Vailly + Jansen: Crystallized Light

‘Color of the Day,’ a series of lights by designers Thomas Vailly and Laura Lynn Jansen, is a caleidoscope of colours created by layering different materials between two optical filters. The series is centred around light and time with a palette of colour changing throughout the day.

“We became fascinated by the natural process of polarization of light and the amazing colours produced when polarized light goes through transparent material,” Thomas Vailly explains. “This effect is well known and is used in various products around us, in LCD screens, for example. The vikings used to find their direction in the open sea by finding the sun behind a layer of clouds using a naturally polarized crystal.”

“Polarizer is also used during the manufacturing of glass to identify stress or weakness in glass. The first time we encountered the effect was while working with a glass blower. He had a machine to see if the glass was well-manufactured. You place transparent glass piece between two polarized filters and colour appears where there is still tension in the glass. That was the beginning of a one-year research for us.”

In their research and design process, Vailly + Jansen often collaborate with scientists from various fields. In ‘Color of the Day,’ they worked with Tiemen Cocquyt from Museum Boerhaave Leinden in the Netherlands to understand why certain polymers produce earthy and subtle shades and some others flashy colours. Even though the first discovery of the phenomenon happened in glass, the designer duo eventually used different layers of polymer.

“It is all about layering the right material,” Vailly concludes. “Our work has really been to find the perfect material combination and angles to reveal an intriguing colour palette. We also really love the texture given by the polymer. It gives a lot of depth to the effect.”

French-born Thomas Vailly and Dutch-born Laura Lynn Jansen work as designers individually and together as Vailly + Jansen. The collaborations are based on their complementary approaches and views on product and interior design. Both have graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven, but Vailly also has a background in mechanic engineering studies, whereas has a passion to the poetics of design. The signature of their collaboration is a great attention paid to natural phenomena.

In September 2015, Vailly + Jansen were chosen to exhibit at Maison & Objet Paris at Talents à la Carte, a platform for promising new designers and design agencies, and were invited to exhibit at Crafts Council Nederland exhibition at Dutch Design Week in October 2015. In 2013, together with Itay Ohaly and Christian Fiebig, Vailly was also awarded with the Frame Moooi Interior Design Award. •