The often contoversial but never boring husband and wife team of Max and Angela von Barnholt have never been afraid to air their opinions about what they consider to be good - or bad - lighting design. We talked to the Gordon Ramsays of the lighting design world about their schemes and their ideals...

VBK are an award winning independent lighting consultancy currently working on projects in the UK, Italy, France, Spain, and the US. Previous work ranges from Museums, Galleries, Restaurants, Commercial and Residential. Founded by Max and Angela von Barnholt in 1997 their work encompasses museums and galleries, utilities, restaurants, and commercial projects. Both from artistic backgrounds they approach design with aesthetic as a lead, but are keen to stress that practicality as well as the application of technical knowledge is the key to a successful scheme.

Their overriding belief is that light be anonymous, sacrificing its identity to benefit the subject being represented, whether that be architecture, exhibits or merchandise. Max comments,"The very purpose of applying light is to appreciate other forms and perform other tasks. Light is a facilitator, and if we are allowed to be creative while satisfying that function, then, the consultants role becomes more design led. That is where the joy comes into the job, but nevertheless we must not forget that the primary function we are called upon to fulfil is providing objective improvements to the built environment. When one gets carried away with applying light as an art form, not only do we forget that prime objective, but I would argue that our built environment is tarnished."

Max von Barnholt, lead designer and director, prefers to get involved in the architectural process at an early stage of a project in order to affect changes to the fit-out design as this can assist in the concealment of lighting hardware. "We tend not to use much in the way of factored products unless accent lighting is required. Instead we prefer to incorporate lamp sources within bespoke structures, or into the fabric of the building. Cold cathode, xenon, fibres, LEDs; all great for our style of design, easy to conceal and very discreet. We are currently designing two galleries for Stained Glass at the V & A Museum where the positioning of the exhibits and the design of the structures in which they are mounted have been governed by the lighting needs. The dynamism of natural lighting conditions which benefits stained glass will be achieved by exposing the exhibits to daylight, while supplementary lighting has been integrated into the frames of the exhibits. All anyone will see in the way of light fittings will be a few spotlights at high level to pick up graphics."

Whether initiating extensive groundworks in order to bury banks of floodlights beneath the ground in Suffolk; building out walls to create lightboxes; or digging into a Spanish mountain to provide a projection booth for fibre optic projectors, VBK make people work all in the name of concealment.

"Working with clients and designers who are sensitive to this approach is a joy - yes it takes more time and effort, and because of that it can be difficult to get everyone signed up to working that way but 'quick and easy' rarely results in anything worthwhile. Our projects are invariably contemporary so thankfully our clients have similar sensibilities. On one residential project with a product value over £100K we only have three downlights - and I was pissed off about it."

Although Max is resistant to decorative features being dominant where not applicable, if decorative elements are requested by a client he will happily incorporate them into the scheme but they are elevated to a point of drama: "If a client wants to spend energy on decorative lights then we feel there is no use being apologetic about them - stick something huge or dramatic in - like our infamous 'Fucking Beautiful' neon at the Groucho Club, or the 6 metre diameter bespoke chandelier made up from kitchen utensils. We are, I freely admit, fairly anal when it comes to architectural lighting but when we let our hair down we let it all the way down!"

One subject on which VBK get tetchy is the overuse of applied colour and kinetics to buildings. "It's a disease, a contagion which has already infected most designers in the UK, and now it threatens to spread - it's a bloody pandemic. It is not just architecture - I was taken to a restaurant last month by a client and the lighting kept changing colour. One minute I'm eating scallops and squid, the next thing I know they have morphed into pureed spinach and onion rings! Funky restaurant but did any of us know what we were actually eating?" Max believes many lighting schemes hijack the building they were called upon to serve, though he does not deny that there are good examples of colour in floodlighting: "The Lloyds building was great; but it could afford to be overly dramatic in its use of colour as it is not sitting next to residences. People tried to emulate the Lloyds lighting without being sensitive to local environments."

www.vbklighting.com