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Thierry Dreyfus, an artist of light

Of illumination and inspiration

PARIS All the fun of the fair will explode this week as a traditional carousel and circus take over the newly restored Grand Palais on Thursday. As with a previous project, when the Parisian monument was reopened to the public in October, the imaginative illumination of an urban fête will give the historic building a modern edge.

Thierry Dreyfus is the man who is making the City of Light live up to its name. The designer is the master of the soft glow, bright beams and laser lines.

In collaboration with fashion designers from Helmut Lang through Calvin Klein and Dior Homme's Hedi Slimane, Dreyfus, 40, has pushed the boundaries of runway modernity. And from his Paris studio, he creates lighting objects that have become collectors' items.

Dreyfus may be an artist with light, but he is too modest to give himself that title or to compare himself with conceptual neon experimenters of the 1980s and with the light installations of the American artist James Turrell.

"If being an artist is to be recognized in an artist milieu, I don't care about that," he says. "I have had the chance to be recognized in fashion as a light designer."

Illuminating the Grand Palais for the reopening was a defining moment for Dreyfus, who won a worldwide contest to light up the elegant edifice, with its glass and steel cupola. More than 50,000 people went through the building's vast, empty shell, which was also host of the fashion shows of Dior, Chanel and Saint Laurent.