Orchestrating the visual ambience of your life
“Light is beauty, light is a feeling, light beckons, light is elegance, light can transform many aspects of a design, from the color of the materials to the feeling of a room. Lighting, in general, has become more influential in areas of our lives and serves as inspiration for creation, as more than ever, lighting is more discreet.”- Luis Blanco
From dramatic scenes with bold lights to serene environments with soft lighting, Planet Lighting & RS3 Designs collective paints the significance of setting with lighting
ELEVATE: Lighting is one of the most strategic components in enhancing a space, what are the differences in illumination in decorative lighting? (accent, general and task)
PL: Illumination can convey different moods and settings, which is the reason it’s such an important part of any design. As we all know, the world of lighting has changed significantly in the past few years. With the creation of the LED, light appearance and functionality is now more important than ever. Selecting adequate light for any room is essential, from the color temperature to the emission of the light and the amount of light that fixture delivers in color rendition. (CRI) We can drastically make changes to a room with different options of light, without making changes to existing furniture, wallpaper or decorative accessories.- i.e., Task lighting in a kitchen or working space should be whiter on the Kelvin color temperature scale 4000k. The white light allows the eyes to maintain focus on a task without getting our vision tired, and keeps us more alert.
RS3 DESIGNS: They’re several differences in illumination regarding decorative lighting. Accent, general, and task lighting all have its own purposes and character. Accent, would be the most decorative. Its main purpose is to enhance a space with either the physicality of the light fixture, or the soft, “accentual” light/glow the fixture distributes. General lighting, AKA, ‘architectural lighting’ many of times are some of our favorites. Despite, its mundane “general” name, recent architectural lighting can be absolutely beautiful even though they are just intended for general lighting throughout a residential or commercial space. i.e. From the recessed lights in kitchens to bathrooms, foyer to lobbies, restaurants, and offices. Task lighting is a given for commercial kitchens, offices and healthcare facilities. Luckily for us designers, task lighting is now also a lot more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than it was a few years ago.
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“We believe lighting is the single most important element in a home. Entire environments and moods can be achieved with lighting alone. It’s important to use artificial light in a way that benefits from the home’s natural light to create a perfect symphony for the desired mood at the appropriate time.” – Luis Blanco
ELEVATE: What defines a lighting specialist?
PL: A lighting specialist (which sometimes is the wrong terminology), is more like a lighting designer – someone who understands the needs of the client and understands the use of the space, and helps the designer, client or consumer achieve a complete use of the space.
RS3 DESIGNS: In my opinion, a lighting specialist is someone who has the ability and knowledge to combine the perfect balance between functional lighting and aesthetically pleasing fixture selections that omit to the overall design intent of the project. For example, there is nothing more beautifying than the perfect combination of mood lighting in an intimate restaurant/lounge with just the right amount of light for one to still enjoy their food, drinks and company.
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ELEVATE: How did a partnership initiate between Planet Lighting and RS3 designs?
PL: Since I first met partners, Shannon Scott and Raymond Jimenez, I was impressed by their understanding of the important role that lighting plays in design, and how they incorporate lighting as an integral part of their designs to create that “WOW” effect into their projects. Together, we have done some amazing residential and commercial projects where lighting has taken the entire design to the next level.
RS3 DESIGNS: We’ve have had the pleasure of working with Planet lighting before RS3 was founded in 2010 when Raymond and I worked together in a previous high-end residential design firm located in Miami, Florida. Customer service and on-line support combined with their vast comprehension of product knowledge and product technicalities, with a keen awareness on innovation in the marketplace, places them in a distinctive class all by themselves. Once RS3 Designs was launched, we worked with them immediately.
“Natural light is a luxury, we don’t normally have. We tend to depend heavily on artificial lighting. In a pre-construction build out for residential, an architect would normally tend to position the building/ residence in a direction that would best benefit the home’s best natural daylight possible. Many design professionals refer to this light as ‘North Light’ which is the best natural daylight for a studio, kitchen, pool deck, etc. Unfortunately, not very many hotels have this luxury since they are usually located in metropolises and urban communities where natural daylight is scarce from all angles.” – Shannon Scott