Zurich, Switzerland – The Three C Group (3C Group) has recently joined the World Design Organization (WDO)®, becoming a member of the globally recognized non-governmental organization that aims to promote and advance the discipline of industrial design and its power to enhance economic, social, cultural and environmental quality of life.
Founded in 1957, WDO services over 185 member organizations around the world, engaging thousands of individual designers through our innovative programming and initiatives that champion ‘design for a better world’.
The 3C Awards represent today’s diversity and innovation in lighting design, furniture design, sports design, interior design, and architecture. Each brand is a symbol of design excellence around the world, showcasing the work of professional and emerging designers to more than 100 expert jury members.
The company has three programs dedicated to industrial design:
“The 3C Group programs aims to celebrate Innovative Design, People, and their passion for the industry, through our rigorous judging process, we recognize those that have gone above and beyond.” Said Astrid Hébert, co-founder of the Three C Group GmbH, “becoming a member of the World Design Organization (WDO) is corroborating our company vision and mission to promote the appreciation of design excellence through education, outreach, and grants.”
More information on www.3Cawards.com
The LIT Design Awards catalog showcases the best of 2021 Lighting Designs and Lighting Product Designs! The brochure features exclusive interviews of Eleftheria Deko of Eleftheria Deko & Associates, winner of the “Lighting Design of the Year” for the “Acropolis of Athens and Monuments” and Charles Prograce with the “Opteris Chandelier”, winner of the “Lighting Product Design of the Year.”
Jay Burnett, a student of the Georgia Institute of Technology, won the “Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the Year” title with “Trinity”, speaks with us about his love for design and inspirations for his career debut. While Congrui Gao, a student at the California College of The Arts in San Francisco and winner of the “Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year” prize, shares his enthusiasm and future professional aspirations.
The annual catalog includes an introduction of the recipients of the 2021 “Lifetime Achievement” Award, Craig A. Bernecker, professor of Lighting Design at Parsons School of Design and Tony Lawrence, Lighting Product Designer at Concord Lighting. Last, discover LUCI Association, the international network of cities on urban lighting and winner of the “Spotlight” prize.
The catalog is available to purchase on Amazon and can be downloaded on the LIT Awards website.
Tuesday 15th of February 2022 – Hosted by John Bullock (The Light Review Online) and presented by Sally Storey (John Cullen Lighting & Lifetime Achievement recipient in 2020), the LIT Lifetime Achievement Trophy was presented to Tony Lawrence at Concord Lighting Head Office in Newhaven, United Kingdom.
Celebrating over 50 years in Lighting Product Design, Tony Lawrence has been working since April 1969 at Concord Lighting part of the Sylvania Lighting group. Tony has been designing products that brought accent lighting to the high streets, art galleries, museums, hotels, and more.
Zurich, Switzerland – The 2022 LIT Lighting Design Awards is now accepting entries into its two major categories, Lighting Product Design and Lighting Design. It welcomes submissions from professional, emerging designers and students until the 22nd of October 2022, the program promises to attract entries from some of the most forward creative lighting firms and independent designers from all around the world!
The LIT Lighting Design Awards was created to recognize the efforts of talented international lighting product designers and lighting implementers. We believe that lighting is both an art and a science, and is one of the most important elements of design. The LIT Awards were envisioned to celebrate creativity and innovation in the field of lighting products and applications.
This annual program aims to celebrate Projects, People, and their passion for the industry, through our rigorous judging process, we recognize those that have gone above and beyond.
In 2021, the awards received over 500 submissions from 33 countries, the range of work was as astounding as always, with honorees including Eleftheria Deko & Associates for the new lighting of the Acropolis of Athens and Monuments, Expolight based in Ukraine for the Madison Business Center and SPEIRS MAJOR and LEOX design partnership for the Tianan 1000 Trees project in Tianan china. Lighting Product companies such as CENTRSVET, A-Light, and Delta Light have also been awarded… just to name a few.
