Vaida Atkocaityte-Dalisanskiene, a talented designer from Vilnius, Lithuania, earned the Lighting Product Design title at the LIT Lighting Design Awards 2024 for her innovative MOOD light compositions. Designed as part of her master’s thesis at Vilnius Academy of Arts, her work reflects her deep understanding of the emotional and transformative power of light. Working under the guidance of Professor Saulius Jusionis, Vaida sought to create a piece that merges functionality, sustainability, and creativity, allowing users to customize their spaces with dynamic light compositions.
In this interview, Vaida opens up about the inspiration behind MOOD, her experience at the Academy, and how her journey as both a designer and a student shaped her award-winning project.
What led you to focus on lighting design, and why is it so important in your work?
My focus on lighting design comes from its ability to inspire and transform spaces and objects. Light is more than functional; it creates atmosphere, highlights what’s important, and can even conceal things. I believe light can have both positive and negative effects if used at the wrong time, with the wrong color or intensity. It plays a crucial role in architecture, interior design, and photography—bad lighting can make even the best food look unappetizing.
As an interior designer and architect, I believe lighting is essential to any interior. It impacts people both physically and emotionally, and I design layered lighting that adapts to different scenarios, enhancing the experience for those living in the space and giving each area its unique character. I’ve been drawn to it since high school, 16 years ago, when I created a table lamp from paper clips, instinctively understanding its importance.
What was the vision behind MOOD, and where did the inspiration for its concept originate?
The vision behind the MOOD luminaire was to create a light composition as art that complements the interior with color. Lithuanian interior designers often mention that Lithuanians are afraid of colors, fearing they will quickly tire of a chosen hue. However, I really enjoy colors. I wanted to create art that would be dynamic and never boring, allowing the colors to change with the interior, mood, and daily rhythm. The inspiration for this lamp came from colored stained glass windows in churches, which, depending on the presence or absence of sunlight and its position in the interior, create changing color combinations. For my project, I refined the key concepts of light, color, and transformation. When designing the lamp, I envisioned a graphic, simple design inspired by Piet Mondrian’s Red, Blue, and Yellow. Unlike Mondrian’s work, the black lines in my lamp form a grid that allows the colors to blend and change freely.
How does MOOD allow users to create their very own personalized compositions of colors and shapes using light?
The MOOD luminaire features a flexible light source, interchangeable colored parts, and a milled base. Users can choose the colors of the parts based on their mood, season, or personal preference and then place them into the base to create their desired composition. The position of the light source affects the size and intensity of the colored shadows, allowing the user to change the composition’s look. Colors can also blend together through the light, creating new hues. By adding or changing just one part, the entire mood and effect of the composition can transform. Each user becomes an artist, crafting a unique light display based on their own feelings.
What influenced your choice of materials for MOOD, and how do they enhance both its visual and functional qualities?
As mentioned earlier, stained glass windows in churches inspired me to find a translucent, colored material. Unlike traditional glass, it needed to be lightweight, strong, indestructible, and unbreakable. Since the lamp’s components would be changed as needed and as often as the user desired, safety became a priority. Organic glass met all these requirements.
Another key component is the base, into which the colored glass pieces are inserted. To make the light visible, I needed a white background that would remain visually appealing even when the light was off. I chose a white-painted open-pore wood veneer with a black line pattern to hold the colored pieces. For the base material, I wanted a consistent color throughout its thickness when milled, so black MDF panels were perfect. In selecting materials, I focused not only on technical properties but also on sustainability and recyclability, which are crucial today.
How can MOOD influence the user’s emotions and align with their biological rhythms, like the day-night cycle?
The MOOD lamp can influence the user’s emotions and align with their biological rhythms through the psychology of color and light. Each color has a unique effect on our emotions—some colors are calming, while others are stimulating. These colors, with their distinct wavelengths and energy, impact our bodies, thoughts, feelings, and actions. The perception of color can also be influenced by culture, experience, and mindset, making the lamp adaptable to different user needs.
Additionally, the MOOD lamp incorporates the latest trends in human-centric lighting, which focuses on well-being. Studies show that different light temperatures—warm, white, and cold—affect our biological rhythms. Cold tones, for example, can energize the body, aid concentration, and stimulate the brain, making them ideal for daytime use. Warm tones, on the other hand, create a sense of relaxation and comfort, mimicking the natural sunset, which helps prepare the body for rest in the evening. By adjusting the lamp’s color details and lighting, users can better align their environment with their internal rhythms and emotional needs throughout the day.
What challenges did you encounter during the design and development of MOOD, and how did you overcome them?
The main challenges in designing MOOD were technical, but they ultimately helped me find the best visual solution. My initial idea of connecting organic glass components like a puzzle proved difficult, as the parts slipped, and gluing them caused further damage. These failures led me to simplify the design by reducing the number of components and introducing a base that not only holds the colored pieces in place but also completes the design with a black graphic grid and controls the composition. After determining the final shape of the luminaire, another challenge was adjusting the thickness of the milled grooves to securely hold the organic glass components.
How do you feel about winning the LIT Awards for Mood Lighting, and what does this recognition mean for you as a designer?
Winning the “Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year 2024” award has inspired me to continue my work in lighting design. This award is proof to me that I am on the right path. I am truly happy with this achievement and feel honored and appreciated by such prestigious recognition from a professional lighting design committee. I am deeply grateful to the organizers and the committee for valuing my work. This award is especially important to me because lighting is my passion, and it brings something magical to all of us.
Did being a student at Vilnius Academy of Arts support your creative process, or did it come with any limitations you had to navigate?
Being a student at Vilnius Academy of Arts definitely supported my creative process. It pushed me to find time to experiment with light and focus on my creativity despite the challenge of balancing my master’s thesis with raising six-month-old twins. I am deeply grateful to the lecturers at the Klaipėda Faculty for their support and the freedom they gave me throughout this journey. I never felt constrained; instead, I felt encouraged and confident that my project would reflect the rich experiences I brought with me after completing two bachelor’s degrees in interior design and architecture, as well as gaining work experience with various projects before pursuing my Master’s in Visual Design.
What are your aspirations for the future, and what kind of projects do you hope to work on next?
Inspired by this award, I am motivated to dedicate more time to designing lighting fixtures that offer a unique experience for both interiors and their occupants, as I believe light is more than just a means of seeing in the dark. As an interior designer with a strong focus on lighting, I aim to continue creating spaces with exceptional lighting tailored to the specific needs of each environment, addressing both aesthetic and functional aspects. Moving forward, I hope to work on projects that allow me to explore these elements in greater depth and push the boundaries of lighting design.
