CONVERSATION PIECE
Wallpaper gets lit
November 3, 2009
Vicky Sanderson
SPECIAL TO YOURHOME.CA
Even design dunderheads know that wallpaper is in these days. At the same time, accent lighting is becoming an increasingly important decor element. Which leads style savants to ask, of course, if light is the new paint.
While they ponder the point, we think we may have discovered the two trends colliding to create the Next Big Thing in wall treatments.
Swedish designer Camilla Diedrich, whose works ranges from experimentation with historical printing techniques to wall-art homage to the exceptionally original fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, has brought paper and light together.
Her "light wallpaper" (which retails for about $240 US) has a vinyl surface embossed with a material that glows when connected to a power source. It can be linked to a light timer, so that it self-illuminates at certain times of day or when light levels fall below a certain point.
Dietrich says that if the panel is switched on for five hours every day, it would burn out after about 13 years, by which time the design world will have long moved on.
Read more Conversation Pieces and check out Vicky's On the House blog.
thestar.com