The shadow belongs to Light
25.06.2025
There is a moment at every turning point – like the brief pause before the pendulum swings back, the top of a breath just before it becomes an exhale, the instant when night yields to the first light of dawn—where balance finds a weightless tension. As the earth’s tilt changes with the solstice, the northern hemisphere leans into the height of daylight and the southern half begins to claim back the night, a gentle reminder of the balance in all things.
This shifting of light and dark is not only celestial; it is architectural. The sun defines the contours of the world, and in turn, architecture gives that light form, memory, and meaning. Nowhere is this equilibrium more gracefully expressed than in Venice, a city of masterfully balanced opposites: land and sea, East and West, light and shadow.
Here, architecture collaborates with light, not simply to reveal, but to shape, guiding how we live—both in the public realm and the privacy of our homes. As Louis Kahn observed, “The sun never knew how great it was until it struck the side of a building.” He declares that everything is “made of Light which has been spent, and this crumpled mass called material casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to Light.” We find this truth in Venice, where shadow is not an absence, but a container. Shadows here carry the weight of memory and the promise of discovery.
This relationship between light and form is not confined to the buildings of Venice—it lives on every surface, in every texture, and with every gesture of craft. The way light drapes across a wall, filters through fabric, or reflects on the waters is an inherent part of daily life. It is this quiet conversation between material and atmosphere that has always inspired Fortuny. Our work, like the city that shaped it, begins with light—not as decoration, but as essence.
We have always followed the light—its warmth, its luminosity, its power. It moves through our fabrics as it does through the city: with intention, revealing depth over time. As the solstice marks this quiet shift in the season, we revel in the light and the beauty it reveals.