In 1993, Hervé Descottes founded light
First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Hervé Descottes. I was born in Dijon, came to America in ’93 and founded L’Observatoire International. I lived in France until my 20s and have always been inspired by my surroundings, my city, the lighting, and the fog in winter. Little by little we have grown to become the successful company and team we are today.
What was Hermès’ original design brief for their collection presentation at the Milan Design Week?
The idea of softness. The lamps were inspired by the shoji shades in Japanese houses, the glow and the warmth. That’s how we started.
Photo Credits: Maxime Verret courtesy of Hermès.
What was the most challenging part of the project?
Finding the right balance between making the product glow and avoiding unwanted shadows. I really wanted to feel like I was going to be inside of a lamp, feeling the paper’s softness, gentle, and round light. That was the idea.
What does it mean to you to win the “Lighting Designer of the Year 2022” award?
First of all, thank you for selecting me, and thank you for the award. Of course, I’m so delighted. It is always a challenge to be recognized and accepted by your peers. For me, it is a very important award, and I am definitely honored.
Photo Credits: Maxime Verret courtesy of Hermès.
In general, where does your design inspiration come from?
Every day. Daily life, from the morning sun, the places I go in the evening, the books I read, and the movies I watch. It’s compiling a lot of story images. For me, good lighting and a good project must always be a great story.
Photo Credits: Maxime Verret courtesy of Hermès.
Do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations you can tell us about?
I am very busy. I think we have a lot going on these days. From the expansion of the Fondation Cartier in Paris – a great place for temporary exhibitions – to some beautiful hotel restaurants.
We have incredible designs in the works for the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi. That project is now taking shape, it’s under construction, and when you look at the pictures and understand its scale, it is very impressive. We are also in the process of working on a renovation here in New York, and a beautiful school academy with Jean Nouvel in Singapore. Many great projects, and I feel very fortunate.
What would be your advice to any emerging lighting designers?
Trust your gut and don’t give up! It’s an amazing field. You require a very different type of skill from being extremely technical and understanding the technology. You have to understand your heart, your feelings and be able to find the right balance between technology and emotions.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards were established to recognize the efforts of talented international product designers and lighting designers. The program recognizes creativity and innovation in the fields of lighting products and applications.
The jury, consisting of 43 talented and experienced professionals, architects, interior designers, academics and lighting industry media representatives, selected the winners of the 6th edition of the LIT Awards. The program received over 650 submissions from 51 countries. All designs were judged on their own merits.
The range of works is amazing: L’Observatoire International was awarded the title of Lighting Design of the Year for the Hermès collections at Milan Design Week 2022 and Expolight received the Lighting Product Design of the Year award for the Chandelier in the B14 UNIT. City business space.
As lighting is one of the most important things when it comes to creating an experience, the LIT Awards place great emphasis on recognizing the best lighting artists in the Entertainment Lighting Design category.
Hong Kong Harbour Fiesta – Artists in Motion / Lead Designers Richard Lindsay (Artists in Motion) + Adam Bassett (Woodroffe Bassett Design)
Award winners include: Quiet Ensemble with Vertical Horizon, an Interactive Lighting Project, designer Yann Kersalé won in the Music Event Lighting category with Pulse of Light, GCLX Production Lighting was recognized with Breaking the Castle, and EO won in the Theater Performance Design category with ROADTRIP. Winners in the Entertainment Lighting Product Design category included Ayrton with its Cobra phosphor laser source luminaire.
Die Ärzte Stadium Festival design 2022 by Bertil Mark Lighting Design / Photo Credits: Ralph Larmann – Paul Gärtner
Winners will receive extensive publicity over the next year to showcase their achievements to a global audience. Their designs will be featured in the annual Book of Design, which will be distributed worldwide. They will also receive the LIT Lighting Design Awards certificate and badge of achievement, as well as a year-round profile in the LIT Awards Online Directory. For the full list of winners of the 2022 LIT Lighting Design Awards, visit litawards.com/winners.
Pavilion of Moonlight Horizon by Light is More / Lead Designer: Pauline David / Client: Noor Riyadh
Asking for a ‘sustainable project’ looks good on a client brief, but can we ever achieve a sustainable solution? The hard truth is that ‘sustainability’ isn’t binary. It’s not something that either is, or isn’t, like a light switch. To carry on with that control analogy, sustainability is more like a dimmer that can be set anywhere between 0 and 100%. Because sustainability is a process and processes tend not to be absolutes.
But even if we’re not talking in absolutes, it still helps to be able to frame what sustainability means to us as designers and to our clients. Let’s look at three major headline issues that all address sustainability, but which all take different routes to achieve a sustainable goal.
Climate action. We used to call this energy efficiency, back in the days when we thought the only thing that mattered was to try to reduce the amount of fuel that we were burning. Now we know that climate action is probably the single most important factor for everything that we do, both in our business and in our personal lives. It’s still about reducing the fuel that we’re burning – but our lives now depend on it.
