Decorative lighting is an essential design component for open-air restaurants. Read on to discover how to use it and which lights to choose.
Light is one of the elements that most strongly shapes how a space is perceived, especially in hospitality venues such as restaurants. It’s among the very first aspects guests notice the moment they step in.
Getting lighting wrong can irreparably compromise the customer experience, undermining the overall impression.
On the other hand, a well-structured lighting design adds that extra value that makes a restaurant evocative, inviting, and welcoming.
In this article, we focus on decorative lighting for outdoor restaurants, offering professionals ideas and guidance to balance design and function with Karman’s decorative lamps.
- How do you light an outdoor restaurant?
- Why plan a restaurant’s lighting carefully?
- How should you use decorative lighting in an outdoor restaurant?
- Which Karman lights work best outdoors?
- Contact Karman to craft your decorative lighting
Moby Dick
How do you light an outdoor restaurant?
As hinted above, the first consideration for any decorative lighting scheme is the mood you want to create in the outdoor restaurant.
Every atmosphere suits a specific type of clientele, so being precise about your target is essential.
Considering who your guests are, what they expect, and how long they are likely to stay is a crucial factor in lighting design.
Another key point is integration with the overall concept you want to develop. Start planning by choosing solutions that reflect the venue’s style and your stated objectives.
Your lighting project should then be defined according to the functions you want the outdoor areas to serve. First and foremost, it should provide a welcoming light that supports a high-quality dining experience.
It’s also crucial that the restaurant’s outdoor lighting has a flexible, dynamic character, adaptable to different moments of the day.
Black Out
Why plan a restaurant’s lighting carefully?
As we’ve said, lighting shapes the sensory experience, the perception of space, and even how long guests feel inclined to linger.
A well-designed decorative scheme highlights furnishings, architectural details, the color rendering of dishes, and therefore the culinary experience itself. Nothing like the right light can showcase food, turning the table into a true stage set for taste.
From a functional standpoint, strategically positioned light sources ensure visual comfort for reading the menu, seeing what you’re enjoying, and engaging with fellow diners.
For outdoor restaurants, meticulous planning and careful selection of fixtures are even more critical.
First, because outdoor areas, exposed to changing weather conditions, require fixtures that are durable and suitable for exterior use.
Second, because natural light interacts directly with artificial light outside, so it must be calibrated and dimmable as needed.
The lighting designer should also consider natural elements, plants, trees, and architectural structures, that can and should be enhanced through targeted accent lighting.
Last but not least, the outdoor layout must guarantee adequate safety, clearly guiding and lighting guest pathways.
How to use decorative lighting in an outdoor restaurant
To begin with, when employing decorative lighting in open-air restaurants, avoid overdoing the number of fixtures and the overall light output.
Choosing warm or cool light depends on several factors, primarily the stylistic direction and the personality defined for the venue.
Generally speaking, warm light creates a more rarefied, intimate atmosphere, ideal for chic, elegant restaurants. Cool light, by contrast, suits spaces with a more modern, minimal feel.
Here are a few suggestions for using decorative lighting outdoors:
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Install pendant lamps above tables to create a welcoming, convivial mood.
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Use wall lights or recessed spotlights as accent lighting to highlight architectural details.
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Add low-intensity table lamps to lend a more intimate feel.
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Place floor lamps to illuminate pathways while creating evocative light plays.
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Light natural elements such as trees and shrubs allow light, for example, to filter through leaves.
These are starting points to be adapted to the venue’s type and style.
These factors will also influence the design language of the fixtures. A seafront restaurant, for instance, will call for decorative lighting that enhances the coastal landscape, while an urban setting should reflect the city’s energy and dynamism.
In practical terms, these differences translate into distinct stylistic and material choices.
Moby Dick
Which Karman lights to use outdoors?
Karman has made decorative lighting its hallmark, creating design pieces that unmistakably reference the brand.
Every Karman outdoor proposal carries a strong, defined message, expressed through form and innovative materials. Each lamp, in its uniqueness, blends into the context, becoming part of a coherent whole.
Integrating Karman lights into an outdoor restaurant design means adding elements that combine practical function with powerful storytelling.
Here are three Karman proposals selected to elevate outdoor dining spaces and deliver an unforgettable sensory experience.
Black Out
Black Out
Our first suggestion for outdoor decorative lighting is Black Out. Available as a pendant and a floor lamp, it encapsulates its intent in its very name.
Light is filtered and softened by a filament-shaped fiberglass dome, white or black, creating an intimate, cocooning mood, reminiscent of a candle lit during an unexpected “blackout.”
This poetic reference is echoed by an optional accessory: a hemispherical candle holder suspended at the center, like a romantic “emergency light.”
Imagine it as a pendant over the small tables of a contemporary restaurant with a winter garden.
Ululì - Ululà
Ululì - Ululà
Ululì – Ululà distills the evocative power of decorative lighting. The magnetic allure of the moon takes shape as pendants and floor lamps in two sizes: Ululì (small) and Ululà (large).
These white fiberglass globes, adorned with macramé, not only bathe spaces in warm amber hues but also become true décor objects.
The Ululì pendant can set the perfect scene to light dining tables in romantic outdoor restaurants, creating a poetic ambiance for unforgettable dinners, literally by moonlight.
The floor version, placed on a lawn or by the pool, creates a unique, dream-like mise en scène.
Moby Dick
Moby Dick
A sculptural piece par excellence, Moby Dick embodies Karman’s vision of decorative lighting as visual and emotional storytelling.
As its name suggests, this luminous architecture draws inspiration from Herman Melville’s American classic. The iconic whale informs its sinuous, curved lines.
Light gently filters through the white fiberglass, creating a refined interplay of light and shadow, while the jagged edges recall rippling fringes of water.
This marine imagery makes it easy to picture in sophisticated seaside restaurants, perhaps as a poetic source of task lighting. Its innate, understated elegance adapts effortlessly to both minimal and more decorative settings.
Where should Karman outdoor lamps be placed?
To define placement, the designer should have a clear lighting “direction.” In all cases, aim for visual balance by distributing fixtures evenly, avoiding areas that are overly bright or too dim.
To achieve this, rely on layering, combining and stacking direct, diffuse, and accent lighting to shape the outdoor space dynamically.
For example, a pendant such as Moby Dick, Ululì, or Black Out suspended 60–80 cm above the tables will create direct, focused light that enhances the guest experience.
The floor-lamp versions of Black Out or Ululì–Ululà, each with its own distinctive character, can illuminate pathways, transition zones, or the garden.
And one or more Karman lamps, with their unconventional design, can serve as decorative accent lighting that certainly won’t go unnoticed.
Contact Karman to create your decorative lighting
A restaurant’s success is directly proportional to its ability to surprise and stir emotion. Making guests feel they’re in an exclusive, refined place that blends taste and charm with ease encourages them to return, and to spread the word.
Decorative lighting is one of the key elements that makes outdoor restaurants unique and recognizable.
As noted at the start, every venue requires a dedicated project that considers the many variables at play.
With this in mind, Karman’s catalogue has been developed to meet the stylistic needs of any environment, residential or hospitality.
“Be, amaze, create” is the mission behind every Karman design, clearly expressing the intent of each lighting installation.
For more information, support, and assistance in selecting the right lamps for your decorative lighting project for restaurants with outdoor areas, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re at your disposal.
