The Light Brigade
The Sun Herald
Saturday June 13, 1992
WITH product names like Pack-O-Piggies, Herd-A-Hereford and Blazin'Trails, the latest lighting system is helping to bring home illumination out of the Dark Ages, giving it a sense of fun.
American company Primal Lite produces light strings made from plastic in different designs from bananas to pigs and cows.
There are 30 designs in snappy colours and the strings can been decked around the garden, kitchen, children's bedrooms or wherever you want a lighthearted approach.
The driving force behind the company is Sue Scott, who started out as an artist, had a career crisis in her thirties and decided to go into business producing novelty lights.
The first creation, a 50cm dinosaur-shaped light dragged its heels in the marketplace and died young.
But with $25,000 in cash advances acquired from 25 credit cards, Ms Scott took a different tack and launched her light strings which became an instant hit. Primal Lite now has an annual turnover of $3 million.
The light strings retail for around $39 and come in 4.3m lengths (10 lights per string). If you don't fancy herefords or pigs you can have fruit, cowboys or cactii | The lights can be bought at Funtastique, 391 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood (phone: 411 6277) or Shop 169, Darling Harbour (ph: 281 7288).
Novelties aside, lighting systems have progressed significantly since the days of the naked light bulb with compact fluorescents, halogens, spotlighting, dimmer switches, colour-enhancing lights, etc.
Director of Landscan (Landscape Architects), David Louden, said the hottest new lighting available used fibre optics which was the most modern form of transmitting light. Because of its flexibility it has superseded its closest relation, neon lighting.
Mr Louden has designed fibre optic systems to light stair treads, the edges of buildings and pool surrounds.
However, because of the technology used in fibre optics the cost has put it way out of reach of the ordinary householder for the time being.
Mr Louden said lighting could add an extra dimension to the garden. Trees and plants could be spot-lit or flood-lit to make the garden appear bigger or to create dramatic shadows.
"Light is a very exciting tool to use in a garden," he said.
Philips's lighting designer, David Lewis, agrees that lighting is an exciting, but generally overlooked, component in home design.
"In the same way that you have an interior designer choosing fabrics and furniture, etc, you have a lighting designer who understands the physics of lighting and how it affects mood and colour," Mr Lewis said.
"This way you get the right lighting for the right job."
If you want to see just how much difference lighting makes, compare a room lit by a naked bulb to a room lit by candles.
"A single bulb throws light around the room in a bland, flat manner with no atmosphere or mood," Mr Lewis said .
However, with candles "you have a place fit for the finest seduction scene", he said.
When you plan your lighting, decide what the function of the lighting is. There are three categories of lighting: general or background lighting; task(or local) lighting for reading; mood or atmosphere lighting.
Use a central fixture for general lighting and then use spotlighting, floor-standing lamps and table lights.
The kitchen is a good example of poor lighting strategy.
"A central light in a kitchen means you are always working in shadow," Mr Lewis said. "The central lighting should be the last item in a kitchen. Use task lighting to brighten work surfaces - either spotlights or downlights."
Here are other points to keep in mind when choosing lighting systems and fixtures:
* Try before you buy, if you can. You might like the look of a light fitting but will it do its prime job - throw light where you want it?
* Don't spend $5,000 on the furniture and decor and then put up a $50 light fitting. If you spend money trying to get the room to look great in daylight with beautiful furniture, curtains etc, why spoil it at night with a cheap light fitting?
* Use a dimmer, except on the compact fluorescent lights. With a simple dimmer you can "play" with light until you get the atmosphere right.
© 1992 The Sun Herald