So what actions are we taking to reduce carbon emissions; to protect biodiversity; to protect food production in the world. These are not things that happen by accident; they only happen by design.
Circular economy. We’re familiar with the slogan ‘leave it in the ground’ as related to fossil fuel extraction. But this relates to far more than oil and gas. By making lighting fixtures that can be used again and again, by replacing exhausted components such as LED engines and drivers while retaining the mass of the fixture body, we can reduce the need for virgin materials to be mined and quarried. The planet does not hold an infinite supply of raw materials. We have to conserve what we’re using.
Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) reporting, aka Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Some organisations draw a distinction between ESG and CSR, but it’s a pointless exercise because, whatever you call it, it has the same end view. These reporting frameworks tell us how well businesses are doing in meeting the Ten Principles established by the United Nations in its Global Compact.
In a perfect world, we’d all score 100% on everything. We don’t live in a perfect world; we live in a world where we strive to do better. Promoting the sustainable criteria of architectural projects is a way of saying ‘we’ve come this far. We aim to go further. Please join us on the journey.
Zurich, Switzerland – The LIT Lighting Design Awards was created to recognize the efforts of talented international lighting product designers and lighting designers. The program celebrates creativity and innovation in the fields of lighting products and applications.
The jury panel composed of 43 talented and experienced professionals, Architects, Interior Designers, Academics and media representatives in the lighting industry have selected the winners of the 6th Edition of the LIT Awards. The program received over 650 submissions from 51 countries, all designs have been evaluated based on their own merit.
The range of work is astonishing, L’Observatoire International was awarded the “Lighting Design of the Year” title for the Hermès’ collections at Milan Design Week 2022 and Expolight won the “Lighting Product Design of the Year” award for the Chandelier in the B14 UNIT. City business space.
In the young talent categories, Owen Fernando Patia, a student at California College of The Arts received the prize of “Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year” with AQUA and Elsa Gil Benito, a student of ESNE, Escuela Universitaria de Diseño, Innovación y Tecnología won the “Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the Year” for Ma-Ka Lighting System.
“At the LIT Lighting Design Awards, we strive to support and promote inspired projects and innovation by professional and emerging designers from around the world; assembling in one platform outstanding projects from Brazil to Canada, Germany and Thailand.” said Program Director, Astrid Hébert. “This program will continue to showcase Lighting Product and Lighting Design excellence.”
Introduced in 2018, the Lifetime Achievement Awards has recognized Lighting Designers, Lighting Product Designers and other professionals in the Lighting Industry, whose contributions are inspirational. Patrick Woodroffe is celebrating over 40 years of career lighting rock concerts, operas, ballet, architecture, and special events; Dave Kavanagh, Senior lighting and industrial designer at Planet Lighting in Australia, are awarded the LIT Lifetime Achievement Awards for their impressive design contribution to the International lighting community.
The Spotlight Prize is awarded to an organization, association, project, or initiative that carries out remarkable work for its community and has a major contribution to the Lighting Industry. The LIT Design Awards is thrilled to announce that “The Studio School of Design (SSD)” in New York City is receiving the 2022 Spotlight prize for its engagements towards education accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity. Launched in spring 2021, SSD is a 501c3 Not-for-profit community organization, seeking to provide equitable and inclusive low-cost classes in lighting design both online and in-person to a wide-ranging pool of talented and motivated students.
Other honorees in the Lighting Design category included Liska with Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, Iceland, CLL . Concept Lighting Lab won with the One & Only Mandarina hotel, SEAM Design is awarded with the MahaNakhon Tower: Ritz-Carlton Residences, in Light Art Project, Light is More won with the Pavilion of Moonlight Horizon and Bruno Ribeiro with Vibrance; Tillotson Design Associates, Licht Kunst Licht and Beijing Leuchte Lighting Design received multiple prizes.
Winners in Lighting Product Design included Maytoni with Maya, John Cullen Lighting is awarded in the Deck and Step Lights category with Lecco Floorwasher, BuzziSpace with BuzziChip, Pharos Architectural Controls for their newly developed “Full management of lighting installations from anywhere, with any device” and ambience with the LEGO Linear Luminaire.
Winners will receive extensive publicity over the next year to present their achievements to a global audience. Their designs will be featured in the annual Book of Design, which will be distributed worldwide, and they will also receive the LIT Lighting Design Awards certificate and badge of achievement, as well as a year-round profile in the LIT Awards Online Directory. To view the full list of the LIT Lighting Design Awards 2022 winners, check litawards.com/winners
The Studio School of Design (SSD) is an interdependent community of practice where experiential learning is embedded into a curriculum of design storytelling. It celebrates the full range of human cultural expression and identity and especially supports those who are and have previously been marginalized or excluded from the design professions. They see lighting design as a creative art form and are deeply invested in the potential of telling diverse and inclusive human stories through the medium of light.
