At the beginning of October we closed the workshop for three days, packed two crates, and went to Design Paris. Our stand was small on purpose: four metres of pale plaster wall, a low bench in brushed brass, and very little on it. The light did the rest.

A room built out of shadow

A trade hall is flat and bright, and it asks every object to shout. We went the other way. One Aureole hung low above the bench, its beaten ring throwing a soft double edge across the plaster. A Nimbus sat at the near corner, cordless and warm, moving light over the surface like something carried in from another room. Behind the wall a concealed strip grazed the lime from floor to ceiling, so the plaster looked lit from within. Visitors slowed down before they understood why. Then they stopped, and stayed.

Three pieces and three days

We brought only what the shadow could hold:

• Aureole — the ring lamp, beaten, brushed and painted by hand, hung low enough for anyone to read the marks.
• Nimbus — our portable lamp, carried from bench to bench to show how light travels with you.
• Luna — on the end wall, where a plain surface turns golden at dusk and keeps that colour.

Three pieces turned out to be the right number. Architects arrived with plans rolled under their arms and asked about mounting depth and finish tolerance. Interior designers sat down on the bench and asked how long the patina takes. Students asked whether the ring is really beaten by hand; we said yes, and passed around the photographs of it on the bench. On the second evening, when the hall had half emptied, one visitor stood under that ring for a long while and told us we had made the ceiling disappear. It was the kindest thing anyone said to us all year.

We came home with a stack of cards and with something slower: the knowledge that our light behaves differently in a hall than in a room where somebody lives, and that only strangers' eyes will tell you how. Next October we will build the wall a little taller, hang the ring a little lower, and keep the shadow exactly as it was. A lamp is half made on the bench. The room finishes it.