Inspired by the stained glass windows in a church he began visiting after the start of the pandemic, designer Oliver Vitry, architect and associate director at CLAISSE ARCHITECTURES , created his Rainbow Lighting project as a physical representation of his perspective on life at that time. A rainbow is experienced by observing how sunlight is refracted through suspended drops of water and can be perceived differently depending on how we look at it. Similarly, Covid-19 lockdowns could be experienced positively or negatively, depending on what we make of them. Rainbow Lighting is a tangible object that reminds us of how perspective can be everything.

The lamp consists of two glass tubes joined together. One is transparent, the other is sandblasted. Each tube has nine slits cut into it where one or more different colored and size filters can be inserted to create a stained-glass effect. Fittingly, the colored filters are also made from waste colored glass used by stained glass artists and mosaicists. The lower part of the tubes are composed of a white lacquered steel tube containing the lightbulb that casts a soft light upwards. By choosing and installing different filters, the user actually becomes the artist. It would seem that the cycle now comes full circle as the lamp, created from a specific kind of artwork, now fosters the same kind of creativity to form new artists.

claisse-architectures.be . Photography by Xavier Harcq