Let There Be Light

"The most wonderful pendant lamp in the world" - Pablo Picasso.

Attenzioni!?Attenzioni!?We have new neighbours. So far, I'm suitably unimpressed. They're kinda nice people. However, their taste in lighting leaves little to the imagination, and as dusk sets in, their living room resembles a crime scene on CSI. Thankfully, our gaze only catches should I be leaning out on the balcony, tending to my Japanese winter azaleas, as one does. They say opposites attract, but I sometimes think they most certainly can repel, too. My parents, for instance, had little regard for either design or what anyone else may think and would crank up the lights to the max like some lighthouse beaming across the countryside, illuminating half the village's adjacent sheep. Poor things, probably all insomniacs, due to my careless mother. It must have been a post-war thing. I am totally the opposite. Returning home again after a trip away, I cannot wait to flick the switch - I have installed a one-switch solution for all the 12 lamps (a couple of mid-century finds, an antique from Granny, and some more modern pieces) in the living room, and voila, the ambience is hug-me-gorgeous. Lighting is such a crucial design element but also a catalyst for moody afternoons, romance, dining and reading - I am also addicted to candles - they add another layer to the atmosphere, and one is never enough.??

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a sleepy corner of Portugal's Alentejo region in the company of Filipa Fortunato and António in their new Casa Hotel: "Tomorrow we install new lighting that will thread through the house like a ribbon - you will love it", explained António. He was right. They are an immediate entry into my 'for-when-I-get-my-own-hotel’ black book - joining several other luminous beauts that have sparked my curious chords - including the one so admired by Picasso and a favourite geometric piece by the talented Cypriot-born, London-based designer Michael Anastassiades , which I discovered whilst soaking in the bathtub on a Greek island - the light that is, not him. That would be odd.?

Wrapping this week's tribute to light - we pitstop to Kyiv for the latest lamps by +kouple inspired by the blocks that are used to close off roads as a war defence. Let There Be Light amigos - from the humble lamp made by Elio Martinelli in 1976 to a design by Stefan Diez that connects the dots of creativity.??

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Next week, we return to steaming like dim sum in the Alps; time to turn on the soft fluorescence in the home casa and gift my new neighbour hoodies a housewarming: an Elmetto table lamp by Italian lighting designer Elio Martinelli from 1976 - the perfect little lamp that I spotted at the Seehotel Ambach - pictured above.?

Hugs, Peace & Love

Iain + Co.