An appetite for the right light

How can light be used effectively to accentuate the quality of fine food? Optimal colour rendering is a must — more so when light is used to maximise the appeal of meat products. With this in mind, delicatessen chain Casa Tió in Barcelona chose ERCO LED lighting tools to present its array of regional specialities in a fresh and appetising light.

Casa Tió is a small chain of delicatessen supermarkets in and around Barcelona, offering mostly meat specialities as well as milk, cheese, eggs and wine from the Catalonian region. Opened in 2015, the store on Avinguda Borbó in the heart of Barcelona was conceived with an entirely new interior design as a prototype for other Casa Tió stores. The zonal lighting solution, which forms part of the concept, relies entirely on ERCO LED lighting tools for maximum flexibility using a single range of luminaires. To blend in with the store’s black ceiling, Optec spotlights finished in black were mounted on a black ERCO track system. The result is a sophisticated display of gourmet foods and products presented in light that remains virtually invisible to the customer.

The lighting concept builds on the principles of perception-orientated lighting design devised by Richard Kelly, who separated qualitative lighting design into three basic functions — ambient light, focal glow and play of brilliants. Accent lighting draws attention by emphasising certain objects and spatial zones, whereas secondary aspects are toned down by applying a lower lighting level, thereby creating hierarchies of perception that facilitate orientation in the room. The black ceiling of the new Casa Tió store recedes altogether from the customer’s perception, as does the black track system on which the Optec spotlights can be flexibly aligned — leaving the light to direct the focus entirely onto the Casa Tió delicatessen.

Almost 70% of the gourmet food at Casa Tió is meat products — fine hams and sausages, plus cuts of chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, pork, lamb, veal and beef sold in fresh, vacuum-packed portions. To help customers distinguish between the different kinds of meats and products presented in professional lighting for maximum appeal befitting the stylish interior, a primary concern in the lighting design for the new stores was superior light quality to ensure faithful reproduction of the various colours.

The ERCO LED lighting tools used in the store — Optec spotlights in 24 W and warm white light at 3000 K — offer superior colour rendering properties (Ra ≥ 90), guaranteeing that the products are shown in their true colours. With flood distribution, the lighting tools achieve optimum ambient lighting in the store, whilst the oval flood characteristic accentuates the products on the wooden shelves and in the cooling cabinets lining the sides.

Casa Tió has built up a visual identity with rich crimson as part of its corporate colours, and so the new store features walls and flooring painted in this dark shade of red. The flooring therefore added to the challenge of efficient lighting design. To ensure the highest standard of visual comfort for the customer whilst eliminating glare from unwanted reflections of light on the painted surface, the Optec spotlights in 24 W warm white light with oval flood distribution were aligned precisely to illuminate the shelving and cooling cabinets along the sides, ensuring that no light is emitted onto the floor.

The modern style of the sophisticated interior and lighting design at Casa Tió enhances the quality of its foods and products whilst keeping true to the natural quality of the brand. Bright, welcoming and clearly presented, the new Casa Tió store in Barcelona is a good example of what attractive product presentation of a high-end food brand can look like today.

Image ©ERCO GmbH, www.erco.com, photo: Sebastian Mayer