The Studio School of Design’s vision is to increase collective knowledge and diversify access to the lighting design field across the places where we work. The school is a 501c3 Not-For-Profit community organization, seeking to provide equitable and inclusive low-cost classes both online and in-person to a wide-ranging pool of talented and motivated students.
This year, the 2022 « Spotlight » prize has been awarded to The Studio School of Design for its engagements towards education accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity. SSD is providing affordable (or free) learning environments and educational programs, preparing emerging lighting designers for the broad range of today’s lighting careers.
Photo by Rosalie O’Connor
The Studio School of Design began operations in the spring of 2021 with courses in Lighting for the Camera, Business Skills for Freelancers, Assisting with Large Scale Projects, and, importantly, a survey course of all the professions where designers work outside of the traditional theatre markets (65 students from 8 countries). They continued in the fall with courses in Video Content Creation and Pre-Visualization.
Additionally, they have offered free programs such as Pioneers of Light: The History of Women in Lighting Design (attended by over 80 online participants), Color and Light in a Mixed Source World, two Lighting Design Educator workshops for High School and University level instructors, and Networking events, both on Zoom and in person, to facilitate contact between designers, associates, directors, and choreographers. This spring (2023), the Studio School of Design will again offer Bob Barnhart’s highly successful Lighting for the Camera course, as well as courses in Vectorworks 3D and a Dance Lighting Intensive.
Photo by Rosalie O’Connor
One of their most exciting initiatives has been the launch of our High School Summer Workshop, a pilot program attended by 13 high school students, primarily from underserved school districts, for 4 days in the summer of 2022 (video of Students sharing their experiences). With the support of the Chelsea Factory and other donors, students participated for free in hands-on training in designing and telling stories with light. They are currently in the advanced planning stages for an expanded multi-week program targeting 40 high school students for the summer of 2023.
The Studio School of Design continues to offer online courses through Zoom, making course materials available to a large group of learners from around the world. They will continue to do so in the future and are currently looking for a space in Manhattan where they can offer face-to-face courses on a regular basis. Their future plans include developing a curriculum program that will provide in-depth study in a variety of fields and career paths for lighting designers.
In total, over 200 students/participants have participated in online and face-to-face programs since April 2021; 25% of online participants have received scholarships and all high school participants have attended for free.
The Studio School of Design is led by an outstanding group of individuals who bring decades of experience in education, design, non-profit management, media, equity, diversity, inclusion, law, and the lighting industry. Studio School of Design faculty come from the professional community and are focused on recruiting a wide range of highly qualified professionals.
We spoke with Studio School of Design President Mark Stanley and Vice President Clifton Taylor about their plans for the future of this inclusive and multicultural learning environment.
MARK STANLEY – Director, President (Photo by Rosalie O’Connor) and CLIFTON TAYLOR – Director, Vice President, Secretary
“As professional designers and educators, Clifton and I are intimately connected to the intersection of both worlds. Studio School reflects our commitment to providing opportunities for affordable, accessible training in lighting design and related fields. By expanding the pathways to a successful and more diverse, inclusive, education and also providing a gateway to the professional world, we enrich our community and the stories we tell through light and design“, shared Mark Stanley.
Talking about the ways the public and the industry can support their work, Mark added that the “Studio School of Design is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. We rely on contributions to achieve our mission and provide the affordable, and often free, education that is our mission. As a young organization, we need the larger lighting and design communities’ support in order to expand and grow“.
Photo by Rosalie O’Connor
Looking at this coming year’s program, Mark added that “When it comes to their upcoming projects, this spring they are offering 3 courses online: Lighting Live Events for the Camera led by Bob Barnhart, Advanced Vectorworks 3D Drafting, led by Nick Solyom, and a Dance Lighting Intensive, led by Mark Stanley. In addition, Studio School of Design offers networking opportunities and educator training at both the high school and university levels. In the summer of 2023, they will expand their High School Summer Intensive in Lighting Design to a two-week program with the goal of reaching 40 high school students. In addition, they will offer their popular Associates and Assistant Lighting Designer course as well as Business Practices for Freelancers.”
About Mark Stanley: Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Ballet, Mark Stanley has designed over 220 premieres for their repertoire including Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom. He has worked with choreographers around the world including Peter Martins, Alexei Ratmansky, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, William Forsythe, Kevin O’Day, Susan Marshall and many others. His designs are in the repertoire of nearly every major ballet company in North America and Europe and his designs for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and other ballets and operas have been seen on Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances. Mr. Stanley previously served as Resident Designer for the New York City Opera. His theatre work includes the Kennedy Center, Long Wharf Theater, Goodspeed Opera House, Ordway Music Theater, Paper Mill Playhouse, Maurice Sendak’s Night Kitchen and off-Broadway. Mr. Stanley heads the Lighting Design Program at Boston University and is on the Board of Directors of the Hemsley Lighting Programs.
