From task lighting for food preparation, crafting and cleaning, to mood lighting for relaxation and entertaining, lighting both natural and artificial plays a pivotal role in how you use and enjoy a space. Equally important are lighting controls that allow you to change the purpose and functionality of lights to suit the time of day (to assist in balancing your circadian rhythms for a better mood, productivity and sleep), as well as a range of activities that occur in any given room. In short, lighting is an important element of every room but frequently treated as an afterthought.
You may have lived in homes or apartments with single overhead lights and too few electrical outlets in convenient locations to plug in a floor or table lamp. When designing for new construction or remodels, it’s important to consider the lighting plan at the onset of the design phase rather than the back end. This can ensure the spaces will have adequate light and lighting controls for the purposes they are designed for, as well as consideration in the project budget.
Any room can be transformed with a thoughtful design and curated materials; however, the effort will be substantially wasted if the space is not properly lit. In essence, lighting can make or break the experience of any space.
The Dallas Market Center recently hosted Lightovation 2025, which included 150 exhibitors comprising 1 million square feet of display space. About 3,000 lighting, design and allied trade professionals gathered to participate in educational panel discussions hosted by the American Society of Interior Designers and the National Kitchen and Bath Association, network and view the latest in decorative and functional light. Many new product designs and technological innovations were debuted, highlighting several emerging trends in lighting. The following is a synopsis of the trends observed at Lightovation.
Mixed Finishes
Mixed finishes continue to trend and manufacturers are heeding the call from consumers to produce fixtures that have both character and texture, giving their homes a more curated and unique design aesthetic, with materials such as metal, glass, leather and fabrics, etc.
Customizable
Consumers are looking to set their designed spaces apart from the proverbial Joneses. Lighting manufacturers are answering this call by offering more and more customization options, from mixing metals to changing the actual sizing of the fixture and more.
Excelling in this arena are Hubbardton Forge, Hammerton, Fine Art Handcrafted Lighting, Sonneman and fixtures designed for Visual Comfort, each offering multiple finishes, sizes and other customizable features. Aesthetic choices aside, a game-changing feature that caters to the affordable retrofit market is the wall sconce Shift by Dals that has an adjustable back plate, allowing you to center mount a fixture up to 12 inches from an existing j-box.
Organic and Biophilic
Organic shapes, natural materials and motifs and sustainably sourced materials all support the organic and biophilic design trend. With so much of their day being spent indoors interacting with flat screens (in the car, at work, ordering take-out meals, during air travel, at play, etc.), consumers crave unique, natural artisanal, textural materials that can tell a story of their origin and are not a burden on the environment.
The alabaster stone look in the globe pendant and the bamboo printed ceramic cylinder wall sconce by Justice Design Group as well as the FSC-certified Canoa linear pendant and Facetado table lamp by Accord Lighting embrace elements of the natural world, bringing the outdoors in.
Health and Wellness
Health and wellness, in its many facets, is at the forefront of many consumers’ minds. When thinking of health and wellness, lighting is not the first product that comes to mind; however, acoustic lighting is a somewhat new category that provides both illumination and sound absorption and attenuation.
This category fits into designing for health and wellness in that both light and sound play a pivotal role in an individual’s productivity and wellbeing. Two brilliant examples of this lighting category are the Kurtain pendant by Luxxbox and the Hush pendant by WakaNine.
Correlated (Corrected) Color Temperature (CCT)
The color temperature of any given light bulb (referred to as a lamp by industry professionals) is measured in degrees of Kelvin, with a typical residential application ranging from 2,000 K (dining room) to 6,500 K (garage or workshop). The lower the number, the more amber in color the light is (historically, incandescent light bulbs produced an “amber” light). The higher the Kelvin, the bluer the light, mimicking the sun at high noon.
Physically and psychologically, amber light is more desirable for early mornings as dawn is breaking and for evenings as it helps you ease into your day or wind down, following your circadian rhythms. Blue light is bright and well-suited to enhancing your productivity and capacity to learn during the day but is often experienced as unpleasant or uncomfortable during early-morning and evening hours. The ability to control color temperature is not new; however, the technology to master color correction is changing rapidly.
Lighting manufacturers are offering an ever-growing selection of both functional and decorative lighting fixtures with adjustable color corrected controls. This allows lighting designers, interior designers and homeowners to “tune” the color of the lights to suit the activity of the space and personal preferences.
