Magnus Wästberg has been a part of the Swedish lighting business for many years. But for most people he is still a rookie as he launches his own brand Wästberg. When speaking at Light Now he took the opportunity to tell everyone about his way of looking at light design; In the past we used to light a candle or one single source of light in the room where you were.

Today we try to light the complete surroundings. This new behaviour sweeps away every dimension and all possible shadows that play a very important role in real good light design. He even quoted the Swedish writer August Strindberg by saying “Electric light will make people work themselves to death”. From Magnus Wästberg’s point of view we over illuminate our surroundings. We need to rethink the way of using light. He wants to use today’s fantastic technologies and mix it with the old way of looking at lighting.

One of Wästberg’s designers for the first lines of his own brand is James Irvine, who joined him on stage to talk about light design, and of course the new products that will be launched at Stockholm International Fairs this week. Actually this was almost the first time the two of them met in real life. Only two hours earlier they had lunch and shook hands for the first time. Irvine revealed his excitement for working with a not established producer and having much more freedom in his expressions than he is used to. He expressed his feelings by saying: “By this assignment I got the opportunity to make exactly the lamp I’ve always wanted to do”. Wästberg launches his new brand and four entire new lines at the same time – all designed by really esteemed designers. Beside James Irvine there are also Ilse Crawford, Jean-Marie Massaud and the Swedish design team Claesson Koivisto Rune. Magnus Wästberg also reveals that most of the connections that have made this great investment possible are a result of being part of and networking at FutureDesignDays.