Written by Ulrike BrandiLighting DesignerHamburg In March 2020 I sent out our annual spring card and wrote: Dear friends, As the beginning of spring and our spring card coincide with the spread of the Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, I cannot send o…

Interviewer:笹本 明美 Sasamoto：I`d like to talk about something that I currently get into and why. Mende：I have several hobbies, but what I am into now is cooking.   Since the pandemic began last year, my wife and I have spent many long hours a…

Written by Acharawan ChutaratLighting DesignerBangkok There is still the bright side in every dark situation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.  At least, it has brought up opportunities for our friends of light to become closer…

Written by Lisbeth Skindbjerg Kristensen Lighting DesignerCopenhagen Since spring last year the pandemic has drastically changed our daily lives, and I, like many people, have had to work from a home office. My desk is by a window. Aft…

Because of the pandemic I have not set foot in another country since last February, 15 months ago. Up until then, I would freely go on two or three business trips a month. So, there is this dark feeling, a bit like imprisonment, creeping in…

Written by Ignacio ValeroLighting DesignerMadrid No doubt this is the best dynamic lighting event EVER…Tunable white plus dim to warm and RGBW sources, stunningly huge backlit panels providing a truly immersive experience, controlled by the…

Written by Kaoru Mende It has been 31 years since the start of the Lighting Detectives in August 1990.   We have also been connected to members around the world since the announcement of the Transnational Lighting Detectives 21 ye…

Interviewer:  Yonglin Ke Mende：Are we talking about childhood play today? Ke：Yes.  I have a sister, two years younger than me, and we used to play together all the time when we were younger. Mende：Did you play house? Ke：Yes.  We also played…

Interviewer: Yumeka Miyamae Miyamae：In the past year telework has really taken off, which has really changed how we live and work.  Today I`d like to talk about living and working in this new era with Covid 19. Mende：Yes, I`d like to hear y…

Interviewer: Reiko Kasai       (Mr. Mende’s Toilet Paper Theory at the beginning.) Mr, Mende has experienced an empty toilet paper holder twice since he established the LPA office and was extremely annoyed. ‘Who didn’t rep…

Interviewer: Junko Nagatomo Nagatomo：Today’s topic is the art of decluttering or living a minimalist lifestyle.  Decluttering is a thought process of yoga.  I didn’t know this, but in Japanese the three characters that make up t…

Interviewer: Xueying Piao Piao：Today I`d like to talk about patterns of a healthy lifestyle. Mende：Healthy life.  That is a heavy topic.  Why did you choose this topic? Piao：Health can be divided into two parts: mental and physica…

In the warm family picture painted by Yasujiro Ozu there are two types of natural light;  glaring, bright sunlight and the incandescent lamp, symbolic of a cozy family.  In the film, daytime scenes always seem very carefully calcu…

Interviewer: Satomi Yamaguchi Mende：So, today’s topic of conversation is “What is your favorite season of the year?” So… What is your favorite season of the year? Yamaguchi：Spring.  Especially early spring.  Plants a…

I ran across a manuscript from a series published in Housing Magazine 25 years ago.  There was no magazine title or published date, but for the series titled “From Screen/ I want to copy this interior design!”  I used to analyze…

Interviewer: Niken Wulandari Mende: Niken, do you like traveling? Niken: Yes, I do. I brought photos that I took from my trips, and we will talk about street lighting. I started to pay more attention to this since I did my thesis. During th…

I started writing this column about 22 years ago.  Detective Note number 000 was released on August 9th, 1998.   Since then there have been blank periods with no posts, but today I am writing number 80.   I have reread bits and pieces of th…

Interviewer: Jio Yeung Jio： I always wanted to become a video game designer, unfortunately I had to give up my dream.  I am just a beginner when it comes to design so I am looking forward to learning a lot from our talk today.&nbs…

Interviewer: Erina Hosono Hosono： This might be out of the blue, but the reason I wanted to become a lighting designer is because lighting helped get my chronic problems with sleeping under control. Whether it is narcolepsy or insomnia, I w…

Interviewer: Namiko Watanabe Watanabe：In terms of human interaction, I would like to talk about the generation gap between you and me, today. You and I have a lot in common and sometimes I even feel that our sense of value is similar. Mende…