2053 – Crafting Beautiful and Functional Work Environments with Ben Rousseau

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1:05With us right now, it's Ben Rousseau. Ben, you are the owner, founder, and designer with Ben Rousseau Design. Your website is benrusseau.com. Ben, it's great to have you. Thank you for having me, Josh. Lovely to be here. Yeah. So what we want to talk about in particular, I guess today, is the impact of aesthetic and lighting in our workplaces. We want to talk about the work that you do. Obviously, this is something that, you know, to our friend that's listening, I think it's probably best that you go to Ben's website so you can kind of follow along because what we're talking about is very visual in nature.

1:46But Ben, can I have you kind of explain your superpowers and the impact you have to aesthetics everywhere? Thank you. Well, I use the beauty of lighting and amazing materials to create wonderful spaces that allow people to work well in their environment and focus on the things that they need to do in a positive way. So I am creating both decorative lighting, which allows them to relax and be calm and actually just focus on their work, take out the stress, but also add a level of beauty to an environment that means it's a nice place to work. People have an exciting time going into a workspace. They're proud to go into the workspace.

2:32So I work on many levels. So there's the creating the functional interior aspect of a space, which means that it functions well. It's good to work in whatever circumstance that is. But it also has a level of beauty that means it's a pleasure to be in that space. Yeah. All right. Give us a little bit of science of what's going on. A light is a light is a light is not true. I think most of us, you know, that have kind of geeked out on this topic a little bit are somewhat aware. But can you kind of go into what's going on here? For sure. There's a big thing with quality of light. So, you know, I was lucky to have five glorious years in California.

3:15and most of Americans will know the beauty of that rich, colourful, colour, colourful sky. And it's the light, the colour index that basically has a real depth and beauty to it where things look colourful, they look, they look healthy. And in the workplace, more often than not, you can have old lighting, fluorescent lighting, which is very flat, there's kind of, you imagine there's no soul to it so there's no life to it which makes things feel very gray and that's when people feel dull and stressed out and their work environment is not pleasant to be in so good quality lighting has a has a has a high color color index uh makes people feel good about themselves but you're not thinking about bad lighting sometimes you know it's good lighting is about making a space feel natural and it's like being outdoors and that's what we want to do with an environment when we're using lighting what I do is use multiple layers of lighting so not only do I make the space functional and feel great for the for the circumstances where that it's needed whether you're in a an office environment working at a desk or whether that's in something like a fitness space or let's say a yoga studio and the light levels need to be very different.

4:39We take consideration for the tasks, but we also use lighting to have a layer of beauty that most people wouldn't normally associate with a space. So lighting has the power to really transform the mind, make you feel calm and make you feel good about yourself. So it's incredibly important. Yeah. And if we could just take an aside too, if we think about, obviously lighting is critical for those of us who are doing business in person. But if you wouldn't mind, maybe just considerations for virtual workplaces, for maybe sales teams or other folks that are doing a lot of work virtually too. you know, again, I know this is a little bit of a diversion for you, but it's an area that I'm quite keen on or interested in.

5:30And that is, you know, lighting that makes us look good at our desks in front of computers. So it's both good for our well-being, you know, it's going to impact our mood in a great way, but it just looks better when we're doing business together. Or even, And, you know, I'm just wondering if you could talk about the very real practical impact, perhaps to a company's sales as a result of, I feel better when I see you on Zoom. Like, it looks like you guys have your stuff together. Or, again, if you have a client coming in person, it can absolutely move the needle on this stuff. Absolutely. Well, you know, 100%, you know, good lighting helps you dress yourself.

6:22It's as important as the clothes you wear, as the surroundings you put yourself in. I'm a designer that likes things to be that little more unusual, as in so I have this beautiful chair around me, which is playing with structure and form that can do different things of visual interest. You know, I want things to be striking. And but for someone who might be presenting on a daily basis, you do need a good light to your face. You don't want light above your head. So you get nasty kind of shadows under your eyes. There's a there's a real science to where you place your light, the temperature of light.

7:00So there is various depths of colour temperature, something in the range we call Kelvins. So if you imagine a warmer light is in the kind of 3000 kelvins area, something that's much cooler, which is almost like a white or blue light, more like 5000, 6000 kelvins. And I might use something more like that for showing off a beautiful handbag or in a museum where you want the focus to be on this one piece, but actually the lighting around it to be mainly pretty dark. So you're drawn into this piece. If someone was presenting, I would recommend some sort of warm light, which is actually closer to a daylight white, which is kind of around 3 ,500 Kelvin temperature mark, because there is nothing more beautiful than natural sunlight.

7:50So my personal setup today, I'm in a south-facing room, so the room is incredibly bright. I have an illuminated timepiece behind me, which is a thing of kind of detail. So I'm trying to block out a little bit of light still have some warmth on my face, and natural temperature on my face. So it's, you know, it's it's and it's deliberately allowing the color behind me to kind of elevate. So yeah, I recommend a warm temperature for your face, not an overhead light, something that's more casting an even glow apart, potentially either side left and right, about head height is good for you. Yeah. Do you mind sharing, Ben, a little bit about some of the work that you've done?

