Was this something you always felt?

“The first official project I did was the lighting for a discotheque in the Hotel Nikko here in Mexico City. Basically I was given a black box and I could paint it in different colours, make it bright or opaque. And I could change things instantly. Yes, it was the ability to modify space with light that attracted me right from the start.”

Did you study lighting?

“You know, lighting in Mexico is a very young profession. Until recently, it was largely handled by companies who manufactured the fittings. They seemed more interested in selling their products than understanding the power of successful lighting. I went to work and study in the States and Europe and then the States again. I worked mainly with lighting designers and those in the States taught me that lighting is really made up of two parts: there’s the subjective part where you dream and then the objective part where you try to put your dream into reality. These designers really inspired me. I finally returned to Mexico and I started the company in 1994. We initiated a trend that was completely alien at the time: we handled projects rather than selling lighting equipment. It was very exceptional for an architect to pay somebody else to tell him what sort of lighting he needed and how it should work.”

What about working with interior designers?

“I think most interior designers have a great ability to perceive space. They are normally in charge of the project and want to communicate a sensation about the architectural space. Often their concept includes ideas about lighting. I learned a lot from them. And now I try to contribute to that design or lighting concept.”

“I like to think of the company as a workshop, a sort of lab. We consider ourselves nothing more than light craftsmen. The architecture is always the foundation for our work and that should define the lighting solution. When we receive a plan from an architect it will tell us – if it is a good plan – what the project requires, what the intentions of the architect are in terms of space and formal function. Then it is for us to formally understand the space. How does it work? What does it look like? What materials are used? And then we take a decision, generally in consultation with the architect, about which space element should be emphasised, which should be disguised, what we should do to modify visual perception. That defines the language of the project. Each project is, of course, different and we try not to repeat ourselves; we try to innovate every time and achieve a harmony between the architecture and the lighting.”

“Any project is the sum of many talents – the architect, the engineers, the decorators. For the Nikko disco, the architects were Japanese, the designers Mexican, and the engineers American. Our meetings were interesting: three languages, three ideologies, three different ways of thinking. But it was the way we channelled all this into the final project that made it so fascinating.”

Could you tell us something about a more recent project?

“My projects are my children – I love them all, even the ugly ones. But one of our recent projects was in Japan, the Kin Chi Cho project, meaning the golden floor. It is an area of Tokyo with textile factories, so we wanted to play with the idea of textiles. We had an enormous floor which we lit in one colour. But we made the floor pressure-sensitive. Every time somebody walks across the floor, the sensors produce a thread of colour, a trace of light. As more people move across the floor, the lighting threads create something almost like knitting. We also produced a bridge, again with the idea of textile and fashion in mind. When somebody crosses the bridge, the
electronic eyes we installed in it allow the lights to follow that person, whichever direction they move; the bridge becomes a fashion catwalk. “A very different project was the house we did in Panama. A beautiful house on the beach. The owner said he wanted a house that wasn’t conventional. At the rear there is a patio and, in consultation with the architect, we constructed a way of flooding it. At night, the patio floods with water and lights come from the drains in the walls and when it is illuminated it creates the impression that the columns and all the elements of the architecture are somehow merged into one.”

A mirror of water?

“Yes, exactly. It was about creating something unusual. The architect thought about materials, spaces, details. And lighting played a very important role. Of course, there was also the technical problem of having to be able to drain the patio whenever the owner wanted to use it. But the effect is stunning. Once the client got over the initial shock, he finally loved it.”

It sounds almost emotional.

“It was the emotional aspect of lighting that I found initially appealing. The artistic part. But I realised that I would need to learn to solve the technical problems if I wanted to meet the expectations I created. Emotion, though, is still very important. I think it is because of the way I perceive architecture. For me, it is a gut feeling rather than a head feeling. And I think that is appearing more frequently in the work we are doing. I think that every space, both interior and exterior, generates, like music, its own notes. Lighting can play those notes or reinforce them, and turn the space into a symphony.”

Is the same true of urban lighting?

“I think we have to be very careful there. We must not abuse things, particularly when we use colour. I think colour in architectural projects should arise from a clear intention and must reflect a specific logic in communicating an emotion or an architectural concept. I think we are in danger of losing control because coloured fittings are now becoming so widely available. “Another element we must be careful with is the
urban tones. I think lighting plays an  important role in cities, not least in making us feel like human beings. But there are so many possibilities in lighting that I believe we must show considerable self control and not go over the limit. A focal point can be great, it can catch people’s attention, but it can also turn against the design of the project. People must understand the sensation that a city wishes to communicate. If you have an important cultural heritage, important buildings, important churches, you must be very careful how you light them within an urban reference.”

When you think of light, what is the image that comes into your mind?

“When I became fully aware of the implications of light, I was struck by the use of light in art. The paintings of Joshua Klum with the candles lighting the scene. And the use of light and shade in paintings by Carabollo. These are so dramatic that they create an emotion. “But for me, light will always mean the candle. That is what I think of. It has been the lighting tool of mankind for thousands of years. Today, I specialise in artificial light; but in my mind, in my sub-conscious, light still means the candle.”