Black & White Interiors and Lighting Design

Interior designers have long worked with black and white. Designers don’t see opposites. They see complements, partners, and pairs.

Black is the presence of all colors. It embraces and consumes. It draws the eye and makes a bold statement. Black commands attention.

So, designers will use black discretely and selectively. They want it to accent and call attention without taking over.

Designers will use it in horizontals, stripes, and in a range of dark to subtle grays.

White expands a space and calms the residents. It’s clean and timeless. White may be a non-color, but it presents a canvas for so much more. With white, everything else pops out.

You can move colors in and out, reshaping and redesigning at will. White creates a resilient and flexible world that proves timeless.

White is a commitment to light and space against which you can place and play other colors. This absence of color presents a universal opportunity for subtle or bold design elements. It’s a perfect backdrop that outlasts other fads.

Your use of white invites a contemporary energy. Or, with a touch of black and crystal, your white interior pushes towards the classic and formal.

A lighting fixture like Talin, for example, has a rustic vibe recalling Georgian lanterns and candlelit interiors. Clean lines in acid-washed black metal and clear glass cylinders are modern and minimal.

The metal stems and branches are sleekly black, modern, and functional. But, the same elements add grace and nostalgia for something vintage. Some 32-inches across and 40-inches high, it brings interest to a white-on-white world.

Short glass hurricane cylinders shelter 40-watt flame-shaped bulbs. The black metal joints and angles are so slim, you are left with the impression of white light floating amid other whites and grays. 

The Rhome light fixture seems willfully different. It is purely functional in one sense. But, it challenges you and your guests to study and discuss its architecture. This chandelier is an art form, a floating sculpture, apparently aimless in posture.

Rhome stretches 44-inches long, 30-inches wide, and 23-inches high. It combines industrial and crafts era elements into a clearly contemporary dynamic.

The long thin acid-washed black metal arms link with industrial hinges. And, each arm magically supports small 40-watt bulbs in enormous clear glass globes.

The crystal shares and multiplies the illumination across this mobile fixture to dominate a white room with even more light and engage residents and guests. This fixture never gets old.

Light is white, so you can’t go wrong if you emphasize the glass and light to optimize the minimalist black metal structure. Both the Talen and Rhome play white on black to present a contemporary impression and memory.