The 2022 jury, composed of 35 experienced designers, lighting experts, academics, and media representatives will select the winners in each category in November 2022. Past jurors have included Orlando Marques & Thiago Gaya from L+D Magazine, Yah Li TOH, Principal at Light Collab in Singapore, Sally Storey, Creative Director at John Cullen Lighting, and Martin Klaasen at Klaasen Lighting Design and Lighting Design of Things.
The “Lighting Design of the Year” & “Lighting Product Design of the Year” professionals and students will receive the coveted LIT Design Awards Trophy, their winning projects will be showcased to the global audience and be featured in the Annual LIT Awards catalog. Winning the LIT Design Awards is an opportunity to step into the global spotlight, elevate the company profile or boost a starting career. Enter here!
Registration for the LIT Lighting Design Awards is now open and will close on October 22nd, 2022. Those who register before April, 24th, 2022; will receive an early bird discount of 10%.
The awards received over 500 submissions from 33 countries, the range of work was as astounding as always, with honorees including Eleftheria Deko & Associates for the new lighting of the Acropolis of Athens and Monuments, Expolight based in Ukraine for the Madison Business Center, and SPEIRS MAJOR and LEOX design partnership for the Tianan 1000 Trees project in Tianan china. Lighting Product companies such as CENTRSVET, A-Light, and Delta Light have also been awarded… just to name a few.
The jury composed of 35 experienced designers, lighting experts, academics, and media representatives has selected the winners in each category. Jurors included Orlando Marques & Thiago Gaya from L+D Magazine, Yah Li TOH, Principal at Light Collab in Singapore, Sally Storey, Creative Director at John Cullen Lighting, and Martin Klaasen at Klaasen Lighting Design and Lighting Design of Things.
We will be hosting the 5th Annual LIT Lighting Design Awards winners celebration online at 4:00P M (UTC) on Friday, 18th of February 2022.
We will be honoring the winners of the LIT Awards 2021, showcasing a selection of outstanding lighting projects and honoring those whose contributions to the lighting industry are tremendous.
The event will be streamed online via Facebook, Youtube and on the LIT Awards website, make sure to set up your alarm and follow us on social media.
Congrui Gao has a creative, futuristic, imaginative, and artistic approach to design! His design “Immersive Gestures” was mainly inspired by Balenciaga’s 2020 autumn and winter fashion shows, Congrui shares with us his enthusiasm and future professional aspirations.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Congrui Gao. I was born in Shanxi, China, and I am currently studying Interior Design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. I believe I have a creative, futuristic, imaginative, and artistic approach to design. Interior designers can have an impact on the lives of people in a given environment. I like the challenge of blank spaces, and I get excited about imagining the space we will inhabit in the future. I am extremely sensitive to colors. As an Asian, I have a unique perspective from the East. I love nature, the outdoors, travel, photography, and everything about art.
How did you discover your passion for lighting design? Why did you choose to study lighting design at the California College of the Arts?
The reason I love lighting design and am passionate about it is my sensitivity to color. The nuances of the color of light seem to me to have a huge impact on the environment, the atmosphere, the objects presented, and the senses of the experiencer. Reasonable control of light color, color temperature, intensity, atmosphere, type, and other elements, is a great challenge for designers. I like to explore the subject of lighting, so I chose to study at the California College of the Arts, which has a professional team, faculty, and abundant resources in the Bay Area.
Can you please share your creative journey behind “Immersive Gestures”? Where does your inspiration come from?
The idea for my work was mainly inspired by Balenciaga’s 2020 autumn and winter fashion shows. The original setting was at the Cité du Cinéma film studio complex in Paris, with the Balenciagas on a central runway submerged underwater and surrounded by an oblong amphitheater of seats. Although only a few centimeters deep, the water created the illusion of an almost bottomless abyss at the center of the show.
An LED screen suspended from the ceiling shifted between natural scenes of crashing waves, churning clouds, swarming crowds, and bright red glowing lava, which were reflected in the water below. In my work, “Immersive Gestures” will be used as a key set of oriented words for the creation and design of my performance space for Balenciaga within the context of the Z Space theater and performing arts company located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. Each environment is connected through layers of immersive experiences.
