Otherwise designs and manufactures high-quality architectural lighting.
Despite our small range of products, thanks to their modularity, our lights cover a large portion of the lighting needs for buildings and integrate seamlessly into them. Each of our models can be either a dim to warm (D2W) or Tunable white (TW) light, allowing the lighting to be perfectly adjusted to suit any purpose. We have developed innovative mounting frames for different materials, allowing frameless installation of the lights on various materials such as CLT, concrete, plasterboard, acoustic wool, panels, and slats. Additionally, thanks to 3D printing technology, we can customize the lights to fit any structure.
If the light fixture is made of stainless steel, the color options are natural, brass, copper, bronze, and gunmetal. The surface can be either brushed or polished. The standard colors for aluminum fixtures are black, white, and aluminum, but they are available in all RAL colors upon request. We can deliver small quantities of standard products in about a week and larger quantities in about a month.
Our strength lies in understanding architecture and structures, enabling us to help Designers realize their visions. In addition to our standard products, we can cost-effectively modify them or create entirely new lighting fixtures.
Contact us, and we will be happy to provide more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions architects and designers ask about Otherwise: our product range, D2W vs TW, frameless installation into different materials, finishes and custom colours, and how we work with professional teams.
A deliberately compact range of modular fixtures — designed so that a small number of well-thought-out models can cover the vast majority of a building’s lighting needs.
Every model in the range is available as either dim-to-warm (D2W) or tunable white (TW), so the same physical fixture can be specified for a warm residential interior or a colour-tuned commercial space. Thanks to 3D printing and in-house manufacturing, we can also customise any fixture to fit a specific structure — meaning we rarely have to say “not possible” when an architect brings us a challenging detail.
D2W mimics incandescent behaviour — the light becomes warmer as it dims. TW lets you independently control brightness and colour temperature.
Dim-to-warm is the natural choice for residential and hospitality projects where clients expect the emotional warmth of traditional dimming. Tunable white is essential for offices, schools, healthcare, and any space where circadian lighting matters — you can run cool bright light in the morning and warm dimmer light in the evening on the same fixtures. Both are available across our entire range, so you don’t have to compromise on aesthetics to get the colour behaviour you need.
Our innovative mounting frames enable true frameless installation into CLT, concrete, plasterboard, acoustic wool, panels and slats — matched to each material with a dedicated mounting solution.
This is our specialty. A frameless fixture appears to “grow out of” the surface, with no visible trim ring, no housing, no gap. Each material behaves differently — CLT is a solid element, concrete needs casting-in details, plasterboard needs precise cutouts, slatted ceilings need spacing coordination. We’ve developed specific mounting frames for each, which is why frameless installations that fail in other systems succeed in ours.
Stainless steel fixtures are available in natural, brass, copper, bronze and gunmetal — brushed or polished. Aluminum fixtures come in black, white and natural aluminum as standard, plus all RAL colours on request.
Stainless steel colours are applied by environmentally friendly PVD coating — the finish is bonded into the metal for lasting durability. Delivery times: small quantities of standard products ship in approximately one week; larger project quantities in approximately one month. This makes Otherwise a realistic option even for projects with tight construction schedules.
A structured six-step process: challenge → meeting → design → prototype → production → delivery.
(1) You bring a challenge — a difficult detail, a bespoke need, a spec that no catalogue product solves. (2) We meet to understand the architecture, materials, and intent. (3) We design a solution — either modifying a standard product or creating something new. (4) We deliver a prototype so you can verify the light, the finish, and the integration. (5) Production at our own facility. (6) Delivery on site, with support during installation. This is how architects work with us — not as a catalogue supplier, but as a design partner.
Otherwise designs and manufactures architectural lighting in Finland — dim-to-warm, tunable white, and frameless installations for CLT, concrete, plasterboard and beyond. Architects and designers welcome.
