Published on: December 22, 2009

Paul Gregory is the founder and president of Focus Lighting, company based in NYC since 1987 and well known for its numerous lighting design awards and its unique approach to architectural lighting design.
I had the chance to meet Paul Gregory in Berlin, during PLDC, for this interview. In our talk, Paul’s great experience and passion for light were clear and inspiring.

You’ve been educated both in theater lighting and architectural lighting. Can you talk a bit about the development of your career?
I find the best way to learn about lighting is by observation and experimentation. When I attended the Goodman School of Drama, we did exercises where we closely studied certain paintings. We were told to note the mood created by the light and darkness. For example, the side lighting a certain angle illuminating the subject in Woman at the Piano. Then, we had to recreate the painting on stage with lighting. Those kinds of experiences were fundamental in my learning process. They came from my stage lighting education and are also part of the way I relate to architectural lighting. My method of designing is still influenced by the sense of drama light creates in any space.
What also fascinates me about working with light is that it is both an art and a science. Scientifically, there is the physical process of light falling on a surface and bouncing back, the reflectivity of materials, and the way your eye perceives light. The artistic side comes in how the light affects your emotions; like how the beauty and magic of a starry night sky makes you feel small and insignificant.

It’s been already 35 years since you started! How do you see your first projects when you look back at them nowadays?
My method has always been about creating compositions. I got the idea from the learning exercise of recreating paintings with light that I mentioned earlier. Of course the more situations you encounter, the easier it is to understand which methods and effects work, and which don’t. I have continued to refine my process to this day, and our projects continue to be an artistic expression of our learned experiences.
For example, I just received a phone call from a satisfied client regarding the landscape lighting for their private residence. We treated their garden as an artistic composition, handling the balance between foreground and background, frame, focus and gradients like in a painting. We analyzed views and applied the light in a way that extends the ambience of the art pieces inside the house to the outside space. The project is now complete and they love it!

Now that you mention this artistic composition, I remember your profile in Focus Lighting website, where you state you have been “revealing and highlighting architecture by painting pictures with light”. That makes me think of the relation between the white canvas and the architectural space. How do you see that relation? And, definitely, the role played by light in it.
The relation between lighting design and painting is in the importance of beauty and composition in relation to frame, focus, background and foreground.
If we take a photograph of a building, print it in color onto watercolor paper, spray fix it and cover it with black charcoal; when we remove the charcoal, we will reveal the building underneath. That’s what light does: it reveals. How hard we press with the charcoal eraser is how strong the light will be.
When we designed the lights for the Anniversary of the Times Square Ball, we had to think of the crystals seen from a distance of 5 feet, 50 feet or 500 feet, each of those with its different proportional size. We analyzed the composition of each view, and made sure it would sparkle in all situations!

So, we can say that one important issue for you is visual appreciation.
Definitely.

With a career of 35 years, I believe it must be possible to describe the development of lighting technology through Focus Lighting projects. How do you see the influence of technology on the lighting design process at your company?
In the past, there were many times when we could not find manufactured solutions for all of our design challenges. Often we needed to invent solutions, such as how to use a certain filter or accessory in a specific fixture. Now a day, in general, it is easier. We don’t need to invent so much. Most of what we need, we can find, but we still try to push for innovative solutions.

Perhaps, it is possible to say that Focus Lighting also has pushed the industry further, by demanding specific solutions.
Yes. I think so.

Even if it is not any more necessary to invent so much and cope with the lack of manufactured solutions, I can also identify in your work the effort of integrating lighting. For example at the Semiramis Hotel, in Athens, the integration of lighting with architecture is remarkable, almost total. Makes me wonder about the design process in terms of the collaboration with the interior designer (Karim Rashid). Can you comment on that process?

Actually, the hotel is not exactly in Athens. It is located in Kifissia, an exclusive suburb with much more free space and nature than Athens.The client wanted to create a unique place, which influenced their choice of location.They wanted the interior to be a piece of modern art where each element would be very specialized. Each guest room is distinct and has a symbol associated with it. When your symbol is blinking on the reception panel, you know there is a message for you. We tried to enhance the unique and distinct qualities of the interior elements by applying very slow color changes and creating specific contrasts with white LEDs.

