Good lighting is critical as part of any design scheme but one that is so frequently a second thought when building and designing homes and buildings and one that so often gets it wrong. The challenge is about getting the balance right and creating a space that is a pleasure to be in.

Helena Duggan has been part of the Willie Duggan team for many years and involved in many big projects from the development of our own catalogue to the building of our premise in Kilkenny city. Helena has been holding this business to account for our brand. She started her career with us as our Graphic Designer and made her way through the ranks to now having her hands firmly on our image.

When we think of something that triggers our emotions, there’s always the first few things that come to mind; music, art, family and a personal one for me…food. These things all attribute to our daily emotional state and how we react to them.

I’m inspired by the old principles of Chiaroscuro that dates back to the 17th century, the world of lighting and design. Lighting plays such a crucial role throughout art history as it has the ability to change the narrative of a painting, room or building. Whether it be dramatic and mysterious to relaxing and sublime.

Biophilia is defined as the hardwired human inclination to affiliate with nature. The term was first popularized by American psychologist Edwards O Wilson in the 1980’s when he observed the increasing rates of urbanisation and how it was leading us to disconnect to nature. Biophilic design has become a big influencer recently and rightly so. It has become an innovative way of designing spaces where we live, work and learn by incorporating natural materials, natural light, and greenery.

One of the biggest challenges with working as lighting designers is the need to communicate our ideas to a client, architect and engineer. Light as a medium is invisible. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, but what you do see is the result of light when it is reflected off a surface.