8:41Again, the best thing to do would be go to benrusso.com so you can actually see this. But, you know, for example, you know, obviously pertinent to this conversation, I'm looking at some of the commercial work that you've done. Wow. It is just something. I mean, this is these are the kind of environments to our friend that's listening. When you go in, it absolutely has the wow factor. Like if you've ever been into, you know, a bar, you know, you have some examples there and they're just, they're really just, I mean, just contemporary, beautiful, like just the kind of like stuff you'd see in some of the, you know, some of the most contemporary, you know, kind of more modern.

9:33But, you know, again, just kind of that, wow, this is a really, really classy, cool place. That's kind of my, you know, amateur view of looking at your portfolio here. Thank you. Well, what I deliberately have is quite a diverse body of work which shows more about the experience behind these spaces because when I'm using lighting in its kind of let's say professional and most powerful way I'm doing it to leave an experience so you use the word you went into one of these spaces you'd have the wow factor because that's exactly what I want people to do when they walk in and I'll use an example like the ice hotel I've created a room at the Ice Hotel in Arctic Sweden, which actually the Queen of Sweden stayed in.

10:25And the purpose behind it is to have this unbelievably beautiful experience, almost magical. And it's almost kind of has a level of fantasy about it where I'm illuminating the ice, making a room with a beautiful artistic story. and one of those rooms was about the Tron Legacy film. So it was kind of creating a set from the Tron Legacy movie, which was almost like making a room that felt like a spaceship. You have a bed that you sleep in with giant reindeer skins, but you're surrounded by this pulsing, beautiful light that kind of massages you in this. It's almost like being in this embryo of illumination and calm.

11:09and because it's so cold, it's an unbelievable experience. It's minus eight, but if you're in a room made of snow and ice with lighting and it feels like you're in a kind of fantasy, magical place. And if I'm designing a bar or a yoga studio, I want that level of experience where people can just go, wow, my mind is blown. And not in a way where it's hectic. it's in a way where it's like wow I've kind of feel like I've fallen asleep and woken up in heaven and my brain and my soul has been massaged and kind of tidied up and the good light has radiated through my body you know it kind of sounds a little extreme but it's it's about an experience and it really is creating this powerful kind of connection with a space so that you walk away as a guest thinking, wow, I really had an amazing experience.

12:06And that's what I want to do, whether it's a space, whether it's a piece of artwork like the clock on the wall behind me, I use lighting to give you people these amazing experiences. Yeah. Ben, I'm thinking of maybe something that our friend could do. Maybe they work in an office, maybe they work, a lot of folks might be, you know, founding a company and they might be in their home space or home office. What are some simple things you think that anyone could do that may potentially provide an upgrade to some of the less than ideal lighting environments that you think are quite common among those in those situations?

12:52For sure. So let's use a kind of more of a traditional, let's say office workspace, because most people, you know, whatever the tasks, having some sort of workspace, it's making sure that your overhead lighting, for instance, is of good quality. If you've got the long thin fluorescent bulbs, you know, I would replace them with something a little more friendly. So, and without making a big expense here, because we could add some layers of lighting, which could be like a table lamp, and it could be an overhead lamp behind and maybe some little lights on the floor. What what makes a nice space is multiple layers of lighting.

13:33So if you don't want to change a fixture in the ceiling, then you could add a few layers of lighting at different levels that give you a an additional layer of warmth to the and better quality to your lighting. And these pieces, they don't have to be expensive, but I would use the right temperature bulbs. So you're looking for, let's say a three and a half thousand Kelvin bulb. So I think that's a really nice warm temperature. It has somewhere between three and a half and four thousand is what we call daylight white. And it's a nice warm light. It's very clear for seeing task task tar. It's very good for task lighting.

14:15And I think multiple layers of lights that could stand high as high as a head height as well as some on the floor. And check your bulbs in the ceiling if you've got old halogen bulbs, maybe upgrade those for some LED bulbs use much less energy. So So you're being energy efficient. The color temperature, again, I would go for something around that 3 ,500, 4 ,000 Kelvin, which means it's a nice temperature. And the more you spend on a bulb that has its CRI, which is the color rendering index, means that the quality of light, something around 95, is a really good target CRI to have on your bulbs.

15:02Now, all this information will be written on the bulbs. The ones with the higher spec will certainly be a bit more costly, but they will give you a much better output. And the LED bulbs will last you a long time and save you money on your energy efficiency. So energy consumption, sorry. So I think that's a great investment for you. And actually, some people really just have no idea how bad their lighting is. Yeah. Check it. Check. I bet. All right, benrusso.com. We've got the link in the show notes, so you could directly click on that, take a look then at your work. And if someone is interested in engaging you or has questions, what would you recommend they do?

15:48I'd get in touch via my LinkedIn profile. I'm based in the UK. I work regularly out in the States. I'll be out in LA again next week. But my LinkedIn profile, I'm kind of on all times of the day and that's a good space for me there to book in a conversation. We can even do a Zoom call. Very happy to give you some kind of consultancy over what your space could do with improving and how some simple treatments could work up to something very flamboyant and extravagant that could really change your space and make it amazing. Yeah. All right. Ben Rousseau, again, you are the founder and CEO and call it an architect of light.

16:35Your website, again, benrusso.com. Ben, it's been a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me, Josh. Nice to be here.

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