LED vanity mirrors with CCT allow you to tune the color output to mimic the light you will be in both inside and outside of the home. For example, if you’re entertaining dinner guests or going out to dinner, it would be appropriate to use a 2,700 K output while grooming and selecting attire for the evening, effectively mimicking the lighting that would be typically used at your dining table or a restaurant.
Digital Lighting Controls
Another noteworthy lighting innovation is digital lighting controls. Brian Scott, lighting designer and founder of Illumina LLC in Silverdale, says he is “excited by the flexibility and improvement that digital controls provide over analog controls, eliminating wall warts, i.e. wall-mounted dimmers or dimming modules, which require more building materials and labor costs to install.”
Scott explains that digital controls use radio frequency or a low-voltage control wire between fixtures for communication. “This eliminates the need for dimmers or large panels of dimming modules, as they can be controlled with a cellphone,” he says. “At their core, digital controls provide more customization with respect to color temperature, intensity, fade rates and individual luminaire addressability.
“For example, we can design flexible zones, allowing each fixture to be individually addressed or grouped as needed, without the need for rewiring. This flexibility allows us to finetune lighting scenes and adapt to changing furniture arrangements and art installations without damaging drywall or other finished surfaces. Lastly, digital lighting controls provide smoother, flicker-free dimming down to 0.1% versus analog, which typically dims to 10-15%.”
Well-Suited for Small Spaces
It can be challenging to find furnishings let alone light fixtures for smaller spaces. One dominant trend at the show was small and predominantly rechargeable indoor and outdoor table lamps and wall sconces. Additionally, both small and large spaces can benefit from the offset receptacle from Legrande that allows your to plug in small grooming and kitchen appliances with their characteristic bulky block transformers without blocking access to the second receptacle.
Scandi and Japandi Design
Characterized by simple, clean lines and natural materials, the rectilinear wood fixtures by EGLO, Kuzco and Craftmade are an excellent continuation of the Scandia and Japandi design trend, as is the Clean wall sconce by Accord Lighting.
Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting can have a profound effect on the look, feel and functionality of outdoor spaces. Therefore, it’s important to choose lighting that not only looks good but helps chase the shadows after dark, and don’t forget to comply with DarkSky codes if they apply to your area.
Lighting manufacturers are answering the call for beautiful and functional exterior fixtures, such as the sculptural Carbon wall sconce by Hubbardton Forge, the classic Atlas sconce by Crystorama and the deck floor lamp with integrated heater by Eurofase.
Rechargeable and Solar Powered
Providing the ultimate in flexibility, rechargeable (with a USB cord) fixtures are taking the lighting industry by storm. These portable lights are perfect for outdoor entertaining and for older abodes that have few electrical outlets.
Solar lights reduce energy consumption and are often wireless. With the right sun exposure, these stylish outdoor sconces can provide excellent lighting coverage for walkways, garages, front entries and more.
Less Exposed Bulbs
Exposed filament light bulbs combined with clear or seed glass shades have lost their shine in the consumers’ eyes. As a clever transition, manufacturers are offering shades that are half frosted (to conceal the bulb) and half clear, as illustrated by the Lilium wall sconce by Hubbardton Forge. Additonally, only Justice Design has updated its drum pendant with a beautiful, pleated insert to conceal the bulb in its Warren Drum pendant.
Target Lighting
Target lighting is a growing trend with designers and consumers. Art lights, recessed lights, cable and rail and even nonribbon undercabinet lights are being used to accent focal points through the home, allowing homeowners to further personalize their spaces by highlighting the things that bring them joy, such as a piece of art or a family heirloom.
No-Glare LED
Designers and consumers alike have grown tired of both functional and decorative lighting that delivers light with an uncomfortable level of glare. Manufacturers are developing products that address this pain point across the spectrum of lighting products. From recessed lights to decorative LED fixtures and even exposed filament bulbs, consumers can feel more confident with their lighting choices than ever before.
A light is a light, is a light — nothing could be farther from the truth. Properly lighting interior and exterior spaces is equal parts art and science, therefore it’s important to plan well (at the front end of a project) and to enlist professional help if you find yourself out of your depth. This approach will ensure a better return on investment and enhance the experience of the space.
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