About Clifton Taylor: For over 34 years, Clifton Taylor has created lighting, projection and scenic designs for theater, dance and opera companies around the world. He has also designed a number of unique concert music events for major orchestras, solo musicians and large-scale venues. His work has been commissioned on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and in seventeen countries outside the US. Clifton teaches design as an associate professor at UNCSA with additional extensive experience lecturing at NYU, the New York Choreographic Institute, and LDI. He has also had academic appointments at the Juilliard School, The University of Iowa, and the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh Cambodia. He has a long-standing interest in education and is also a current MA candidate in the Adult Education Program at ECU. Clifton is the author of the book on color for lighting designers: “Color and Light, Navigating Color Mixing in the Midst of an LED revolution” which was published by Ones and Zeros Media.
You can learn more about the Studio School of Design at studioschoolofdesign.org.
For over 40 years Patrick Woodroffe has been a guiding force in the lighting for rock concerts, operas, ballet, architecture, and special events. Patrick began his career in lighting in 1973 and since then has lit and directed productions for many artists including, AC/DC, Paul McCartney, The Police, Take That, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Rammstein, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Donna Summer, Tina Turner, Pet Shop Boys, Michael Jackson, Elton John and many more.
Patrick’s contribution to the lighting industry is tremendous, he has been one of the revolutionary minds behind the evolution of entertainment lighting.
Rolling Stones 14 on Fire (2014) Creative direction + Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe, WBD
In the world of rock touring he has lit and directed shows for a long list of iconic artists as diverse as ABBA, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Simon and Garfunkel, Adele, Sting and Michael Jackson. He has worked for over thirty years with the Rolling Stones, beginning his association with the band in 1982 and continuing as the band’s lighting designer and creative director for all their live and filmed performances since then. He was one of the curators of Exhibitionism, the band’s traveling exhibition showcasing artifacts and examples of the band’s work over 50 years.
Exhibitionism (2016) Design – Pentagram, Curator – Ileen Gallagher, Curation + Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe, WBD
In the classical world, he has lit performances by many singers, conductors, and international orchestras including Jessye Norman, The Three Tenors, Sir George Solti, and the London Symphony Orchestra, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, and Gustavo Dudamel. In opera, he has created works in Vienna, Salzburg, Bregenz, and Helsinki, on occasion using lighting in the place of scenery to convey mood, atmosphere and narrative.
His musical theatre credits include productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, Batman Live, Bat Out of Hell, West Side Story, Mama Mia the Party and Ben Hur Live. He lit the 25th Anniversary Performance of Les Miserables at the O2 Arena and Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall. For over twenty years he has lit and helped to produce the famous Vanity Fair Oscar party in Los Angeles and at the Cannes Film Festival.
In film he lit This Is It with Michael Jackson and Martin Scorsese’s Shine A Light, the superb film of the Rolling Stones in performance.
Adele (2016) (Production Design – Es Devlin, Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe, WBD
Romeo + Juliet, Vienna State Opera (2001) Director – Jurgen Flimm, Stage + Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe
Aside from Entertainment Lighting, Patrick has created some important architectural lighting schemes, including those at the O2 Dome, the Lake of Dreams in Las Vegas, Highgrove House for The King, Prague Castle, the Madejski Garden at the V + A, and Somerset House in London.
In 2012 he lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympic + Paralympics Games in London.
London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony (2012) Director – Danny Boyle, Choreography – Akram Khan, Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe, WBD
With his long-time collaborator Adam Bassett, he runs the international lighting design consultancy, Woodroffe Bassett Design. The company operates globally designing lighting for many different genres including music, theatrical performance, special events as well as permanent architectural entertainment installations.
Patrick is a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) and in 2014 was awarded OBE by the late Queen for a lifetime of services to the arts.
“I’m so pleased to receive this lifetime achievement award from the LIT Awards, particularly because I join a group of previous honorees who are all from very varied disciplines. They remind me of the familial feeling that exists in the lighting world despite our coming from different ends of the spectrum! As ever, this is an award shared with the many, many collaborators without whom my work would not exist – my partners, associates, programmers, designers and producers. The practice of working with Light, in all its glorious forms, is as much a privilege as it is a job. Thank you.” Patrick Woodroffe.
Skyscape at the Millennium Dome (2000) Design – ESS, Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe
Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) is one of the best-known and most prolific lighting design brands operating in the world of entertainment and architecture today. The studio was established by lighting designers Patrick Woodroffe and Adam Bassett in 2013. In 2019, Terry Cook, a long-standing and experienced member of the team, joined Patrick and Adam as a partner.
WBD works for an unrivaled network of global clients and is a thriving creative practice focused on providing dynamic, intelligent and often breathtaking lighting design projects across a broad range of genres. WBD has seen few boundaries in its artistic ambition and currently provides full creative service across multiple entertainments and architectural sectors and projects with skill and integrity.
WBD comprises a core team of agile and experienced specialist designers, supplemented by a regular team of associates in the form of lighting directors, programmers, assistants, logistics and planning experts. This group is experienced in working with artists in all disciplines and can interpret and deliver any brief, detailed or otherwise, ensuring their client’s vision is protected and creative ambition often exceeded.
