In the past several years, this writer has noticed a significant increase in the importance of good lighting choices for hospitalitylighting and environments. More and more, newly opened cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels are opting for light fixtures that play a key role in emphasising warmth and character. As well as fine furnishings and sharp service, business proprietors are recognising the need for investing in transformative lighting solutions.

The STF Göteborg City, a hotel project commissioned by the Swedish Tourist Association (STF), was designed by White Arkitekter in cooperation with lighting design studio Taras Ljusdesign. Aiming to showcase a different side to the STF, the Gothenburg hotel has a distinctly modern design edge, with an emphasis on savvy, smart and soft lighting throughout. The hotel’s appealing lobby includes a cafe area where a long table invites guests to dine with friends and strangers alike. Suspended above this table is a meticulous row of LZF’s innovative Escape pendants. Designed by Ray Power, Escape is a handsome handmade light, whose self-supporting wood veneer panels present a clever domino-like structure. In this setting, the Escape pendants provide an ideal downlight and warm conversational tone. What’s more, the mix of blue and natural hues complement the dusky urban-like scene. A perfect choice.

In lighting a space, architects and interior designers will consider its purpose and think about the most appropriate products: hanging pendants above a table at which patrons will sit to eat; placing a floor or table lamp by a nook in which they might wish to read or rest. Moreover, architects and interior designers will ensure unwanted lighting effects, including shadows, contrasts and glare, are avoided.

Hospitality businesses have a duty of care to their patrons. Consider the sense of discomfort, even anxiety, that can arise in an establishment whose lights are excessively bright and blinding. Well-being is perhaps a more qualitative aspect of customer service—however, its weightiness in the overall customer experience cannot be dismissed. Lighting affects that experience: lamps light what we see, have an influence on our mood and play a part in determining our memories of a particular moment.

LZF embraces an all-inclusive approach to lighting design and development. Understanding context is paramount, from the physical space to how light works within its bounds to the people inhabiting and using that space. Combining craft, technological innovation, know-how and aesthetic sensibility, LZF strives to ensure its lamps fit the requirements of a given space, in a manner that prioritises comfort and well-being.

Photography by Jonas Kullman

Designed by White Arkitekter

Lighting Design by Taras Ljusdesign

Venue: Göteborg City Hotel, Sweden

Lamp model:  Escape pendant by Ray Power