By Selina Denman www.thenational.ae
Good lighting can make or break an interior, but a bespoke light feature can utterly transform it, creating a captivating statement that sets the tone for an entire home. Whether it’s a delicate crystal chandelier or a mammoth lighting sculpture that experiments with unusual materials and the latest LED technologies, bespoke lights are now an essential element of the luxury interior.
In terms of design, the possibilities are thrilling – just look to the ceilings of the lobbies, restaurants and bars of some of the UAE’s most exciting new hotels, where you’ll more than likely be greeted with a stunning installation by the Czech lighting company, Lasvit. “The Emirates love Lasvit” their website proudly announces – and it appears to be true.
In the lobby of Abu Dhabi’s new Capital Gate Hyatt, you’ll see Wave, a 17m long, 9m-high behemoth made of hand-blown and hand-shaped pieces of glass, which emulates the dramatic motion of water. In At.mosphere Grill and Lounge in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s highest restaurant, you can dine under Bubbles Elevated, a tumble of hand-blown amber spheres that cast a golden glow over the restaurant’s banqueting table. In the pre-function area at Jumeirah Etihad Towers, there’s Oculuc, a stunning choreography of handcrafted crystal and glass components that took the team from Lasvit an incredible 12 weeks to install.
From the Royal Enclosure at the Meydan Grandstand to the The Ritz-Carlton DIFC and even the Dubai Metro, there seem to be very few places where you won’t come across a Lasvit creation. In fact, tennis fans may have noticed that the trophy handed to Novak Djokovic when he won the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in December was also created by the Czech glass and light specialist, designed by a Zayed University student as part of a design competition hosted by Lasvit.
Even Dubai’s Metro passengers will be familiar with the company’s installations. When the designers of the Metro came to do the interiors of the stations, they found themselves in a unique position. With most metro stations around the world, designers have had to focus on making the space entirely vandal-proof – hence the usual cold, hard-edge palette of steel, glass and concrete.
Not so in the crime-free city of Dubai. So the designers decided to go all out, and introduced a series of luxury finishes, including chandeliers, in key stations. Lasvit chandeliers, to be precise. More info
