In Conversation with Aleem Kassam

Designing for How a Space Feels

For Aleem Kassam, great design begins with a feeling. We sat down with the designer and founder of Vancouver-based design firm, Kalu by Kassam, to talk about his creative process, the value of engaging and experiencing design in person, and why lighting should never be an afterthought.

For Aleem Kassam, the question at the beginning of a project goes beyond What should this space look like? It’s How do you want to feel in this room?

“I’m a key advocate for lighting.” Aleem says. “I’m always leading with emotion. It should be beautiful, of course, but that’s even more important.”

It’s an idea that comes up again and again as Aleem tours LightForm’s Vancouver showroom with longtime friend and industry colleague Jaime Bishop, LightForm’s VP of Sales. The two have known each other for more than 20 years, and their conversation quickly moves beyond individual fixtures into how we experience spaces, why materiality matters, and the role lighting plays in bringing all of it together.

Design That Goes Beyond the Visual

Aleem’s creative approach is deeply tactile and sensory. A room may look beautiful in a photograph, but that is only one dimension of how we actually experience it.

Materials need to be touched, and objects need to be interacted with. Aleem staunchly advocates that lighting needs to be experienced at different intensities and colour temperatures. Scale needs to be understood in relation to the body.

“As designers, we’re very tactile people,” he says. “When you’re interacting with anything, may it be a function, a material, a fixture, it’s so important. How does that operate and feel? And it should feel somewhat natural.”

That sensitivity extends to the way Aleem approaches trends. Rather than simply reproducing a particular era or aesthetic, he is interested in what survives when styles cycle back around: a colour, shape, material or feeling that can be reinterpreted for the present. The goal isn’t really to follow a trend for the sake of it, but it’s to understand what truly resonates.

Lighting From the Beginning

Lighting is one of the places where Aleem’s overall design philosophy becomes particularly important. Aleem sees lighting and area rugs as two elements that are too often under-budgeted or left until late in the design process, yet lighting has the ability to fundamentally alter everything around it.

“It’s the sparkling, beautiful jewellery of the space that really can make or break a design, an atmosphere, a vibe and even emotion,” he says.

But calling lighting the “jewellery” of a room doesn’t mean lighting is treated as decoration alone.

“It’s not just decorative,” Aleem continues. “It adds so much mood and feeling to a space. I think people just think too pragmatically about lighting.”

For Kalu by Kassam, lighting is therefore a conversation that begins early in the creative process, whether the project is residential or commercial.

“It’s so unimportant what we do throughout the design process and what we integrate into the space if it’s not lit well.”

The carefully selected stone, upholstery, wood, paint, and artwork only work if the lighting allows them to be properly experienced. Colour temperature and colour rendering can completely change the perception of those materials, and, ultimately, the atmosphere of the room itself.

Creating Layers, Not Checking Boxes

Aleem is particularly interested in moving away from a purely utilitarian approach to lighting. You don’t always have to do the grid of recessed fixtures overhead, pendants above the island, a chandelier above the dining table, and consider the lighting plan complete.

Instead, Aleem thinks in layers. Architectural lighting, decorative fixtures, to LEDs integrated within walls or millwork, reflected light and low-level illumination can each perform different jobs within the same space.

Sometimes the gestures are remarkably subtle. Aleem describes integrating low-output LEDs into cabinetry, for example, creating enough illumination to move through a home at night without switching on the main lights.

“It’s beautiful. It creates a different aesthetic, especially in the evenings, but it’s still functional and it helps with wayfinding.”

This is where atmosphere and practicality stop being opposing ideas. Aleem firmly believes that the best lighting can deliver both.

Go Big

There’s another mistake Aleem sees repeatedly in design projects, and it’s being afraid of scale.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make with lighting in general is scale,” he says. “Especially in our market in Vancouver, people are afraid of scale.”

His advice? “Go big.”

An oversized fixture can define a room, create intimacy, make it cozy, and introduce sculpture into an otherwise functional space. Above a dining table, for example, there is often far more freedom than clients initially realize.

“You’re not walking underneath the fixture, so why don’t we go larger?”

Lowering a substantial fixture over a table can visually bring the ceiling downward, creating a more intimate zone within a larger room. It’s a simple example of something central to Aleem’s work. He questions the assumptions that make design feel safe, predictable or purely practical.

“We’re forgetting that there are beautiful opportunities to add sculpture to your space and layers of light as well.”

Designing With Responsibility

Beauty and emotion are two of Aleem’s main considerations when it comes to designing as a practice. Sustainability sits, as he puts it, “in the back of my mind all the time.”

For an industry built around manufacturing, materials and shipping products around the world, he believes designers have a responsibility to understand where those objects come from and advocate for better choices.

“We’re working in such an excess of material and product every day,” he says. “We have to remind ourselves about the future.”

For Aleem, sustainability doesn’t have to be reserved for projects pursuing specific environmental certifications. Smaller decisions, choosing responsible manufacturers, considering materials and longevity, and sharing those stories with clients can become part of everyday practice.

“Why don’t we just use that as a standard?”

It also reinforces the importance of education. Designers become a link between the people making an object and the people ultimately living with it.

Reconnecting With Design

Near the end of the tour, Aleem reflects on the increasing rarity of seeing things in person in a digital design world. Designers can’t visit every international fair or spend their days combing through thousands of new products online. A physical showroom offers another opportunity to encounter unfamiliar materials, discover a new brand or manufacturer, understand the true scale of a fixture, or simply see what happens when a light is switched on, or dimmed down.

“This is where we, as designers, get inspired.”

Curiosity and the diligence to experience design instead of simply picking and specifying are the threads connecting everything else in his creative process. A material can be a starting point for conversation, while a fixture’s sculptural form can become an impactful statement. Deliberate casting of shadows can add drama, completely changing the feeling of a room.

Lighting, in particular, gives Aleem a way to work with something less tangible than furniture or textiles. It directs our attention and influences what we notice, how materials appear, how we navigate our way through a space, and how we feel once we’re there. Ultimately, feeling is exactly where his design process begins.