Wästberg

In close collaboration with leading architects and designers, Wästberg creates long-lasting, technologically driven, economically viable and environmentally conscious lighting. Lighting that answers to fundamental human needs, both physical and emotional, and adapts to these needs as they evolve and shift.

In our 2008 manifesto Lamps for Neanderthal Man, we pointed out man’s primitive relationship to light in the form of fire. For more than a million years, fire was our only artificial light source. It frightened off wild animals, brought us together, kept us warm and made us feel safe. Above all, it was a light source that we could keep close, that we could control.

Electric light has been around for little more than a century – a blink of an eye in comparison with human evolution. Today, we find ourselves trying to tame our primitive needs to meet the demands of a modern, high-tech world, where light has more or less become a world of electronics. In our overly-lit spaces – created under the mistaken notion that more light equals greater productivity – we feel exposed, small, with nowhere to go.

We believe in creating modern-day fires. Light should shine for us, not on us.

We also believe in lighting that answers to fundamental human needs. The need to be able to see, read and write, but also to reflect, envision and imagine. The need to be a part of a dynamic social context, but also to be able to withdraw to a personal sphere of familiarity and safety.

Technology and innovation are at the heart of what we do and are crucial to providing good light. However, we understand that what’s technically possible is not always humanly preferable. To us, true innovation means making the effort to find the best solutions, putting equal effort into both the measurable and the immeasurable.