Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Paul: My name is Paul Gregory. I am a lighting designer. My company is
Focus Lighting in New York; we've got about 25 people and have been
designing lighting for the past 23 years. I was trained as theatrical
lighting designer at the Goodman Theater School here at the Art Institute
of Chicago, and I guess philosophically, my point of view is that all you
see is reflected light. You don't see the wood, or the table, or the paint,
or the glass, or the metal, you just see the light that's bounced off it
into your eye. We're constantly analyzing materials and surfaces to take a
look at how that will reflect light into your eye and create an image.
My thoughts go to the opening of a curtain on a Broadway stage, that
there's a sense of drama that should be delivered on first seeing a
project. I guess we design in two ways: one is that first look, that first
image, that opening of the curtain, that drama and the beauty that the
viewer feels. Second, I suppose, is trying to create an emotion in that
viewer. If we can take the beauty found in nature and bring it to a project
and the viewer can see that and feel that emotion. On a starry night, on a
beach, you might feel small and insignificant. You kind of have that same
feeling when you go into Grand Central Station. It's a great, huge space
about people and about movement, but you don't feel overly important there.
You feel something, and it's a great space.
As you drive down Central Park West and you glance over, for 25 years you
saw Tavern on the Green, and it recently closed, but thousands and
thousands of lights in the trees, and it was nature wrapped in light and
you felt something. You felt the beauty of nature wrapped in light, and
people talked about it. Really for 40 years, from the 60's through 2009, it
was one of the top grossing restaurants in the United States. Not only
because of the lighting, which was done by Ken Billington, a Broadway
lighting designer, a wonderful guy, but because you felt something.
I think our design philosophy takes into account that first look, that
desire to create an emotion, and then, have you done the right job? Have
you done the task properly? If you're in a library, is the glare coming off
the glossy paper into your eyes too great? Does the food look beautiful?
Does the person that you're with look great? Is there a little back light
to make them stand out from the surroundings? Is there a little bounce off
the table to fill in shadows? Is it a beautifully done project, whatever
type of project it is? I think that would be our philosophy, those three
things.