The ambience
and mood may not be the first thing that you consider when planning out the
design of your business, however as one of the methods of enhancing the overall
experience of your customers whether shopping, dining or negotiating, careful
attention should be paid to these aspects.
By doing so
you can ensure that any extensive planning that has gone into the rest of your
design, layout or business is showcased and nurtured in the right way while
guaranteeing maximum comfort for those spending time in your working areas.
Lighting is
the perfect method of improving the atmosphere of your establishment. Paired
with the right wall colours and in keeping with your designs, lighting can
showcase your products and make customers want to spend more time in the
comfort of your company’s building.
Restaurant lighting
A
restaurant is the perfect example of how lighting can encourage relaxation and
mood, setting the tone for how your customers should feel. While it should hold
a practical solution for customers to be able to read menus and see what they
are eating, the lighting’s design and implementation can make room for some
wonderful opportunities for experimentation.
Careful
attention should be made to placement and brightness and particular
consideration should be given to the heights of your ceilings, colours of
walls, flooring and upholstery as well as your furniture arrangement.
DON’T- Picking permanent
lighting fixtures for your restaurant that highlights your table arrangement,
when you plan to rearrange furniture in the future will not be beneficial or
cost effective for your business.
Bright
lighting is a practical solution if you have a darker decor or wish to
highlight aspects of your room, however dimmer lighting is often favoured for
its cosier and more intimate feel – whichever you opt for make sure that it is
evenly distributed so that it will not highlight one customer over another or
make them feel uncomfortable.
DO - Consider
incorporating various types of lighting to highlight one area over another. If
you have a bar, it is likely you will want this to be brighter than the table
lighting so that your patrons can see what they are drinking and your staff can
see the drinks that they are making.
Some
restaurants are open throughout the day, and if yours is one of them, designing
your room layout and decor is likely to be impacted by this. The sun is likely
to be one of the biggest factors to consider when choosing lighting during the
day so contemplate varied lighting solutions or lighting that has adjustments
for dimness and brightness.
Breakfast,
lunch and dinner all provoke different requirements for lighting intensities.
While breakfast should be bright, lunch should be moderate, they say to boost
fast turnover rates and dinner lighting should be dim with an intimate and
leisurely feel.
Think of
the sun as your base light level and work up from that, combining a mixture or
accent and feature lighting can provide visual interest as well enhance the
decor of your room. Why not considered coloured bulbs, for extra interest?
DON’T – Overpowering a room
with too many types of lighting can be overwhelming and off putting, your
customers don’t want to go home with a headache so be experimental and stylish
but reserved.
The use
of LED lighting solutions is growing in popularity among restaurants, bars and
shopping businesses, not only for their cost efficiency, using up to 90% less
energy than normal bulbs but they are also available in various colours and can
be used to create a variety of moods, adding luxury without the price tag. –
Take a look at our range of LED lamps and light
bulbs.
Festoon fun
Festoon harness
lighting and rope lights come in a variety of styles, colours and lengths which
boast versatility, practically and fun in a diverse range of applications.
While decorative and malleable into any shape or design that is required, they
also provide the perfect balance of ambience and mood which can particularly
efficient in a restaurant or dining setting.
Although
completely at home in the outdoors, our festoon lighting are becoming
increasingly more popular in internal display and functional applications due
to the encompassing affect that they have in the situations that they are used.
One of our more
recent projects saw our 2330 series festoon harness lights (pictured above)
installed in the Bar BBQ on Ice pop up restaurant offering a comprehensive
lighting solution that was completely bespoke and tailored entirely to Alexander Waterworth
Interior’s, who designed the layout, requirements.
You can
see from their application that these lights were both functional in the day
and at night, without being too overbearing or dim and boasted the second
purpose of decoration for added ambience. As the restaurant was a pop up shop,
their temporary fixture allows them to be used again when the bar decides to
relocate to a second location.
Now
shortlisted for a major prize at the Restaurant and Bar
Design Awards which are set to take place later this month, we think the bar and
designer Alexander Waterworth have show just how applicable an d attractive festoon lighting can be in a
business environment –
We wish
them luck!
The 2330 range
We think
the attraction to the 2330 range possibly came from
the tailor-made aspect which allows you to cater your festoon lighting to your
individual requirements with a bespoke harness solution which is manufactured
in the UK.
Made from
a tough black PVC and a varied selection of lamp holders, a designer or
business owner can choose the entire design to fit their specifications from
deciding what distance from the power supply the lamps need to be right through
to the individual spacing measurements between the lamps.
Choose
between various lamp designs including the shatter-proof golf ball lamps, or
Retro 40w lamps.
Indoor or outdoor?
Our NEW
extended range of mains powered and low voltage festoon lighting solutions are
perfect for outdoor functions or more permanent indoor fixtures wherever
functional or decorative lighting is required.
If you
are a domestic, commercial or public customer, and have a project that you
think that our festoon lighting could be a part of then please get in contact with us today.
