Contemporary lighting is just a type of lighting design. There have been a number of cultural renaissances throughout history and one style however influential slowly but surely gave way to another style. This is most often felt in designer wear and to a lesser extent on art and architecture. We are in what many people call the modernistic style or in other words contemporary.
There are some differences between our present day styles and previous ones, principally among them being how the design flows. Most previous designs tended to be a little heavy on the design front and sometimes this design was taken to such an extent that the underlying purpose of the object very often was defeated. A simple example would be fashion in the previous century. Designer wear had progressed to such an extent that women very often wore very constricting and uncomfortable clothes while the men were weighed down with layer upon layer of clothes, each supposedly serving a different purpose.
True they looked very beautiful, but to the person who had to be stuck in a corset the whole day, with hoops around you so that you could not even sit properly, things were very different. Even in lighting if you take the tiffany lamps of that period, although they still are very beautiful, they failed miserably as lighting systems; and to some people, what was the point in having a light that did not give off any.
This trend slowly changed, imposed in part by the austerity measures undertaken by nations after the end of the Second World War. Design slowly shifted to a more minimalistic design without any of the frills that were associated with the previous trend. Nowadays if you compare a building or designer wear with older designs they almost seem totally bare and without any decoration what so ever. Yet if seen by itself, it is usually very beautiful and its functionality is not impeded in any way too.
A simple example would be to compare chandeliers that are made in the old fashion and ones made nowadays. The newer ones are very simple, and in comparison almost bare, yet they will lend a certain elegance to any room in which they are hung, unlike the overpowering dominance that the older designs have. Contemporary lighting also includes a number of designs that are totally new, like floor lamps or fluorescent covers. By no stretch of the imagination can they be called bad looking and in most cases they even look better than the previous ones because they are useful while still being beautiful.
Contemporary style sticks with flowing lines and harmony in the overall design. In lighting terms, this means that if you take one single sconce or pendant lamp, very often they will not look as nice as the older designs which are why the older fashioned ones have not gone out of taste. Yet once you install them in their place you will find that they lend themselves into the theme that you are looking to make so that the overall effect is a very harmonious design. Even the sunken ceiling lights are a good point. One single light would really not be that great, but if you install them as they are supposed to be, you will find how such a simple light can actually look really nice.
Contemporary lights are the way forward and are slowly picking up steam. Obviously there is still a lot of nostalgia associated with earlier models, but then the newer ones are much better. If you open your eyes to the number of designs that are available, and some that have married both the old as well as the new in designs that are totally different, yet very beautiful, you will realize that there was a whole world out there that you did not know about.