Aide mémoire
Renato M. De Toffol | concepteur et designer
“Dans la phase de conception d'un objet, certains éléments, tels que par exemple la lumière, sont isolés ou pris en compte trop tard. Je pense que la conception de l'éclairage se doit de souligner l'architecture sans jamais la transformer.”
REGENT What path led you to become a designer?
R. M. De Toffol At the start of my career, I worked as a brass and non-ferrous metalworker, making decorative lighting fixtures. The phenomenon “Light” with all its suspense and nuances, as well as the challenge of developing special solutions for the realisation of specific lighting design projects were then the triggers that put my design activities into motion.
REGENT Where do you place the emphasis in your areas of work?
R. M. De Toffol Initially, I tried to do this via product design, but after a few years I noticed a change in the process. Nowadays, I tend to place more importance on people with their different feelings. This is how effective and efficient overall solutions come into being.
REGENT Where do you get your inspiration from for new products?
R. M. De Toffol My work consists of researching the requirements of people as far as light is concerned. New in the Highlight range impulses and approaches to solutions arise from this. My principle is as follows: firstly the human being, then the design, then the product.
REGENT We take it from your answer that lighting design is an important topic in the field of architecture as far as you are concerned. Why is this?
R. M. De Toffol In the planning phase of an object, specific elements, such as the light for example, are isolated or taken into account when it is already too late. I believe that the lighting design should support the architecture, but never change it.
REGENT Working in co-operation with architects, planning offices, clients or construction engineers, it is never easy to contribute your own ideas on lighting design. How do you go about this?
R. M. De Toffol We all feel things differently and look at things from our own point of view. Personally, I work on the theory that the end result has to be the optimum total solution. If this is to succeed, all those involved are asked to put the users, in other words the people, in the forefront.
REGENT How do you see future development in the fields of lighting and product design?
R. M. De Toffol In the lighting design field: for myself I would wish for this theme to become a more important element in planning and design, especially for architects, and would hope for even more intensive debate on the subjects of light and colour, threedimensional qualities, modulation and simplicity. When it comes to the product design area: yet again here, I see a functionally-orientated language of forms that is becoming simpler all the time. The constant development of interesting light sources will certainly still offer possibilities for optimum product design in the future.
REGENT Many thanks for the interesting discussion and we wish you much continued success.
