According to Aristotle, light coincides with the fifth element, ether, an eternal evanescent and fluid matter that surrounds all bodies whose contingent consistency is given by the four traditional elements: earth, water, air and fire.
Light is the basis of animate and inanimate physical being.
2004. GRAU is an interdisciplinary team of 150 creative talents, led by artist duo Timon and Melchior Grau.
Timon and Melchior (who are also brothers) have been working together as artists for 13 years. After studying economics, they studied art with artist Ai Weiwei and graduated from the renowned Städelschule. In 2023, they were named one of the AD Top 100 most influential designers.
Timon and Melchior give material form to the Aristotelian philosophical concept through the creation of lamps that are both art and design, but above all enlightened expressions of human feelings.
Lamps that become vectors of the senses, amplifiers of the same.
Their goal is to give people a deep experience of light and to connect them with their light make them happier.
The Greek term phos originally indicates not only light as a means of seeing but also the light that emanates the truth achieved through knowledge.
What is light for you?
Light to us is a medium of hope, an urge for peace and a call for people to come closer together. Light is able to create community as it shapes the space in between all of us. In this sense, light is a pure form of context, it colors our relationships to the world and determines how we experience our surroundings.
And what is GRAU?
GRAU is a disruptive light brand that creates meaningful products bridging art, design and tech. Our Mission at GRAU is to transform our relationship to light towards a more sensual and mindful light experience. We believe that light can play a significant role for people’s wellbeing and inner peace.
Aristotle first developed a concept of light which, despite its apparent immateriality, is the foundation of the corporeality of the universe. Light coincides with the fifth element, ether. I find the Aristotelian reflection splendidly expressed in your lamps.
How, in practice, do you transform something immaterial into a material object?
Thank you for this question and observation, it meets our aim to address the spiritual dimensions of lights. Our light devices create sensual experiences that are hard to describe with words. A magical sunset is not the same in a photograph or description, it is fully there for you, connecting you with that moment.
Our collaboration started through abstract expressive painting. The way we design light today is influenced by our painting background. There is a lot of technology involved, but at the end it is about the confidence in taste. It’s about grasping the feel of color, gesture and movement. The sculptural development of the light source and the creation of the essential light experience are inseparable to us.
After graduating in Economics you studied art together with the artist-architect Ai Weiwei, among others. You worked as artists for the next thirteen years then. How much and how does your artistic past influence the creative and development process of your lamps?
Everything we believe in as artists manifests in our work. We collaborate, because we strongly believe in building bridges between people, between disciplines and across time. We are interested in spaces outside the art institutions and the design of products is a key element of our practice, as it allows us to bring contemplative experiences into peoples homes.
Design is also art. Noteworthy are Fire Interface, the sculpture presented at Portikus in Frankfurt in 2021 and Bonfire presented at the Bergen Assembly Triennial in Bergen in 2022. What did these two moments represent for you and your career?
Fire Interface at Portikus was our graduation work at Städelschule. It started the ongoing research on the element of Fire and how light creates social environments.
Presented at the Bergen Assembly Triennale 2022 and exhibited at FRAC Champagne-Ardenneas well as Kunsthaus Hamburg in 2023, the expressive Bonfire sculpture immerses visitors into a dynamic light composition and creates a social space of contemplation.
The 2.5-meter-high Bonfire takes the shape of a large-scale pile of matches, built from raw aluminum pipes. A 10 minute light composition by GRAU plays on the 20 light sources made out of mouth blown glass, transforming the vibe of the entire space.
Timon and Melchior, you are brothers and work together. How much does being brothers influence your work? Is it a compensatory relationship that places you on different positions or a symbiotic relationship that leads you to do absolutely everything together?
We share an ongoing dialogue that drives us forward for 15 years now. We are clear and united in our vision, in this regard fully symbiotic. On a daily basis, we split up on focus points and then always align back together.
Light helps activate the feelings of human beings. The Sun Collection/Fire light player, your latest one, becomes in this sense a natural vector of that principle.
Tell us something more.
Fire is the world’s first light player with moving light compositions. It reinvents the experience of light by introducing light as a dynamic emotional source. Users can click and dim through precisely composed Vibes, the first songs of light. Fire sets the light and the room in motion at the touch of a button.
Further, Fire enables a blue-free light, which allows for healthy melatonin release and a calming effect on the body and mind. With a 30 minute timer, Fire gently accompanies you to sleep.
I already told you that looking at the photographic campaign that accompanies the collection I imagined the informal abstract landscapes of Mark Rothko, the more relaxing ones.
Who is your favorite artist?
Rothko is an important reference to us, as he championed the nuances of a contemplative experience of light and color. When we developed the light compositions for Fire, we often pulled out one of our Rothko books in the studio.
There are many other great artists to name. Jeff Koons is one of them. By using products as a core medium of our practise, we are following in the tradition of pop art. We believe that our art should be used, it should inspire, provoke change and integrate into people’s lives.