Michael Jackson This Is It (2009) Director – Kenny Ortega, Set Design – Michael Cotton, Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe, WBD
Senior lighting and industrial designer, Dave Kavanagh has been working for 44 years at the 110-year-old lighting manufacturer Planet Lighting, Australia. Dave has a unique and impressive career, with an impressive design contribution to the Australian and International lighting community. Dave has been successfully navigating extensive technological changes in the industry!
Not shy of a challenge, Dave has helped bring to life some of the most ambitious custom architectural lighting projects across the globe. He’s worked on renowned projects of architects such as Renzo Piano and I. M. Pei, and helped design and deliver a suite of iconic lighting concepts from South-East Asia to the Middle East, including lighting for Larry Oltmanns Hong Kong Handover at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, I.M.Pei’s Bank of China in Beijing and Caesar Pelli’s Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
As described by former CEO of Planet Lighting, Brett Iggulden, Dave has easily designed more light fittings for architects than any other designer in Australia. “He would literally save architects’ lives, turning their crazy concepts into working, safe and reliable light fittings.” Dave’s work is found everywhere from Australia to Dubai.
Dave also developed, improved, and expanded on a range of important and award-winning Australian medical and task lighting products. His design adaptations of the prestigious Prince Phillip Australian Design Award- winning U-arm, and his work on modernizing task lighting resulted in a range of quintessential Australian medical lighting products such as the MSE, UMH, UGP and include the important redesign of the 7 LED head for the ULED – one of the most prevalent examination lights in Australian hospitals. He designed the iconic Continental C arm, a spring-balanced desk lamp and in 1992 his Ninox Workstation Tasklight won the Luminaire Design Award of the Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia and New Zealand Award (IESANZ).
ULED Medical Light with Planet Lighting unique award-winning floating balance U-arm and fully enclosed springs.
Dave’s successful design and technical proficiency, which his colleagues agree includes his exceptional penmanship and eye for detail, is equally matched by his creative ability to adapt and navigate extraordinary technological and industry change. He saw the transition from pen and ink hand drawings to CAD, and from incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes to modern LEDs as well as the transition from hand machining to Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining.
“Dave’s legacy is extraordinary,” says Sinclair Park, Dave’s colleague and fellow industrial designer who raised the idea for nominating him for the Award. “He even managed to become an expert in glass mould design when Planet Lighting built their own glass-blowing facility in the 1980s.”
Dave promptly designed a screening process to quickly generate shapes in plaster as patterns for sand casting, equipping Planet Lighting with semi-mass production capabilities. As a result, there was a time when every Starbucks in the world had custom glass luminaires, all of which were glass blown in Planet’s factory and company headquarters in regional Bellingen NSW. Planet Lighting subsequently became the biggest glass-blowing operation in Australia.
Dave’s use and demonstration of scientific and supporting evidence and use of emerging technologies married well with his unhindered propensity to “tell it like it is” to his customers and architect partners.
Dave recalls a successful job tender “a half-inch thick” for Australia’s Parliament House. “They wanted 400 lamps with a hot and inefficient 100-watt globe. So I showed them a light head with 13 watts that had even better light output, and for good measure demonstrated that the entire cost of the light fittings could be recovered in reduced power consumption and lowered air conditioning costs over 18 months.”
DG “Boat” chandeliers to commemorate the Hong Kong handover. Each chandelier is 8.4 meters in length with strips of slumped glass. Each weighs 500 kilograms and is suspended 30 meters in the air.
DG “Boat” chandeliers to commemorate the Hong Kong handover. Each weighs 500 kilograms and is suspended 30 metres in the air. Also showing Dave’s engineering plans for the construction.
Dave graduated with a Diploma in Design from the National Art School, Division of Design in 1975. After college, he was invited by Paul Schremmer and Associates, a leading Sydney design consultancy where he began his first professional role. In April 1977, and less than 2 years out of college, he was hired by the iconic Australian lighting manufacturer Planet Lighting after an interview with then-CEO of Planet, Brett Iggulden. While his current employer thought he was too young, Brett was impressed enough by his interview to put him on a 9-month contract. Now, 44 years on and one of Planet’s oldest and most accomplished staff members, Dave jokingly admits: “I’m still waiting for my probation period to end.”
A thinker and entrepreneurial spirit, Dave heralds from a family of engineers and inventors. “My eldest brother is an electrical engineer, and my older brother was a boat builder who became a hot air balloon manufacturer.” Dave describes himself as coming from a family of “have-a-goes” where it’s ok and even important to make mistakes. He even began his own Medical equipment company, Phoebus Design, while working in tandem at Planet in the 1980s. For 8 years he was an important supplier to Australian Medical Equipment, designing and manufacturing intermittent pressure therapy equipment designed to forcibly drain postoperative lymph fluid.
