Light can have a strong effect on people -- about 5 percent of the world's population is reckoned to suffer from a form of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which has been linked to sunlight deprivation.
Light also affects us in lots of smaller, subtler ways, according to Ingo Maurer, a world-renowned lighting designer, whose designs are often presented as works of art in galleries and museums. Right now, a four-decade overview of his career, "Light -- Reaching for the Moon," featuring rare prototypes, serially produced lamps and one-off pieces, is showing at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery till Sept. 18.
"We need air and we need light," he says as we sit down to discuss the exhibition. "Light is a fundamental thing like bread. We need it to hold us up. It miraculously keeps us going. It's not only natural light, but artificial light too."