Light Is Somehow Perhaps My Destiny

Answers for Ona magazine, November 2024.

On the love of little lights

On the path to business

Light is somehow my destiny… For over 20 years I enjoyed explaining the Allegory of the Cave to my students, and when I decided to leave school, which was an immensely important and difficult decision for me, I first rehearsed a play with my colleagues in our Vánoční dvůr (Christmas Courtyard). Perhaps I was simply transferring my need into public space, but I soon understood that it was not enough. So my first steps were rather intuitive. Surprisingly, a willingness to listen and a certain measure of empathy proved a good foundation for business skills. Last year I started recording a podcast about public lighting with interesting figures from public life, bearing the telling name “V dobrém světle” (“In a Good Light”).

On family

My husband and I founded the company years ago, but at first it was he who literally built it from a garage. I helped him in every way I could, but I joined full-time in 2013, after leaving school. Our son helped too: at 15 he set up one of the first e-shops, and later he set off for China to find our supplier. He joined full-time after finishing university. In 2022 we were honoured in the category of small and medium-sized family businesses. Today my son and I are looking for a balance between further challenges and opportunities, ideas and numbers, strategy and perception.

On the biggest (or most interesting) installation

If I had to answer which installation I consider the most interesting, I would gladly say: the one that is still waiting for me. Bringing ideas to life and creating something new is in fact an inner need that draws me and then makes me forget all the worries that come with it. Even last year it never occurred to me how beautiful Sisi and her story told through light could be… Of course, all the exceptional installations with a strong story are interesting, but the one that fills my heart is the one at home, where everything has to work in a live broadcast in front of the whole nation. I will carry with me for ever the beautiful moment of snow-covered Old Town Square and the shared countdown. The pathos of a moment when one becomes aware of the machinery of history, of the temporal and the eternal.

On creativity (inspiration from fairy tales, etc.)

I am a lyricist by nature, and the need for shorthand and metaphor has stayed with me; that is why we let the lights tell stories, and why I try to bring our stories closer through the eyes of fairy tales. I try to apply the rules of artistic creation in our production too, and in the other activities that are gradually developing. In their design, our products come close to art. Our light exhibitions, like our decorations, have the ability not only to illuminate but also to tell a story.

On the relationship to ecology

Today almost no field of human activity can develop without technological innovation, but form cannot replace content. Technology helps us to be considerate towards the environment and also to make processes in the company more efficient. On the other hand, in public space I encounter a certain hypocrisy, whether it concerns light pollution, energy efficiency or our relationship to the environment in general. We often proceed eclectically, in a piecemeal way and sometimes in a so-called “correct” manner, without pursuing genuine consideration. I am convinced that our relationship to nature is, at root, metaphysical.

On crisis (if one ever occurred) or complications

In business, the ability to decide and to take responsibility for one’s decisions is important. Yes, as in life. But responsibility for others does not allow hesitation; it requires a willingness to accept uncertainty about decisions that may not turn out to be right, but that must be made. That is how I accept crises too; they are opportunities. Today I truly give thanks for many of them in my life. Perhaps without them I would think differently about the world and about life. That is how I see the consequences of the Covid and energy crises as well.

On competition

I admit that I was pleased when we exhibited at an international trade fair and, alongside multinational players, caught attention precisely through a certain poetry. Personally, I meet many wonderful people here, and I think that a certain creativity of varied origin is proverbial for us Czechs. We do not have the support our competitors enjoy around the world, for example subsidies for technology development, but perhaps for that very reason we manage to capture people’s interest. The more light exhibitions we switch on across Europe, the more I encounter a different reception: gratitude, often pride, the support of towns…

On further goals

That awakens further dreams in me, but on the other hand I realise that with creativity one must also change the business model; at the moment we are going through somewhat painful growth and its consequences. But I increasingly confirm for myself that everything comes down to a decision, or rather, as in life, everything is up to us.

On relaxation (or other activities that fulfil you)

Paradoxically, I prefer to rest actively, through sport, even though one of the fundamental mistakes, the belief that after leaving school I would finally have time for all my interests, really does not allow me much fulfilment. I like to swim whenever I can, I ride a Harley-Davidson motorbike, ski and cycle, I love concerts and theatre, I like to read, keep studying and write, now and then I take out the guitar that I once studied, and of course I like to spend time with my family. Every day, since I do not distinguish much between days, I try to make it a celebration for me for some small reason.

On Christmas decorations at your home

I have always loved Christmas with all its traditions, and today I am happy when we light up everything where it awaits us, and then I rather quietly observe that it is coming to me too. But despite it all, when we light up Old Town Square and the Prague trams set off, I bring the candlesticks down from the attic to the windows and slowly look around to see what novelties we actually have this year. I like minimalist decoration, a play of different materials and unusual combinations. Today I also prefer decoration that needs no tidying away, but the scent of pine needles must not be missing. Increasingly, though, what I treasure most are meetings, whether professional ones or with friends and family. Moments when we can allow ourselves that real light in the reflection of the lights.