Cutting-edge lighting from French designer Patrice Renaudot

I'm in the Faubourg Design showroom in Dubai, looking at Alysse, a series of slimline, transparent acrylic panels that have been delicately slotted together and infused with LED lights to create a stunning pendant lamp. Alysse is the brainchild of French designer Patrice Renaudot, whose Paris-based company Noegh specialises in unusual lighting and light-inspired furniture products.

The artistry of Renaudot's products can perhaps be attributed to his multifaceted academic background. The son of scientists, his first degree was in quality and production engineering; his second was in fashion design, which he studied at ESMOD in Paris. "This is an interesting background for industrial design," he admits.

While the engineering training means that Renaudot is well versed in key processes such as thermoforming, rotation moulding, metal spinning and CNC machining, and can thus oversee and manage the complete development of his lighting products, the fashion degree was also vitally important, he says.

"When you know how to create a complete and coherent collection, you can then translate your knowledge to other areas of design. It is easier for you to do this as your background is rich and widened in scope. Time is also important in fashion design. You have to follow a precise schedule, from the early stages of creation to the moment when the clothes are delivered to the stores."

Noegh was launched soon after Renaudot graduated from ESMOD and was born out of a specific interest in the potential of LED lighting. "When I started working on my own products, I wanted to create a collection of lighting and lighting furniture that would be very different to what was, and still is, available on the market," he says.

"Most lighting furniture is made of white opalescent shapes - squares, aower pots etc - with an LED light source inside. I wanted to use clear materials like glass and acrylic to design my furniture and I had to and a way to hide the LED components so that just the light beams would be visible inside the furniture, like abre optic sparkles. This work has led to a 6mm thick LED panel, where the light pattern is a regular matrix. This panel is then used as part of wall lights or furniture like bedside tables or coffee tables," he explains.

The first product that Renaudot created under the Noegh brand was Kioob, a transparent "mood lighting table" that was designed to be placed next to a sofa or a bed. However, Renaudot quickly learnt that his unusual creations were open to interpretation.

"Some people managing nightclubs or restaurants saw it as a stool. So I realised that people won't necessarily see my night table the same way I designed it. I cannot make people think it is a table or use it as a table. So, as a designer I have to ask myself whether it is strong enough to be used as a stool."

With Kioob, Renaudot adopted the straight lines, matrices, rectangles, cubes and squares that would become the hallmarks of his work. However, he realised that this lent his products a decidedly masculine feel, which he now tries to counteract by experimenting with pattern and volume. For Alysse, for example, he consciously tried to create a more feminine aesthetic by arranging his geometric panels in the shape of a four-petalled flower.