Photo by Focus Lighting

Photo by Focus Lighting

Another project we have is the Science Museum in Chicago, which is being renovated for the first time in many years. One of our challenges is to make learning about science interesting to kids who come to visit the museum. Another challenge is to take the teachers into consideration. Many elementary school teachers are very comfortable reading a storybook to their students, but don’t enjoy explaining scientific problems as much. We see lighting as something that can improve these relations, by making science attractive and stimulating. We are not only lighting the exhibit hall, but also the integrating light into the exhibits themselves. We want the kids to go crazy for science when they experience this place!

Now that you mention kids… Focus Lighting has done both Toys’R’Us and FAO Schwarz! Is there a special feeling or attitude when it comes to having kids as the users of the space you apply light to?
Definitely (smiling). When I designed the ceiling for FAO Schwarz, I imagined myself as a 10-year-old boy and tried to develop something I would like to have in my own room… I would absolutely love to have that ceiling in my room!

Photo by Fred Charles

Photo by Fred Charles

Talking about this imaginary’s boy room, leads me to think of residential lighting. We all have heard some designers that consider too subjective to discuss private housing commissions, making them not interested in this kind of project. At Focus Lighting, you do a lot of private houses.
I love lighting private houses. It is wonderful to make people happy with their homes. When you light up someone’s paintings and they see what they haven’t noticed in years, like the blue color of a dress or the texture of a cloth, they are just so pleased. That doesn’t happen in a commercial project, it only happens when you do the lighting for someone’s home.

I assume it is important for you to have direct contact with the client, even if there is an architect involved.
If I don’t know them, how can I make them happy? It’s necessary to meet people and get to know their wishes. Many times, architects have so much to deal with, that they perform more as team leaders than lead-designers. They have too many responsibilities to be specific everywhere. As lighting designers, we must be specific in order to respond to the client’s point of view. We must be able to directly interpret their views ourselves.

Moving to restaurants. Among the many restaurants Focus Lighting has worked with, MORIMOTO is a reference of the application of dynamic colored lighting in interior spaces. What I would like you to comment on is the balance between ambient lighting and functional lighting, considering functional the lighting for the appreciation of the menu and the food served.
The key to maintaining a comfortable constant light level for the dining experience is the fill light from above, in the furniture and especially from the side. Lighting from these three positions prevents the colored lighting from affecting the tables. Even if there is dynamic lighting in the restaurant, the US $150 sushi plate on the customer’s table has a constant level of white light. People have tried to copy that solution somewhere in England, but they didn’t understand it. The light on their tables also changes color, because they didn’t use the lateral light.

Photo by David Joseph

Photo by David Joseph

Moving to a much wider perspective and the idea of light culture, or the influence of cultural components in light preferences. How do you approach this issue in your design process?
I don’t really believe that people in different countries have different reactions to beauty. People are surely affected by daylight, the size of the window in their homes and the length of days where they were raised. But, there are fundamental qualities of light that are universal: the meanings of fire, warmth, safety. What a person enjoys is based on where they grew up: around the fireplace, or working in the field under intense sunlight. We should design the lighting of each person’s space based on these personal preferences.
Generalizations between countries don’t make sense to me.
To relate lighting and painting again, do Japanese people, for example, not like a certain colors because it does not show up in their traditional art? Do they all like something else? I don’t think so.
When I aim for beauty, I don’t think such generalizations exist.

I was about to suggest a reflection between your work and your nationality. But, I’ll leave this idea behind and ask if there is something you see as a mark in your work. When you reflect about your projects, is there something that is always there?
I’d say the reference to nature is a recurring theme for me. The beauty I find in nature is important to me – the colors of sunset and sunrise, the feeling under the trees in a forest, the energy from a waterfall.
If we can make a building look like it would be seen under the beautiful light of sunset, we have done a good job.

As final question, I would like to ask if there is any award – among so many received along your career – you would remark as special?
(For the first time, he hesitates to answer a question).
I would say the “Lighting Designer of the Year.” It was an award I didn’t expect it and it made me really happy. The surprise effect makes it special.

Well, Paul… Congratulations. And Thank you very much!

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