Light in the corners – a different perspective on space

Corners are kinda’ necessary in most buildings, culturally besotted as we are with straight lines and rectilinear design thinking.

But how little we use these omnipresent corners … There’s precious little furniture designed specifically for the corner, and most interior arrangements relate to walls and spaces – not their petering out, or their abrupt spatial termination. Lamps and lights, in particular, are almost always mounted along a wall or in the interstices of a ceiling space. Light has most effect when it has a space to illuminate.

A different perception of space

That’s why Corner Bright Light by US furniture designer Scott Klinker caught my eye. This elegant floor lamp consists of a single exposed LED lamp on a slim, unobtrusive frame that snuggles discreetly into the corner, resulting in a pleasant ambient glow that spreads out from the whole corner along both walls.

Corner Bright Light, by Scott Klinker

Suddenly the corners of a room can become the focal points, and a wall can be an unlit plane between soft swathes of light – rather than the bearer of the light, as per mainstream lighting Latin.

I can’t draw pictures of it, but on my inner display screen this radically changes the internal workings of a room, with corners as the bearing element rather than limp, dangling appendages at the periphery of each wall.

I drool at the prospect of a huge high-ceilinged minimalist space lit only at the corners. Intelligently done, it’d be gobsmackingly gorgeous … Now all I have to do is win the lottery.

Plus ça change

For me, this is one of those thought-provoking design ideas that are great – but don’t actually change very much. There’s no innovation in terms of business model, or up-ending technology combinations, and ultimately this product falls into the “more stuff” category.

But the change lies in how it can enable us to perceive space within a building in a new perspective, and the new conceptual canvas it provides on which we can play with design. And that’s big … for a few bits of powder-coated aluminium and an electric bulb.