Innovative design concepts for automotive lighting
Philippe Gourdon, Drawing with light
As Philippe Gourdon, product designer, says, “Light is a passion, an inspiration, a must in the world of creation.” Light has led and guided him in 15 years of luminous creation for several European companies.
When Alcan asked him to come up with some new windows, he strove to follow light’s natural movements: no more straight angles but curves instead to soften shapes in harmony with the incoming light.
He was the first to develop a recessed mural light, with a simple poetic glass sheet laid on the bulb. The very first light structure to follow architectural curves. He also introduced the first collection of interchangeable recessed lights, the first double-light desk lamp and the first mobile garden floor lamp.
Light also inspired him in 1999, when he created a new concept of eyeglasses for Eyers, in which he toyed with graphic images centered on vision. Light is a major source of inspiration for Philippe Gourdon. His recent research into new interior lighting concepts for the automobile industry has already been applied to some Renault and Citroën concept cars. Interchangeable fixtures giving off a cosier, coloured light will soon replace the traditional rectangular lamps in most of our cars.
Among his rewards, Gourdon was nominated for the Compasso d’Oro in Milan and appeared in the “mutant” materials exhibit at the MOMA in New York. His work is on permanent display at the Pompidou Center in Paris. He was awarded the first prize at the “Freeway Light Fixtures” contest at Eurodisney as well as silver and gold lamps at the International Light Fair in Paris.
AND SO, LET THERE BE LIGHT! AND THERE WAS!
A LUMINOUS MESSAGE.
Sophie Razon