FABRIC OF OUR SOCIETY

The Fabric of Our Society editorial is a platform for industry thought leaders to provide experience-based opinions and reflections on various topics. Diverse perspectives are respected and most welcome. Want to contribute? Email [email protected]

December 2023

Asian Lighting Community Gathers Forces and Resources   

David Seok
Senior Lighting Designer, The Lighting Practice

David Seok and Gary Wong sought to help Asian lighting professionals starting on their career paths. Instead, they’ve found a wealth of industry support and mutual inspiration. MORE >

November 2023

Quality of Dark

Jenny Ivansson
Project Director, L’Observatoire International

America possesses a wealth of resources, and electric light is one of them. You don't have to be a lighting professional to realize what a treasure it is. MORE >

October 2023

Bright Days and Dark Nights: From Science to Application 

Mariana G. Figueiro, PhD
Professor and Director of the Light and Health Research Center
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

We have the technology and metrics in hand to improve sleep and promote well-being in diverse populations. But we seem to be slow to actually implement healthy circadian practices. Researcher Mariana G. Figueiro points lighting designers in fresh directions. MORE >

September 2023

Moonlighting Celebrates Who We Are When We’re Not Lighting

Francesca Bastianini
Founding Partner, Sighte Studio
Moonlighting 2023 Liaison

When we gather as a lighting community there’s often a lot of shop talk. Samples, quotes, details, orders… We have our own shorthand. However, shop talk is often a small part of what gets discussed when we lighting folks gather. Recently, at a dinner hosted by a manufacturer and our agency rep, we shared how we are truly lucky to be a part of an industry where we come together regularly to focus more on who we are, and less on what we do. MORE >

August 2023

Feeling the Heat? Let’s Push for Sustainability...Now!

Christine Hope
Principal, Focus Lighting

For many years, climate change has felt like a future problem. A problem for our grandkids to deal with, maybe? But this summer of record-breaking heat waves around the world – and one extreme weather event after another – makes living with climate change a daily occurrence for most of us. “It’s so far out of line of what’s been observed that it’s hard to wrap your head around,” Brian McNoldy, a senior research scientist at the University of Miami, told The New York Times. “It doesn’t seem real.” Sometimes I think about the nineties before Al Gore blew everyone’s mind with An Inconvenient Truth. Fast-forward 20 years, and no one can deny this is real. The lighting industry needs to adapt, quickly. MORE >

June 2023

How Can We Design for Darkness?

Oktay Akanpinar
Senior Designer, HLB Lighting

Since we know the impact that LED lighting can have on energy savings and CO2 emissions, many believe that we are making outstanding improvements to benefit the environment. However, humanity’s rush to drive away the darkness is still having significant environmental impacts, and light pollution is perhaps the most insidious. MORE >

April 2023

Don’t Say No: Renfro Communicates Light with Cartoons!

Angie Ohman
Project Manager, Renfro Design Group, Inc.

Sometimes I feel like I have to say “no” a lot in design conversations. For instance: “Lighting that green wall pink for Valentine's Day is not going to work how you think it will.” It’s much more fun, for all parties, to be reminded of some of those peculiar qualities of light in illustration form. And what’s more approachable than a cartoon? MORE >

March 2023

IESNYC Student Lighting Competition
Inspires at LEDucation

Shaun Fillion and John Delfino, LC, IALD
Co-chairs, IESNYC Student Lighting Competition 

The program attracts students from diverse backgrounds. It’s often their first taste of the lighting industry, and our big chance to capture talent. Because it is a light art competition, the IESNYC Student Lighting Competition takes all comers. Students are creating experiential, artistic interpretations to be presented online at studentlightingcompetition.org and displayed in-person at LEDucation. The competition attracts students from diverse backgrounds: perhaps a third of are currently enrolled in lighting-centric educational tracks. It’s their first taste of the lighting industry and the opportunities it offers. And our chance to let the next generation inspire us right back. MORE >

February 2023

Lighting Design Program at Parsons School of Design

Craig Bernecker
Professor of Lighting Design and Director of the MFA Lighting Design program at Parsons School of Design; Founder and Director, The Lighting Education Institute

While many of you might know of Parsons lighting design program or know some graduates (or have even hired them), you may not be familiar with the details of our program. And since Parsons grads are interwoven into the “Fabric of Our Society,” I thought it would be beneficial to share a quick synopsis.  MORE >

January 2023

Why Teach?

Nathalie Faubert
Senior Associate, Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Adjunct Professor, New York School of Interior Design

Most interior design students come to my class armed with limited tools and likely a single, one-size-fits-all solution. So it’s my job to show them how much there is to the world of lighting and the many, many different techniques available to them – in addition to the basics of lighting. I think that anybody that has the bandwidth and interest in teaching should give it a try. The more professionals that teach, the more students are exposed to different design aesthetics, personalities and priorities. MORE >