Dave’s passion for design and its importance in society is palpable. “Lighting is something which touches everyone, every day,” says Dave. “The performance of the most mundane tasks to the most demanding, particularly in medical task lighting is intensely rewarding to me, knowing the products on which I work contribute deeply to such tasks.”
Bank of China HQ, Beijing Architect: I. M. Pei Lighting Consultant: William Artists International. LTD.
“Wheel” Aerial sculpture & chandelier foyer centerpiece 12 meters in diameter and hanging below the 48-meter high ceiling. The wheel, constructed of steel and weighing 350 kilograms, had to be assembled fully and disassembled in pieces for transport in 20m shipping containers. “I had to generate a map of which part of the wheel went into the container first so the first piece that came out could be carried to the back of the assembly area – it was important they came out in the right order!” – Dave Kavanagh
Bank of China, showing wheel aerial sculpture & chandelier also featuring 30 meter steel beam grow lights suspended over bamboo planters.
The wheel, constructed of steel and weighing 350 kilograms, had to be assembled fully and disassembled in pieces for transport in 20-meter shipping containers from Planet Lighting, Australia.
Dave’s interest in design also seems inseparable from his personal interest in both social conscience and design consequence. As a result, he gained the friendship and acquaintances of many academics and pursued interests with like-minded people equally curious about sociology. He was the Public Officer for the establishment of the Bellingen Institute, a think tank endeavor of Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and Adjunct Associate Professor, Dr. Richard Hil.
Dave’s design thinking overlapped and complemented educators promoting the importance of socially and ecologically responsible design. He was invited to guest lecture in the Kansas City’s Art Institute for students of the influential design educator Victor Papanek. “I remember my own final year thesis: Outside and Inside: Morality in Design which was kind of a shock to my lecturers who felt that the topic was a bad idea. I’ve always felt there’s no such thing as a bad idea – it only becomes a bad idea when you don’t express it.”
Dave’s deeply personal drive for social enquiry and social justice has also found him volunteering with his local community. In 2007 Dave worked closely with former Australian father of the year Steve Biddulph and candidate professor and Lecturer in Law, Beth Gibbings in the installation of the SIEV X National Memorial. The memorial consists of a series of 353 pole beams which were erected lakeside in Canberra and are engraved with commemorative artworks from over 200 schools and community groups across the country. The important monument commemorates the 353 people, including children, who drowned when the SIEV X boat sank on its perilous voyage from Indonesia to Australia in 2001. Most of the poles remain nameless as the victims were unidentified. “That’s what the ‘X’ in ‘Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle X (SIEV X)’ stands for, that is, representing the unknown victims,” says Dave.
The memorial is one of Australia’s largest and most extensive installation and collaborative efforts and spans 400 square meters of the peninsula along Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin. It remains a solemn symbol and reminder to both the government and public on the plight of refugees and a persistent indicator of the still unanswered questions ordinary citizens have with regards to the circumstances surrounding the tragic event.
The SIEV X installation’s arduous process to becoming a permanent display lakeside and nearby Parliament House has become its own emotional journey for Dave and his peers. Originally, the poles were only temporarily “held up” by 600 people during a televised procession in 2006. Dave helped in the certification and engineering effort to establish their permanent installation in the Australian capital. “I met Beth and Steve through the Rural Australians for Refugees organization,” of which Dave is still a formal member. The memorial continues standing today 15 years on. “It still chokes me up when I see those poles.”
Dave Kavanagh continues to innovate at Planet Lighting today and is a valued member of the community.
Dubai Metro – Red and Green Lines Consultant: Gulf Line International Trading Co Multiple custom lighting fixtures were designed including the “Water Wave” and the “Flying Carpet.” The “Water Wave” decorative light fixture in Burjuman Station consists of a wave-like dynamic effect created via LED edge-lit clear glass and is controlled via DMX. The custom-made fixture is made up of 21 pieces of 1-inch thick glass and each piece is made up of three segments. The wave is 40 meters long and 10 meters wide.
Designer Dave Kavanagh shared with us some thoughts on design philosophy, practice and the context of his career with Planet Lighting:
“Joining Planet Lighting in Bellingen New South Wales Australia in April 1977 as the sole Staff Industrial Designer for an agreed tenure of 9 months to design and develop an extended-reach task lamp, I was not too worried about being without experienced designers to mentor and assist me, as it was for such a short duration. Forty-five and a half years later I find myself still in the same job but having experienced massive changes to my work tools and the type of work I have undertaken, including running a small design/manufacturing business in my spare time.
Many designers have experienced the leap from the drawing board to the CAD monitor and I can assure you it can be quite intimidating at first. CAD arrived in my professional life at the age of forty-five, just four years after I first began working on large custom light fittings.
