The celebration of the International Day of Light gives us a great opportunity to create awareness about the importance of the culture of light, from the Association of Authors of Illumination -AAI- and the Professional Association of Lighting Designers -APDI-, we have invited leading creators from the fields of art, design, theatre, photography and architecture to share their views and opinions on this important initiative and on the role that light plays in their lives and professions.
THE LIGHT FOR ANTONI AROLA
- UNESCO has proclaimed 16 May as International Day of Light. What is your opinion of this initiative?
I think it’s funny to proclaim international days of whatever. Light is a very serious, profound and beautiful thing. For me every day is the day of light!
- How important is it to improve public understanding of the central role that light plays in our daily lives?
Well-structured and concrete information is very important in these times. Light, both natural and artificial, must be explained and understood, it is our essential ally, but we must use it with affection and intelligence, wasting it as little as possible.
- What properties of light do you value most on a personal level?
Light is life, light is shadow too, it is a great metaphor for our world and our lives. I especially like the colored light, I think it benefits the spirit.
- And on an artistic level? What role does light play in your work?
It is our ally, our main tool, we like to play with it, to tame it, that is to say, to bring it into the domus, into the house. It is a wonderful material to generate spaces, sensations, emotions?
- From your experience would you say that light is an art or a science?
Light is everything! I like the beginning of the bible:
(1) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(2) “And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
(3) “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”
(4) “And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
(5) “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Antoni Arola is a leading figure on the current Spanish design scene. He studied at the Eina school in Barcelona, in 1984 he began his professional career at the Lievore and Pensi Studio, and later at AD Associate Designers. In 1994 he founded Estudi Antoni Arola.
His projects touch very diverse fields: lighting projects for various publishers such as Santa&Cole, Vibia, Viabizzuno, furniture pieces, perfume packaging, interior design projects and ephemeral installations.
He combines his professional career with teaching, workshops, artistic experimentation and light research. His eternal and continuous search for beauty, inspired by ancestral cultures and his particular vision of light, gives him a singular versatility that filters through each project.
His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, London, Mexico, New York and Tokyo.
Among other awards he has been awarded the National Design Award 2003, four times with a Silver Delta Award and in 2012 with a Red Dot Design Award.