The truncated cone form is the basic core element of the performance space, which is evenly divided and rotates around a series of center points within the site. The interior of the performance space is composed of a single strip-shaped LED screen, and the audience will stand along the arc edges to experience a 360-degree immersive experience. The video projected on the screen will physically respond to the model’s fashion clothing, creating a sense of mystery, oppression, structuralism, and powerful visual impact.
Instead of maintaining a fixed relationship between the stage and the audience, the relationship between fashion, model, and audience will evolve. The entire fashion show experience is not a static vision; it is an immersive experience of moving gestures between the audience and performer.
What does it mean to you to become the LIT 2021 Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year?
First of all, thank you, LIT, for affirming me. This was the biggest encouragement for me in the beginning stages of my journey as a designer. It made me realize that I am talented, and I am also capable of creating my dreams, and I am more convinced than ever that I will go further and further down the road of lighting design.
What are you working on now? Can you share a glimpse of your next lighting design project?
I just recently finished the design of the restaurant. Of course, lighting design is a very important part of it. This project is also a renovation of the old site in San Francisco. Lights play various roles in my new designs, such as guiding functions, layering functions, spatial functions, transforming functions, etc. I am exploring the relationship between light and different roles in space. I’m very excited to break through and challenge myself.
You are just starting your career as a lighting designer… What do you want to do next?
I want to have the opportunity to get in touch with a variety of excellent lighting designers and to learn from, collaborate with, and gain experience with them. In the beginning, I always thought that experience was the best teacher.
Last, what should we wish you for 2022?
To maintain a healthy and active life, and wish everyone in the world peace and happiness. I’m looking forward to finding a job and starting real physical projects for any of my design careers this summer.
Jay Burnett, a student at the Georgia Tech College of Design won the LIT Design Awards 2021 in the Lighting Product category with a chandelier design called “Trinity”. To produce Trinity’s concrete hub, Jay developed a 3d Printable concrete mold which increased re-usability, enabled highly accurate dimensioning, and allowed mounting hardware to be cast directly into the part all white decreasing cost & machining time when compared to reusable silicon or foam mold at this scale. Jay shares with us his love for design and inspirations for his career debut.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m 21, an Atlanta native, when I am not designing, I enjoy making music, staying active through competitive sports, and cooking!
How did you discover your passion for Lighting Product Design?
For the past few years at the Georgia Tech College of Design, the sophomore capstone project has been to design and fabricate a light that explores materials, scale, and experience. This was my first exposure to the field and is the project for which I created Trinity. As I worked, I discovered the power that furniture and lighting design have to create experiences & shape the story of space both passively and actively. I learned that Lighting Design is a mix of engineering, design, and art that I find extremely compelling. So much so that I am now pursuing a career in it!
Why did you choose to study Lighting Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology? When will you graduate?
My road to design begins similarly to many in recent generations- with Legos & the influence of an engineer in my family. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) Robotics got me hooked as a child on Lego robots & then as a high schooler on 120-pound metal ones. I learned how to CAD, how to make rough prototypes and then fabricate high-quality parts, how to code, & how to creatively and iteratively problem solve. I was mentored along the way by the Robojackets- Georgia Tech students who loved building robots too and wanted to teach kids like me how to do what they did!
Led by their example I applied to Georgia Tech, but I wasn’t sure what I’d major in. I liked creating things, I liked drawing, I liked leading design meetings and debating minute details of each part. Mechanical Engineering was the obvious choice, but my mom happened to find the GT School of Industrial Design webpage, called me over, and said “this sounds like you!” She was right, as she so often is.
Can you please share your creative journey behind “Trinity”? Where is your inspiration from?
Trinity is born out of a few core design ideas.
One, I wanted to explore what I could do with concrete. I knew I would be able to get much more complex smooth shapes with the tools I had by using a cast material instead of a solid one, & I thought this was as good a time as any to try it out!
