Home cocooning might sound like a strange phrase, but this term emerged from IMM Cologne, one of Germany’s most prominent international furniture fairs. It describes how one’s home has evolved from domestic to multifunctional due to the pandemic.


German lighting brand Oligo has been designing for this cocooning shift since 2018. Last year, it introduced an intelligent lighting collection called Slack-Line that maximises artificial light in our homes with its plug-and-play collection. Brand CEO Thomas Dulas explains.

Artificial lighting today: how important is it?

Light promotes mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Poor lighting and inconsistent lighting quality can also lead to sickness and disease. As homing cocooning became more relevant for everyone because of the pandemic, good quality lighting is crucial to meet the needs of our homes today.

Since our homes have changed from purely domestic spaces to multifunctional spaces these days, how have our lighting requirements changed?

The shift has resulted in a greater demand for flexible lighting. In cities where people don’t have much living space and don’t have a garden or other recreational area, it is essential to make their homes easier to use.

Due to the pandemic, there have been additional functions in homes, such as a home office, a relaxation area, social dining, kids’ learning and playing, and more. All require radically different lighting.

“Before Covid, we catered to these needs with a one-size-fits-all solution. That has changed now.”

What is the best way to choose artificial light?

It’s all about light planning first! In South-east Asia, most homes are over-fitted with excessive ceiling lights, causing significant discomfort and damaging our eyes.


A good lighting plan can help you save money, provide flexibility, and enhance the aesthetics of your home. Use fewer light sources with quality, durable, and sustainable products while maintaining the proper requirements, whether ambient, accent or task lighting.


Second, choose the right lights. Do not choose lights based on price alone, and do not use inferior fittings with a short product life cycle. Both of these lead to waste, disruption, and inconvenience.


Finally, invest in intelligent lighting. The latest LED technology saves energy. To avoid unnecessarily walking over to the switch, look for features such as dimming and remote control.


Oligo provides our customers with fully integrated gesture control, touch dimmers, and standard connectivity to every smart home or mobile application. We can create a more comfortable living environment for ourselves and our loved ones through better planning, consideration and selection of lighting.

What is the biggest mistake homeowners make when choosing artificial lights?

Installing a light source where it is unnecessary and not adjusting the intensity. Now is the time to design flexible lighting. At Oligo, we believe in functional purity. People should be able to touch and feel our lighting.

Tell us about some of Oligo’s groundbreaking technologies.

Our newest, Slack-Line, is our answer to the need for flexibility. It provides a bright space for working and a romantic candlelight atmosphere.

With Slack-Line lights, you can adjust the height, dim, change the colour from warm to cool, and arrange them in any design you want. With analogue switches, our mobile app, and gestures detected by the embedded sensor, you can control them. It is your light butler.

What are some of your favourite Oligo lighting fixtures?

Currently, I prefer the Kendo combined with a Nova M from the Slack-Line series, which is above my dining table in my house. Kendo gives me excellent working light during the day, and then I dim it and change the colour to create the perfect dining setting at night.


When our family adjourns to the sofa after dinner, I set the Nova to the dimmest setting and the warmest colour to make it look like a full moon floating above the dining table. This setting makes drinking red wine more enjoyable.

What are the benefits of Oligo’s rail system?

 
Compared to the built-in versions, the modern rail system offers many advantages. Our Smart Track adapters allow you to attach the lights anywhere you like. You can also detach and attach them to another part of the rail in seconds.

They also provide gallery-grade lighting quality, and you can put a spotlight on artworks or pictures on the wall, reducing glare in the living area and so on – completely flexible! Our Smart.IQ system allows you to dim and switch each light individually, saving you money on wiring and dimmer costs.

What effect do you think this line has on people?

South-east Asia is more likely to favour the Slack-Line. Lighting has never been more human-centric. This revolutionary innovation changes everything.

Grace Floor Lamp, one of the bestsellers in Asia.
Oligo is available in Singapore at P5 Studio. Visit www.oligo.de and www.p5studio.com.sg for more information.