A mood-boosting lightwork comes to Montcalm East
By Tom Howells
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London’s Montcalm Collection is not your average, homogenous group of hotels. Each of the luxe boltholes evokes a different part of the city’s character, being variously located in 18th-century brewery buildings, Georgian townhouses and the former HQ of the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society (among other auspicious enclaves).
Montcalm East in Shoreditch might be the most aesthetically alluring of the bunch – housed in a diamond-shaped skyscraper (a nod to the work of the op art doyenne Bridget Riley) and drawing inspiration from the photo studios of east London, further bolstered by the fully functioning in-house photo lab.
The creative spirit shines on in ‘Sunday Light’. Debuting at this year’s Festival, the ambient installation, with shades of the luminous mega-interventions of James Turrell, was created by the RCA graduates Nat Martin and Sean Hammett. The effect, they explain, is that of a brilliant blue sky on a sunny day, featuring a wildly bright LED that produces more than 30,000 lumens, providing a sunlight-style uptick in energy and mood to those around it (assuaging the serene vibes of the airy Marlowe restaurant in which it is located).
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"As we approach the autumn solstice, with shorter days and longer nights, it’s the perfect time to explore how light influences our mood,” says Samantha van Exter, head of hotels at the Montcalm Collection. “'Sunday Light' uniquely demonstrates how thoughtful engineering and design can uplift and counter those seasonal effects."
Still in the dark? A complementary panel discussion on the evening of 19 September will answer any burning questions. Chaired by Katherine Templar Lewis of Kinda Studios and featuring Martin, Hammett, Christina Friis Blach Petersen of the lighting designers Lys Technologies and the artist/curator Alex Czetwertynski, the talk will clarify how light positively affects our physiology, its multifaceted uses in art and what exactly ‘good’ light is. Bright ideas, all.
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