… were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.

~ tanizaki jun’ichiro, from his classic work, “In Praise of Shadows”

To truly appreciate light, we must let darkness into the picture. I’ve previously shared the poetry of shadows and silhouettes in architecture. Good designers understand the need for a building to exist with a sublime balance of light and shadow. Today, we focus on the home, the place where we spend a big part of our lives, where memories are forged and where we furnish it with objects we love. Here, shadows should also have a place, not merely to remind us of the presence of light but also to add dimensions and depth, and thus add visual interest to walls, nooks and corners and objects. When darkness is allowed to have a voice, they can help create a mood, much as the silence between the lines helps make a poem.