Two, treatment of light. I was fascinated by designs that treated light as a solid that could either fill in negative space to complete a “solid” geometry or could act as an extension of a rigid limb.
Three, smooth material transitions. Finding a way to move from concrete to metal to glass with no visible fasteners was critical for two reasons. One is because I wanted this design to look sleek and professional, not like a flimsy prototype. Two is that it draws people in. I wanted to make people wonder “how does it do that? What’s holding it together”. That interaction takes it from a background piece to a focal point and a conversation starter. Good design is worth talking about.
What does it mean to you, to become the LIT 2021 Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the year?
I am very honored to have received this award, and It honestly could not have come at a better time. All designers face imposter syndrome at one point or another, and as I search for jobs it has been easy to doubt myself and my skill. But receiving the LIT 2021 ELPD of the Year reminds me that I am talented and passionate and my future is bright! It also reminds me that I am just emerging. I have a lot still to learn and explore in design, which is daunting but also very exciting! So, thank you very much for selecting my work!
You are just starting your career as a Lighting Product Designers… what do you want to do next? What are your dreams?
Over the past four years, I’ve gained an education in Industrial Design; I have learned sketching and modeling communication skills and prototyping and rendering; basically all the stuff one must know in order to say “I have a degree in Design”. But what I’ve really learned is how to serve others. How to put the user first, to try & understand their needs, that I should strive to design such that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability, & to be selfless in my designs because it’s not about me.
In short, I found a profession worth devoting my life to. That is why I stand on the edge of a precipice ready and excited to begin a career in design. This may sound cliche because I am sure most young designers hunger for the same thing, to improve lives and make eyes shine brightly. But I am proud that I am not unique in this goal. My heart swells to know that my peers and I truly want to make this world better, & I wholeheartedly believe that even if all of us don’t achieve such lofty things, a few of us will. So, having secured my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design this December, I’m excited to start! I don’t know where I will work or what I will make, but I know I do my best to try and become one of those few.
Last, what makes light magical to you?
Light sets the mood. With light, you can take one space and make it feel like two. You know what I mean if you’ve ever been to a bar or club near closing time. When the tired staff turns off the soft, warm lights that leave ample shadows and accent the face of that person you met at the bar so well in favor of the bright, aggressive fluorescents. Nothing looks mysterious and sexy anymore… you realize that everything is dirty & wet & that the room resembles a warehouse more closely than anything.
With the click of a switch or a turn of a dial, we can change everything about an environment. Something that powerful can only be magic.
Read more about the “Trinity” light.
The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most important monuments of world culture. A living symbol that has stood the test of time, and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. On the 30th of September 2020, the new lighting of the Acropolis and its monuments, funded and supported by the Onassis Foundation, was unveiled to the world.
Eleftheria Deko and Associates approached the monuments first with respect. Before applying their thoughts on paper they observed the characteristics of this unique place, studied its history, the forms and materials, the visibility from different points of the city, and the significance of this landmark.
Their design approach was to highlight the beauty of the architecture, the timelessness of sculptures, the whiteness of the Pendelikon marble in contrast to the robustness of the Sacred rock, and the heroism of the fortification walls. We achieved the differentiation by the use of different focusing angles, differentiation of color temperatures, and of light intensity. Lastly, Eleftheria Deko and Associates’ lighting vision was to make the site look outstanding at night from multiple directions both up close and from afar, and bring new life into the monuments of the Acropolis.
Here is a video of the making of, production of the Onassis foundation.
Founder of the award-winning lighting studio Eleftheria Deko & Associates, Eleftheria Deko and her team started to work on the Acropolis of Athens and other Athenian monuments in January 2020. They have been working days and nights on this project, having only 45 days to deliver the lighting study and complete the whole project in nine months from the assignment. The “Acropolis of Athens” project has received the “LIT Lighting Design of the Year” award for 2021. Eleftheria shares with us her design vision for this unique realization, as well as for her upcoming projects!
Could you tell us a little about yourself? How did you discover your passion for lighting design?
