{"id":76346,"date":"2025-12-16T09:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webdev.santacole.com\/?post_type=story&p=76346"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:11:26","slug":"contemplative-serenity-shiro-antoni-arola","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/story\/contemplative-serenity-shiro-antoni-arola\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemplative Serenity \u2014 Shiro, Antoni Arola"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Contemplative Serenity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shiro, Antoni Arola<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Introducing Shiro, a design by Antoni Arola from 1998. Shiro, which translates as \u201cwhite\u201d in Japanese, carries deep significance in the country\u2019s philosophical tradition, evoking emptiness, honor, purity, and calm. Far from simply being the absence of color, Shiro represents a void brimming with potential, an expression of contained energy. A spiritual openness that invites contemplation and discovery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Designed for both indoor and outdoor settings, this lamp draws inspiration from the delicate relationship between nature and the architecture of \u201cyukimi shoji\u201d, traditional Japanese sliding panels that, from the intimacy of the interior, evoke the presence of the outside world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Takeji Iwamiya, Daitoku-ji, Kyoto (atrib.), c. 1950s. \u00a9 Estate of Takeji Iwamiya.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Shiro\u2019s rational, refined structure doesn\u2019t confine but filters light through slats arranged in a cubic form. The result is a soft, grazing illumination that opens a suspended moment between inside and out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe contrast with the shapes of the plants led me to design a very rational, clean object: a cube made of louvers. The influence of traditional Japanese architecture is clearly present. They are, after all, true masters of the relationship between architecture and the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoni Arola<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Shiro<\/h3><\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Shiro<\/h3><\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Shiro<\/h3><\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Shiro 17 Alta<\/h3><\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Shiro 17 interior<\/h3><\/a>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Antoni Arola<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Born in Tarragona in 1960 and trained at Barcelona\u2019s Eina School of Design, Antoni Arola\u2014recipient of Spain\u2019s National Design Award in 2003\u2014is one of the most influential voices in contemporary Spanish design. His intuitive approach has allowed him to move seamlessly between designing perfume bottles, lighting pieces, and large-scale interiors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After working with established names like Lievore, Pensi, and the AD studio, he founded Estudi Arola in 1994 and began exploring lighting with a hands-on, experimental mindset\u2014one where craftsmanship takes precedence over industry. Arola sees light as a sensitive material, somewhere between the physical and the emotional. His work weaves together space, temperature, rhythm, and atmosphere with technical rigor and poetic intent. \u201cThe designer is just a catalyst,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything is in the air. You just have to make it real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than objects, his lamps create spaces you can inhabit\u2014environments where light and architecture are one and the same. It\u2019s a kind of mastery that goes beyond form, shaping what the naked eye can\u2019t see into tangible experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arola draws from faraway cultures\u2014African, Japanese\u2014finding symbols and ways of life that become visual language. His outlook is shaped by a sculptor\u2019s hand, a love of drawing, and a constant conversation with contemporary art. He designs the way one observes: with depth, focus, and a kind of spiritual curiosity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We tailor our products to meet the needs of your project.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n Get in touch <\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introducing Shiro, a design by Antoni Arola from 1998. Shiro, which translates as \u201cwhite\u201d in Japanese, carries deep significance in the country\u2019s philosophical tradition, evoking emptiness, honor, purity, and calm. Far from simply being the absence of color, Shiro represents a void brimming with potential, an expression of contained energy. A spiritual openness that invites […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":120152,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"story-category":[1621],"class_list":["post-76346","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","story-category-campaign","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/76346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"story-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.santacole.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story-category?post=76346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}