The first large custom fitting was feature-lighting in the Australian Darwin Parliament House. This quickly developed into an explosion of work including feature lighting in the main hall of The Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre for the Hong Kong handover in 1997 and the (then) world’s largest building/s the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, the head office of the Bank of China in Beijing in 2000 and some very large glass fittings in the Dubai Metro UAE. Some of these projects weighed many tonnes and called for engineering certification, including taking a Bellingen crew for installation on-site. We even employed a London-based crew of riggers for one of our higher/heavier fittings. These are just some of the highlights, there being many smaller, less prestigious, jobs along the way and since.
The CEO of Planet Lighting throughout this time was Brett Iggulden OAM who was solely responsible for securing and managing these jobs for our company, a very small business in a very small town in coastal New South Wales Australia. Even though I was integral to the process, it never ceased to delight me that, for instance, for a few years any Starbucks Café anywhere in the world included light fittings using hand-blown glass blown in Bellingen in our own glassworks. This engenders a level of pride in our company workforce that is second to none.
I have always held high moral standards as an important baseline for design work of all kinds and often struggle internally with issues surrounding my work, if not directly impacted by it.
The design process I find most effective uses a recursive progression: two steps forward, one step back and so on until after a few iterations I take many steps back to review the design progression and evaluate the results to ensure the project is heading in a healthy direction before proceeding any further, avoiding “vertical” thinking in the design. This re-evaluation applies to all aspects of a project or product and includes all stakeholders and has worked well for me over many years.
Perhaps the most important mindset to nurture for me as a designer has been that there is no such thing as a stupid question … ever. Question everything and everyone, and always have a reason for your choices and decisions.
Once a brief or work order is accepted, it becomes a personal responsibility for eternity. At no time is a job handed over with no further responsibility or “ownership” by the industrial designer, production designer or engineer. This demands a passionate embrace of the work and its consequences.
Finally, this award was an unexpected bonus in a long and as-yet incomplete journey which has been an enormous amount of fun and I unreservedly thank all those who have contributed to my success in this career.” Dave Kavanagh
Dave Kavanagh/ Courtesy of Planet Lighting
The “Flying Carpet” lighting fixture, one of six, was installed in different stations of Dubai Metro. The fixture is 27 metres in length, 2.5 metres wide and comprises 140 individual glass assemblies. Each glass piece weighs 70 kilograms and the total fixture weighs 11.5 tons.
About Planet Lighting: The Planet Lighting design tradition heralds back to the early 1900s when founder WA Iggulden set up Bentley Mfg Co in Melbourne to produce building tools for patented designs. Since the 1930s Planet has been manufacturing lights, including the iconic Australian classic, the Studio K desk lamp. Over the years, our facilities have expanded to include handblown artisan glassblowing facilities, a high-tech LED laboratory and state-of-the-art CNC equipment to ensure high-quality in-house capability and a comprehensive approach to lighting manufacturing.
Today, we are one of the leading Australian suppliers of Medical & Surgical lights, LED and custom lighting solutions and are uniquely placed to provide the expertise and know-how required to work with lighting designers and specifiers to realize creative custom lighting ideas and concepts.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards, created to recognize the efforts of talented international lighting product designers and lighting implementers, announced an exclusive partnership with Silhouette Awards (SA), a groundbreaking program developed by Archifos and Parrot PR & Marketing.
The Silhouette Awards shine a spotlight on emerging talent in the lighting industry and support these individuals as they continue their careers. The awards focus on supporting young professionals, giving them a platform to showcase their emerging talents in the industry, followed by a six-month mentorship with an experienced lighting professional.
The 2022 LIT Lighting Design Awards “Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the Year” and “Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year” will receive a six-month mentorship from one of the prestigious Silhouette Awards Mentors to hone their skills, advance their career ambitions and add real value to industry creativity.
“This new partnership highlights the level of engagement of the LIT Lighting Design Awards and the Silhouette Awards towards the new generation of Lighting Designers. The LIT Awards will support and enroll Silhouette Awards mentees of the 2022 – 2023 editions, elevating their works and promoting their creativity”, said Astrid Hebert, Program Director of the LIT Awards.
Mentors play an essential role in the Silhouette Awards initiative. A highly experienced and respected panel of judges, “The Mentors”, are comprised of senior influential lighting designers who are on the lookout to nurture young talent and help other like-minded individuals benefit from their own personal experiences.
“The benefits of being able to pass on knowledge, support new designers in the industry and be a person to listen and advise is extremely rewarding to me. It is also of mutual benefit as fresh eyes and fresh thinking often give me a different point of view or a new approach to design that I can then carry forward either myself or as part of a wider project team. Without a Director who was focused on sharing knowledge when I first started in the industry, I wouldn’t have taken the career development to where I am today”, said Gary Thornton, Mentors and an Associate Lighting Designer at Nulty.
To take advantage of this unique opportunity, students and emerging designers should finalize their submissions to the LIT Lighting Design Awards before the final deadline on October 22nd, 2022.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards is honored to announce the entertainment lighting industry leading designers who will join the Jury board members. Highly respected by their peers in the industry, the judges are tasked with recognizing creativity and innovation in the fields of “stage and concert lighting”, Live Art and Theater lighting.
