Samurai

British Museum

***** The Times

This is a ravishing, riveting exhibition and if you come away anything less than awestruck, I shall nobly fall on my sword.

***** The Guardian

Japan’s lethal warrior class are shown in all their sexy, demonic glory

**** The Telegraph

‘The British Museum’s enthralling samurai exhibition blew my mind’

The lighting design for Samurai at the British Museum aimed to immerse the visitor in the world of the Samurai. With nearly 70 showcases and countless objects ranging from scrolls, to swords and helmets, to full sets of Samurai armour, each showcase and object required a custom approach to lighting both to respect strict conservation requirements and to ensure each object is seen at its best.

The first section explores the early wartime years of the Samurai. For this section we wanted to create an atmospheric and moody space, with flashes of bright red and dark pink, to coordinate with the large scale projections.

In the second section we move into the peace-time Samurai, with the design recreating a streetscape in Edo. Warm glowing fabric walls and enclosed pockets of softly lit objects in showcases give a serene and peaceful effect.

The final section explores the period after the abolition of the Samurai and the long lasting cultural impact they have had. Of particular interest here is the lighting of the Darth Vader costume: we opted to light it with a large floating cold white light box above, mirroring how the character is originally lit when he first appears in the Star Wars movies, and highlighting the deep gloss of the helmet and chest piece.