative Director