This session, composed with a three-chapter program, was a special event that explored the lighting industry of today and tomorrow from the standpoint of lighting design by reviewing the essence of the seven videos distributed in advance as a pre-event and connecting each location to exchange comments.

Chapter 1 “NEW TECH (Exploring Tomorrow’s New Technologies)” begins with an easy-to-understand explanation of how DC48V lighting systems are rapidly becoming the mainstream, especially in Europe, and how they are safe, compact, cost-effective, and applicable anywhere in the world.

Next, turning to spectrum-derived lighting fixtures, the lighting equipment currently used on stage sets are more advanced than architectural lighting in terms of variety of light source colors and flexibility of control. Lighting designers and color designers discussed the future of architectural lighting with demonstrations, looking toward a future where architectural lighting would evolve in the same way as stage lighting.

Chapter 2 “NEW STYLE (Introducing New Leading Figures)” picks up two new faces;  James Kaoru Bury with his Chouchin Candle, which focuses on flame as a primitive light source, and  Midori Kawano with her RGB_Light, which uses LEDs to design colors of shadows.

Next, in “ANOTHER WORLD” section, lighting designers Masanobu Takeishi and Aki Hayakawa introduced unique products such as the SAMBA-M, JBL Pulse 4, and Dyson Lightcycle Morph™. They talked about the design of each product and the technology that made it possible.

Chapter 3 “BACK TO THE FUTURE (Learning from Lighting’s Past and Thinking about the Future)” presents three videos. First, a video titled “Light Anywhere!!” explained about the “past to present of portable lights—lights that can be carried around,” from Nambu Tekki (ironware) handheld candlesticks and Odawara lanterns to various products designed by Ingo Maurer and the latest portable lights such as Ambientec.  They concluded that as technology evolves, we should consider what people need in response, and that is the job of lighting experts.

Next, in a video titled “CUSTOM: The Custom-made Lighting,” the craftsmen presented their own commitments; Ricardo Lighting, which produces chandeliers; Hiyoshiya, which develops lighting fixtures using traditional Kyoto umbrella techniques; Kakishita Wood Works, which aims to create products that neither the craftsmen nor the user will tire of for decades; Sarue Glass, with its characteristic soft glass shape; and KISHU+, a lacquerware brand launched through a collaboration of four Kishu lacquerware production companies.

Lastly, lighting designers Kazuhiro Nagashima, Miho Konishi, and Hiroki Yagi, dressed as travelers of Edo period  and visited the Yuishuku Tokaido Akari Museum  in Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City, in the video titled “Global Environmental Lighting Fixtures: SDGs in EDO.” The three designers experienced lighting fixtures from the Edo period through the Meiji and Taisho periods to the present. Ms. Konishi stated that the ability to actively control the light at one’s fingertips, rather than with a switch, and the fact that the Edo period, when goods did not enter the country due to isolation, created a life cycle of reuse, repair, and recycling, are things that should be conveyed once again in the modern age.

The two moderators stated that although times change, the relationship between people and light will always continue, and that it is lighting that creates new relationships of its time, and concluded by saying that through the seven videos, they could sense a new future for lighting fixtures and the lighting industry.