China is the country of the 21^st century. No longer is China merely the country to produce innovative solutions, but the premier market to implement these. China is in need for solutions. Solutions that enable China to sustain the insatiable desire for growth while conquering the challenges of energy, sustainability, health and inequality.At the same time does China experience a light revolution. Every day thousands of people are liberated from darkness when urbanisation connects them to the grid, providing them with light to see. At OPENLIGHT, we know that with new lighting technologies we can be more liberating than only allowing us to see. We know how light can help us focus, reflect, regulate our biorhythms, improve safety or escape from the hectic every day.

Therefore, OPENLIGHT took on the challenge to OPEN up LIGHT in Beijing and to show how light solutions can contribute to tackling some of Beijing’s urgent societal issues.  OPENLIGHT initiated a three week project to team up 4 of its staff and 6 postgraduate designers to 6 design students and 3 staff of the renowned Tsinghua University in Beijing. The team spent 2 days and nights with Beijing’s cleaners, bus drivers and elderly, revealing some moving insights, ranging from ‘裸婚(‘naked marriage’) to 駕駛樂趣 (driving around to relax). Currently, the team is responding to these insights by devising a series of light interventions which will be presented as 3 light installations at the Beijing Design Week (28 Sept – 2 Oct).

For more info http://www.openlight.nl/openlight-at-beijing-design-we/

This will happen at the Netherlands Design Pavilion, 751 district, Beijing. For more information see DutchDFA http://www.dutchdfa.com/china/beijing-design-week/bjdw-info-and-registration or www.bjdw.org/en

OPENLIGHT is the creative lab of the Intelligent Lighting Institute, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. OPENLIGHT sets out to deliver explorative and experiential propositions that open up the field of light. We believe in a light revolution, due to advances in solid state lighting (LED), and the rapidly expanding knowledge of the effects of light on people.