Though it may seem oxymoronic, lighting designers being obsessed with shadow as much as they are with light is apropos, especially when the fixtures are finely tuned to architecture. Making certain that the lighting and the architecture read as one is a lofty challenge but the designers at Kreon are primed for it.

''What we do is create a three-dimensional feeling,'' says Uli Petzold, owner of the U.S. arm of the Belgian company. ``Our lighting enters into a dialogue with the architecture as an equal partner, creating purity, strength and simplicity.''

Kreon's highly refined products, which the company calls Tools of Light, have a new home, an über-sleek showroom that opened in Miami on Sept. 17. The maze of spaces within the architectonic showroom presents Kreon's fixtures in their best light, illustrating how the company uses its varied products in concert to infuse spaces with drama.

Among their standouts is the Dolma, a long, thin fixture that is recessed into the wall; the In-Line series, which are square recessed points of light; and Secret, a fixture that flips open to reveal itself beyond the flat surface of a wall or ceiling. Above the showroom reception desk is the Cadre, a pendant fixture that is architecturally as commanding as its name. The trick to the company's ability to create a sophisticated minimalism is the precise installation that Kreon's fixtures demand. ''We treat light as a material, just like glass, stone and wood,'' says Petzold. ``From an architectural point of view, the light source should never be the focus of any interior or exterior space; it should empathize with the architecture.''

A survey of Kreon's fixtures shows a broad range of prices. For example, the Mini Down fixture is Kreon's least expensive at $230 and Cadre is the company's highest-priced product. In chrome and white leather, it sells for $2,200. An eight-foot-long Dolma 80 runs $1,900 and the Prologe 80 surface mounted costs $350. According to Petzold, implementing their lighting plans can update interiors so dramatically that it's as good as a full-scale renovation. ''If you put the most expensive stone that you can find on the floor in your home or business and light it wrong, it will not do the material justice,'' he says. ``If you buy the cheapest tile and illuminate it the right way, it will look like a million bucks.''

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