I have been working as a lighting designer since 1990. That is 31 years!
I have designed lighting for more than 600 theater, music, dance, and opera performances, for public events, multimedia shows, exhibitions, as well as art installations, in Greece and abroad, and have received good reviews, awards, and honors, including the 2009 Woman Artist of the Year for my contribution to the arts as a lighting designer in Greece. I have been teaching stage lighting design at the Theater Department of the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from 2005 to 2019, and I have to say that teaching has been the most fulfilling experience! Teaching and sharing my passion for lighting with young people and seeing them over the years become great lighting designers themselves is the most rewarding thing of all.
A significant moment was also my collaboration in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, as lighting designer and director, and member of the creative team. These two and a half years have been very creative and full of passion. The Emmy Award for Outstanding Lighting Direction, at the 57th Emmy Awards ceremony (Sept. 2005), was the first international recognition, and as the first Greek to have achieved this recognition, I have to say that I felt very very proud.
In 1999, I started my practice in the field of architectural lighting, founding the firm Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design. Together with my colleagues, we have created more than 200 studies for interior, exterior, and façade lighting for a large variety of public and private venues, such as office buildings, shopping malls, residences, restaurants, cafes, art spaces, monuments, hotels, media façades, and public spaces.
In December 2018, Eleftheria Deko & Associates lighting design won the first prize for exterior lighting at the Darc Awards, and we were the first Greek lighting design studio that achieved such an international award. Then more projects and awards followed, assuring us that we do serve lighting design in a good way.
The Acropolis lighting project came in 2020, and it has been more than a project for me.
It has been a mission! As a Greek and lighting designer, the lighting of the Acropolis was a lifetime project. It has been a unique experience for me and my team. It has been a most interesting journey.
Going back to how I discovered my passion for lighting design, I should say, inadvertently! By chance, or by this magic way that life leads you to your destiny.
I was pursuing a master’s degree in performance choreography at NYU, and the very first class I chose was lighting design, to learn how to light my own choreographic pieces. I immediately fell in love with lighting, and I have never stopped loving it since. Of course, New York in those days was full of art, theater, and dance performances, all with new ideas and pioneers in lighting. I was very lucky.
How would you describe the role and responsibilities when working on the new lighting of the Acropolis of Athens projects? Which other moments are included in this project? What was the design brief and your process when taking on this project?
This project was so much different from any other one. I felt I had to forget all I knew and start from scratch. Before starting our lighting study, I became an observer of the Acropolis. I spent many hours observing the monuments during the different phases of the day. That observation was the guide and the teacher. From different neighborhoods near and far, I observed the Acropolis as part of the city and its coexistence in today’s urban landscape. From these observations, I realized that the three elements of rock, fortification walls, and monuments, needed to be differentiated. Each bears different symbolism as well as different materiality.
The fortification, the rock, stands proudly in front of mankind. The walls represent human effort and craftsmanship, and the monuments are worship, art, and if I may say so, mystery.
These three elements cannot be illuminated in the same way. And this was our concept/philosophy for the new lighting of the Acropolis. Thus, through color temperature, direction, and intensity differentiation, we managed to achieve this. Moreover, we wanted to highlight the details of the sculpting parts and to create a depth of field to make the different volumes distinct from far away. For that reason, we used 12 different shades of white, to give different hues of light to the different monuments on the rock: the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaia.
My role and responsibility were to tame the desire to do more than needed. To achieve this, the new lighting would reflect the monument’s own light, highlight the light inherent in them, together with their history and the civilization they represent, and not project on them something that was not appropriate. It is such a delicate thin line to avoid the desire to “show off” and surrender to the needs of the monument and not to the ego of the designer. When we undertake large projects, I believe it is easy to fall into the trap of exaggeration. Sometimes the project itself might allow it, but in monuments such as the Acropolis, this is, in my opinion, forbidden. As in the ancient Greek saying, “all in good measure”!
In addition to the study of the new lighting of the Acropolis, we also undertook the complete implementation and execution of the project, including new wiring, electrical panels, and control system. For this, we collaborated with a sub-contractor, Mr. Dimitris Kapetanelis, and his team.
