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The Occhio product portfolio enables a holistic lighting concept.
What exactly do you mean by that?
Axel Meise: It has always been my vision from the very beginning
to design living spaces holistically with perfect light. Consistent in
design, lighting quality and ‘joy of use’. Occhio is all about aesthetic
harmony. Whichever luminaires the customer selects, they can deter-
mine the surfaces individually and design them consistently across all
products. This creates an overarching design language in harmony
with the interior. The key thing here is the high quality of light across all
rooms, and of course the opportunity to be able to adjust this light to
best suit the respective situation. The holistic idea behind the Occhio
portfolio sets no boundaries. What’s more: the lighting atmosphere
in the room or in the entire house can be easily and conveniently
adjusted and changed whenever you want, whether by using our
intuitive gesture control, operating it via the controller or with the
Occhio air app. This is what we mean by the term ‘joy of use’.
Occhio stands for a ‘culture of light’. What does light have to do
with culture for you?
Axel Meise: Culture is created by people. And artificial light is a
cultural achievement. From the campfire to today’s LED: we want
to continue this history at Occhio and at the same time evolve the
potential of artificial light to a new level. Because one of the most
important functions of light is to bring people together. The culture of
light is about the experience, the atmosphere, the feeling. You can
create incredible changes with just the right light ... and with it the
luxury of a whole new quality of life! Because at the end of the day, we
do what we do precisely for this purpose – to enrich people’s quality
of life with the culture of light from Occhio.
You are having this conversation with us at Casa de la Luz in Mallorca.
A house that looks like a perfect place you might long to be, inside
and out.
Axel Meise: Many of our projects are real places we long to be, each
in its own special way. The Casa de la Luz is a perfect example of
the skilful interplay of different elements: the surrounding nature, the
sea, the architecture, the interior design and, of course, the light by
Occhio, which the residents can adjust entirely to their taste at any
time. This is crucial for places you yearn for: we all have individual
ideas and needs, often very different dreams. But it is light that con-
nects all this. The right sort of lighting brings flats and houses to life.
Gives them warmth. You could even say it gives them a soul.
Axel Meise has not only
designed extraordinary light
sources for Occhio, but has
elevated light to a culture:
the designer and founder talks
about the power of the sun
and how light transforms
special places into places
of desire.
Mr Meise, is there someplace you long to be?
Axel Meise: We usually long to be wherever we can’t be in a given mo
ment. Where the weather is better, the light more intense, the culture
and people more engaging, the attitude to life more relaxed. That’s
why my imaginary place is currently a ship. You can keep mobile on
a ship and keep experiencing new places you yearn for. We also see
the world from its most beautiful side on board a ship: from the water!
What role does light play in these places?
Axel Meise: Light lets us perceive our surroundings, our world. Light
has an immense influence on our emotions and our sense of well-
being. Natural light is unparalleled, whether in the morning, at midday
or at sunset – such a spectrum of moods. What Occhio strives to do
is to come as close as possible to the most beautiful light there is: the
light of the sun. We try to recreate the most diverse lighting moods of
nature with our luminaires – and give people the opportunity to stage
these different moods and atmospheres for themselves.
Foreword
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