The one thing you won’t catch Christian Zajicek doing when she gets home is flipping on a light switch. The Los Angeles-based photographer is an avid proponent of avoiding overhead lighting, famously known as “the big light.”
It’s a familiar take for members of Gen Z, who shy away from intense lighting for a softer, more moody variety. We caught up with Zajicek to discuss little light supremacy — and how to achieve it.
Weighing downsides of “the big light”
The most obvious downside of turning on the big light, according to Zajicek, is the brightness level, which can feel overstimulating.
“Most places don’t have dimmers built in, either — especially in my 120-year-old home, where not much has been updated,” she says. “So you don’t really have any control over how bright any of the lights are, and it’s just full blast overhead.”
She prefers multiple dim lights sprinkled throughout a space, including lamps, candles, and more.
Alternatives to the big light
The key to creating ideal lighting is having a combination of different shades and styles. Zajicek opts for groupings of remote-controlled candles, which operate on a timer. They switch on at sunset and add ambiance for a few hours before turning off automatically.
A range of thrifted lamps is also a must, from Japanese-style paper lamps and candle warmers to more ornate ones. “My favorite one is a three-headed gold chandelier-like lamp. It looks like if flowers were to wilt over and turn down, with a bunch of crystals hanging down from that,” she says.
While all of Zajicek’s lamps are different styles, many of them contain smart light bulbs that she can control with her phone, which eliminates the need to turn each one on individually.
Solving for a lack of outlets
Zajicek’s more than a century old home is filled with antique charm, from built-ins to wainscoting. What’s not so charming? A severe lack of outlets. “As many lamps as I have set up in here, I’ve got cords running down along baseboards keeping them lit,” she says.
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When she discovered Poplight, a battery-operated wall sconce that doesn’t require any wiring, she was hooked. She ordered a dusty rose-colored one to install over her clawfoot tub, where she often reads in the bath. She also ordered two sage green Poplights for her kitchen to illuminate two small gallery walls. “There’s never really a good place to put a lamp in your kitchen,” Zajicek says. “I knew I needed lighting in there, but the big light was so bright and atrocious. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to set up a plug-in lamp, so the Poplights worked out perfectly.”
Now, each room balances the amount of light it receives through a variety of lamps and candles both on the wall and off.
“Growing up, my parents always just flipped the light switch on. We always had the lights on in our house,” she says. “But I think my generation isn’t like that. It’s a newer thing, but people are realizing that they don’t enjoy the big light so much.”
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