Another task was to obey all the restrictions and follow the guidelines of the archaeologists.
Due to the archeological significance of this historical monument, the placement and installation of the new lighting fixtures had to go through specific processes and get permission and installation approval from the Central Archaeological and Museum Council.
As per the brief, we didn’t receive a brief for the lighting design, but we received a technical study with guidelines and restrictions from the archaeological department of the Ministry of Culture, which we had to respect. They had only requested the improvement of the existing lighting and the replacement of the old luminaires, but we went beyond that and proposed a new philosophy. Thanks to the sponsor, the Onassis foundation, all this became a reality.
We undertook the project in January 2020 and completed the first phase on September 30th and the second phase (the temple of Hephaestus and the Philopappo’s monument) on December 3rd.
One of the main challenges that we faced in completing the project was the tight schedule. We had to deliver the lighting study within 45 days and complete and deliver the whole project within nine months from the assignment day. This restriction forced us to have a very strict schedule. And I have to say, we managed it very well. We divided our team into smaller groups, and each one had a different task. Working day and night in shifts to meet the deadline was not easy, especially for me since I was there day and night. Everybody involved, I have to say, worked with so much dedication and passion, and despite the very long hours, no one ever complained.
Our strict but effective schedule helped us a lot with the additional problem that appeared in the meantime, which was the COVID pandemic. A new situation we didn’t know how to handle, as we didn’t have the demo luminaires on time to do our on-site tests. We tested on-site similar spotlights and the real ones on Dialux and Relux.
This project was a journey with many difficulties, but also many rewards. The feeling after completing the task is not easy to describe in words. The Parthenon has been called by historians, artists, and architects throughout the centuries, the perfect building. Taking on the task of lighting it can only leave you in awe!
What does it mean to you to win the LIT 2021 Lighting Designer of the Year title?
The LIT award, and especially the title of designer of the year, gives me more than pride and satisfaction for the international recognition of my work. It is a great honor!!!
Being recognized by a jury panel of 38 of the most talented and successful professionals is the greatest honor for me and my team! I thank all the jury members for this recognition and the LIT organizers for the prestigious lighting awards that help our field grow and evolve into a brilliant community!!
What do you feel is the most challenging part of working in lighting design today? Are there any new trends you would like to share?
I believe now is the most interesting time to be a lighting designer. An artist lighting designer! Because now we have so many tools to work with, so many… ways of lighting to promote beauty, to create magic! Lighting is at the peak of its evolution, and I am expecting many more technological advances to come. I imagine total cableless lighting, even smarter control systems, sound and light collaboration, interactive lighting projections, and even healing through lighting.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
In fact, we are very busy and happy to work on some very exciting projects.
We just finished the lighting study of the Temple of Afaia on the island of Aegina, another amazing monument from the glorious times of Greek antiquity, predating the Parthenon.
We have just completed the lighting of the new Archaeological Museum of Cyprus in Nikosia and the Archaeological Museum of the island of Kythnos in the Cyclades, Greece.
Other ongoing projects are the façade lighting of the Appotronics headquarters building in Shenzhen, China, the lighting of the renovation of the Athens Hilton, the Amathus Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus, and the lighting of two new hotels, one in Thessaloniki and one in Corfu, Greece. Also, the lighting of the façade of the Intercontinental Hotel in Doha, Qatar.
A new project that is starting with the new year is the Riviera Galleria by architect Kengo Kuma, part of the Hellinikon project.
What would be your best advice to emerging lighting designers?
Not only to work with light, but also to be in the light!
Do not give up on the details.
Keep on learning about light, not only the technical part, but from nature, literature, art, philosophy, even astronomy… broader minds, broader ideas, and better designs.
Last, what should we wish you for 2022?
Exactly what I wish for you and all people: to keep our inner flame lit, so that in the darkest moments it illuminates our path, gives us hope and strength, and warms up our hearts to be able to feel joy and share love.