For the 6th consecutive year, the program is honoring the efforts of the talented international lighting product designers and lighting implementers. With a fast-growing interest, and increase of projects submitted from the “Entertainment lighting” industry, LIT has invited new jury members to join the LIT Lighting Design Awards. Their technical knowledge, extensive experience, eye for detail and creative minds will be key to recognizing the professional designers pushing boundaries and identifying emerging talents, who are bringing new ideas to the entertainment lighting industry.
The LIT Awards is honored to welcome our four new judges, each and everyone is an international respected Lighting and Production designer; some of the most accomplished leaders in the Entertainment Lighting industry: LeRoy Bennett, Roland Greil, Peter Morse, Charles B “Cosmo” Wilson.
With decades of experience creating some of the biggest concert productions, LeRoy Bennett is a lighting and stage director who began his career designing stage productions for Prince. The success of Prince’s “Dirty Mind” tour led to a 14-year collaborative relationship and established LeRoy as the vanguard of his field. Living in Los Angeles, LeRoy Bennett is recognized worldwide as one of the most iconic innovators in cutting-edge production, lighting, and stage design. His resume boasts superstars from every music genre including Ariana Grande, The Who, The Game Awards, Queen, Madonna, David Bowie, Maroon 5, Lenny Kravitz, and Faith Hill/Tim McGraw.
Roland Greil has worked with a number of the most significant artists in the entertainment industry, including; Adele, Phil Collins and the Rolling Stones, for whom he has collaborated with Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD). Most recently Roland has been responsible for the co-lighting design of the current Rammstein stadium tour and Genesis’s “Last Domino” tour, also with WBD. Roland’s work is characterized by a professional, radically creative and innovative way of thinking. His experiences will be a tremendous asset to the jury panel.
Peter Morse’s career spans more than 45 years in the entertainment industry, Peter is an Emmy Award-winning lighting designer that has worked with many of the world’s top artists, including; Michael Jackson, Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Andrea Bocelli, The Eagles, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Bette Midler, and many others. Peter has lent his illuminating talents to numerous productions and has always appreciated the expression of design as a sampling of art and culture.
Cosmo Wilson is a concert lighting designer and director. His illustrious career has found him having worked with more than 40 bands from; AC/DC, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Blondie, Guns N’ Roses, Black Sabbath to Judas Priest and the Scorpions. Cosmo received a Parnelli Award for “Lighting Director of the Year 2015”, a Tour Link Top Dog Award for “Lighting Director of the Year” for AC/DC in 2016 and Aerosmith in 2017, and the Live Production Summit Pinnacle Awards for both “Lighting Director of the Year” and “Lighting Designer of the Year” in 2020.
“In the entertainment industry, lighting is a powerful storyteller; it helps people to connect to their emotions and bring life to a performance.” said Astrid Hébert, Program Director of the LIT Lighting Design Awards. “We are very honored to welcome Peter Morse, Charles B. “Cosmo” Wilson, LeRoy Bennett and Roland Greil to the panel, having all inspirational careers and unique expertise.”
With over 40 jury members, the LIT Lighting Design Awards Judges are all leading professionals and specialists in their fields. The evaluation process is based on various judging criteria that are constantly adapted to new technical, social, economic and environmental requirements.
Sophya Acosta, a Light Art Director originally from Argentina and founder of the “Sophya Acosta Lighting Design Studio” is also joining the jury panel bringing her knowledge in Light Art Installations. Already judge for a couple of years, Katia Kolovea – founder of “Archifos” and Art Lighting Director as well as Bradley King – Lighting Designer in Broadway will also be reviewing the submissions in entertainment lighting categories.
The award welcomes submissions from professional, emerging designers and students and it will close on October 22nd, 2022 – to enter the LIT Lighting Design Awards please register here.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards held a winners ceremony at the LEDforum.22 in São Paulo, Brazil, on August 19th at the Tivoli Mofarrej Conference Hotel
LEDforum is known nationally and internationally for offering lectures and activities of high technology and knowledge level, conducted by great names in the Brazilian and international lighting universe. The event brought together an audience of lighting designers, architects, product designers, urban planners, landscape designers, academics, developers, and providers of lighting solutions, coming from different regions of Brazil and Latin America.
Introducing regional winning projects, Aline Martins dos Anjos from the LIT Lighting Design Awards invited the 2021 winners on stage.
Antonio Carlos Mingrone, Principal of Mingrone Iluminação shared a few words on his winning project the “Financial Institution”; while honorable mentioned recipients included: Carolina Ciola Fonseca from Studio: Studio ió Arquitetura, Marina Makowiecky from Allume, Simone Turíbio from Choque Design, Neide Senzi from Senzi Iluminação, Marina Lodi and Nina Morelli from Auma Studio, received their LIT Awards 2021 certificates.
Photo: ledforum / leandro de carvalho
View all impressions from the LIT Awards Ceremony at the LEDforum.22
