The Euroluce International Lighting Forum, the expanded prism of light

Some of the names on the programme will necessarily have been familiar to assiduous frequenters of the Salone del Mobile: Marjan van Aubel, the Dutch designer recognised as one of the first designers to have intersected the field of design with that of new solar technologies - it is no coincidence that she is considered the solar designer par excellence - is the leading exponent of those who advocate the need to give this type of renewable energy coherence and aesthetic impact. Throughout an almost twenty-year career, Lonneke Gordijn, co-founder with Ralph Nauta of Studio Drift, has come up with new ways of using the codes of light in objects and installations that are sources of poetry in everyday life. In an avant-garde dialogue with institutions and companies, on the other hand, the work of Rogier van der Heide, another Dutchman, has redefined the language of architecture through an approach to light that nourishes spaces and the relationship we have with them, way beyond mere spectacularisation.

Other, equally renowned prominent figures, not just at Design Week, included Patrick Rimoux, the lighting designer who worked on the lighting project for the new Notre Dame in Paris, for example. A leading expert in lighting religious architecture, which has seen him dubbed the 'sculptor of light', he has been able harness technology to rethink the ways in which we look at the works of art that are part of our heritage, orienting our gaze and our sensitivity. Equally high-profile, the Italian neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso, Professor at the University of Florence, is known for his research into and popularisation of the intelligence of plants and their role in climate adaptation. In his masterclass at The Euroluce International Lighting Forum, Mancuso started with plants and ended with human beings: just as photosynthesis is triggered by the presence of the sun, we humans also need contact with light to renew our physical and cognitive wellbeing. 

The events also included the unmissable Light for Life and Light for Spaces Round Tables. Light - and this is, after all, its great strength - is something that everyone can relate to in their own way. Other names on the Euroluce International Lighting Forum programme clearly illustrated this breadth of perspectives: Robert Wilson, the award-winning artist and theatre director; Tim Ingold, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen; Kaoru Mende, the Japanese architect and lighting designer, and Piero Benvenuti, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Padua. Each contributed pieces of their extraordinary research, telling stories and describing steps forward in their particular disciplines. Gathered together in the same place, around the round tables at the Forum, their discussions highlighted the combinatory power of ideas, the ability to reshuffle the pieces to transform Thought for Humans, those thoughts for humans to which the Forum slogan refers, into capacity for innovation. 

The Euroluce International Lighting Forum also marked a strong step forward in terms of the evolution of the trade fair format, in line with the direction taken by the Salone del Mobile.Milano in recent years. Finding what we might have expected to look for elsewhere at the trade fair goes far beyond the summation of the individual stands, generating an opportunity for in-depth study, comparison and culture. An experience, more than just a visit, capable of inspiring quality, values and change: a way of unveiling new perspectives on the potential paths for design.