I have never seen Frozen, so no, this has no bearing on that song. If you have not picked up on it, my blog titles are chosen from music titles or song lyrics. I love music, and although all I can do is a mean “air guitar,” I am pretty much listening to music a lot of the day.
This month is about letting go. In design, it is easy to keep adding to justify our involvement and worth to a project. A designer adds more effects, more decorative, more “wow” because, well, that is what many perceive what "designers do." However, in doing so, they neglect to consider the basic entity and character of the space with these continual enhancements. Often, the result is a space truly devoid of authentic personality but is full of “pretty.” I do a presentation on “Zen and the Art of Lighting Design.” In it, I talk about several concepts of Zen based design as they can relate to lighting. One term is Koko. Koko refers to restraint, exclusion, and omission. It is a principle that our firm employs on a regular basis as we often catch ourselves in over thinking mode (you know how that is, I bet). It helps to have others to bounce ideas off of who will answer candidly whether an effect is truly “all that” and whether it is appropriate. I use a simple rule when I can: Would the absence of the effect be noticed effectively by the space’s occupants? If no, then we can discard it. If yes, then we can dig deeper into the appropriateness or execution of said effect. All good designers have a healthy ego. It’s what fuels us and gives us confidence in our abilities and talent. This ego can be manifested as one that is about our inner ability to provide for the project’s best interest. It can also manifest as a need to add more bling to show how good a designer we are. In the end, I have felt that it not just our job, but our responsibility to design for the project’s best interest and character. So, when I'm in doubt, I often choose to let it go. I was fortunate a few years ago to visit Paris and then Florence. While the food is Paris was everything I had heard about, I found myself falling in love with the Italian food more. Upon reflection, it dawned on me that the Italian food was devoid of many sauces, seasonings, or side enhancements. I was enjoying the base essence of the various ingredients for what they were, unhidden and unembellished. In this same way of lighting design, I try to do the same. Try it with me, and Let it Go. -PETER
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