Accent with Color & Light at Lucia Lighting & Design
Courtesy of Design New England and boston.com
By Molly A. Campbell
Design Salon speakers from left: Greg Bilowz of Bilowz Associates Inc., Andra Birkerts of Andra Birkerts Interior Design, Lucy Dearborn of Lucia Lighting, and Finley Perry of F.H. Perry Builder.
One of the best-known lighting showrooms in the Boston area, Lucia Lighting & Design in Lynn, Massachusetts, was the setting for our fourth fall Design Salon where the focus was on using color and light to enhance space. “Light is the reason color exists,” Andra Birkerts of Andra Birkerts Interior Design in Wellesley, Massachusetts, told the audience. Well-known for her adept and unexpected use of color, she gave a “big picture” approach to the topic. In working with clients, she says, she notices how they relate to color and interprets her observations through her designs, which result in custom, beautiful spaces such as this Rockport, Massachusetts, summer home, which our editors titled “Fun Follows Function.” (July/August 2011).
Eric Roth - A nautical bunk room, complete with steel boat ladders, by Andra Birkerts of Andra Birkerts Interior Design
Our host Lucy Dearborn, owner of Lucia Lighting, has an infectious enthusiasm about light and color which, when coupled with her expertise in lighting design, is a pleasure to experience. Dearborn iterated Birkerts’s points and explained how light and color work hand in hand. One affects the other, she explained, noting that, for example, the type of bulb used in a lighting fixture alters the appearance of the color of a wall. Dearborn stressed that lighting design is important both inside and outside the home, a perfect segue to the presentation by landscape architect Greg Bilowz of Bilowz Associates in Sterling, Massachusetts. He illustrated his points with a slide presentation not only of the landscapes and gardens he has designed (which were stunning), but also using slides that explored the way light occurs naturally in outdoor spaces. It was an organic approach to the topic that demonstrated what leads him to make certain design decisions. The result is that his landscapes acknowledge and welcome the effect of shadows, sunsets, sunrises, and seasons. They respond to the environment, complement it, and enhance it.
An example of landscape lighting available at Lucia Lighting & Design
Understanding color and light notwithstanding, in order to execute great designs there has to be teamwork, a point brought home by Finley Perry of F.H. Perry Builder in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. And that means good communication is essential. A phone is the builder’s most important tool, he says, adding that as homeowners’ needs and desires change with the evolution of a design, there must be plenty of communication among the clients, the designers, and the craftsmen. As an example of a successful collaboration, he showed photographs of a project he and Birkerts worked on together.