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Residential visual concept of a living room after dark, with a warm stone wall, concealed lighting and illuminated trees beyond the glazing.

Residential visual concept

Creative Lighting Consultancy

A different vision
of life after dark

We shape how spaces are experienced after daylight disappears.

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Light reveals.
Darkness gives it meaning.

Most spaces are designed for daylight and illuminated afterwards.

We approach them differently.

Chiaroscuro considers atmosphere, hierarchy, material, landscape and the transition into darkness as part of the design itself.

From idea to after dark

  1. 01

    Consult

    Creative lighting consultancy and early project strategy.

  2. 02

    Design

    Lighting concepts and architectural and decorative lighting design.

  3. 03

    Integrate

    Specification, technical coordination, lighting controls and scene setting.

  4. 04

    Refine

    Commissioning, focusing and adjustment on site after dark.

Residential lighting

We work with homeowners, architects and interior designers to shape how a home is experienced after dark.

The best residential lighting is rarely noticed as lighting. It is experienced in the warmth of a room, the depth of a material, artwork emerging from shadow, the view into a garden and the way a home changes through the evening.

We design those relationships.

Our involvement can begin at concept stage and continue through specification, technical coordination, lighting controls, scene setting and final commissioning.

Many of the homes we work on are not publicly documented at the request of our clients. We respect that privacy as part of the commission.

The residential image shown here is a visual concept created to communicate our approach to light, material, atmosphere and life after dark. It is not a photograph of a completed private home.

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Residential visual study of a dark living room with a textured stone chimney wall, light close to floor level and illuminated planting beyond the glazing.

Residential visual concept

Selected work

The thinking extends
beyond the project

Our books, talks and writing explore the same questions that inform the work: atmosphere, hierarchy, behaviour, time and the experience of space after dark.

Cover of Chiaroscuro — A Modern Guide to Light and Shadow in the Home, by Michael Bamling: a dark doorway with daylight falling across a herringbone floor.Cover of Chiaroscuro — A Modern Guide to Lighting Outdoor Spaces with Soul, by Michael Bamling: a lit garden seen through open glazed doors at dusk.
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Chiaroscuro Lighting

How should your space
feel after dark?

Tell us about the project and where it has reached.

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We design for the night.