Awe, the feeling of encountering something greater or more powerful, has been explored in design and the arts. However, the potential of creating awe through the interplay of light and textiles remains underexplored. While the possibilities are vast, the precise tuning of their respective qualities to elicit a sense of awe over time have yet to be thoroughly investigated. This project aims at creating a light sculpture that elicits a visual awe experience by experimenting with interactions between the material organza and lighting.
To start and give direction to the project, the Material Driven Design (MDD) method was used. Moreover, a literature review about awe, organza, light and light-material interactions was carried out. Besides, three separate experiments were conducted involving 22 participants in order to find which variables of organza and lighting would elicit what emotions, what rate of a visual awe experience and what meanings/associations by using an adapted version of the Experiential Characterization toolkit from the MDD method.
The results of the three experiments showed that high-intensity red and blue lighting colours, a hole-patterned organza construction and the room's lighting turned off elicits the highest rating of the awe experience.
The final light sculpture – made from organza with circular patterned holes, high-intensity red and blue lighting and projections of storytelling dynamic light textures – elicits a visual awe experience of different intensities during one loop of three light textures.
The process of designing this installation serves as a case study demonstrating how the interplay of light and organza can evoke awe and enhance people's experiences, potentially leading to benefits such as increased state of focused attention and awareness on the present moment and improved psychological well-being.