The Lux Awards are designed to celebrate and reward both creativity and sustainability, recognising clients and end-users that have used lighting in exceptional ways to improve their lit environment, reduce energy and achieve business objectives.
The 40 under 40 website is now live and open for nominations which will close on 12th November for nominators and 19th November for nominees. Are you are a worthy recipient or do you know someone who deserves an opportunity to be recognised for what they have achieved in lighting so far?
This award used to be part of the Lighting Design Awards which is now no longer running. Filix Lighting who used to sponsor the Award have taken it on and with the help of Light Collective and are looking for the class of 2021. The Award has been running for five years with 200 recipients to date. You can hear from all past winners on the website.
Our esteemed judges for 2021 are as follows:
Paul Traynor – Light Bureau – UK
Regina Santos – Light Fusion – UAE
Elias Cisneros – 333 Luxes – Mexico
Aviva Gunzburg – NDY Light – Australia
Randy Reid – Designing Lighting – USA
Christine Sicangco – Christine Sicangco Lighting Design – Philippines
The 40 under 40 is a unique annual competition to select young and outstanding individuals who work in a creative capacity with the application of lighting in architecture. Nominations are accepted from international candidates under 40 and nominators must cite why they are exceptional. Candidates should be passionate about lighting and display outstanding talent and potential, and have demonstrable achievements in the field.
Winners will be announced in an online event on December 15th.
Robe Lighting France delivered its first Robe Awards event, a new design / programming / operating competition which saw 10 finalists – whittled down from over 160 initial entrants – to battle it out in person at Les Studios de la Montjoie in the La Plaine St Denis area near Paris … where they utilised a full Robe lighting rig.
It all started just ahead of the pandemic and lockdowns, when a succession of conversations took place – first ones were in fact over a year ago and between Sebastien Dendele, president of rental company MursDeLeds (MDL), and well-known TV lighting operator Yannick Duc who have been friends and colleagues for over a decade, both sharing a huge passion for lighting!
It was after MursDeLeds had installed Robe fixtures in a Paris club lighting rig that the two men hit on the idea of organising a lighting competition … and started talking with Robe France account handler Jean Philippe Fouilleul. He started to involve his colleagues Bruno Garros, Elie Battah and Vincent Bouquet, who floated the idea of engaging lighting designers and operators – young and aspiring as well as those with already established careers.
And so, the Robe Awards 2021 (France) was born.
The competition kicked off in December and was open to anyone in France familiar with professional lighting consoles and visualisation software and able to programme / operate a lightshow. The initial three stages were virtual and entered via a dedicated Facebook page.
Entrants had to create a 90 second timecoded lightshow utilizing grandMA 3D, Capture or Depence2 and 133 x Robe virtual moving lights, all working to the same predesignated music track.
Those gaining the most likes went through to the next round and the process was repeated … until three rounds later, the 10 finalists emerged. They ranged from practising lighting professionals to breakthrough designers, programmers, and operators.
The Finale was staged IRL (in real life) at Les Studios de la Montjoie in a fully Covid-safe and socially distanced event environment which was livestreamed via Robe France’s YouTube channel.
The Finale featured a much larger real lighting system comprising of nearly 300 Robe fixtures including the just-launched high-powered FORTE (with self-referencing, data capturing TE™ 1.000W White LED TRANSFERABLE ENGINE), and a physical lighting console that had to be programmed and operated live and in real time to a royalty free music track of the competitor’s choice.
Andreas Monschauer production designed the studio lighting rig used by the finalists for their lightshows, which included a spectacular central feature utilising a combination of 1 x PixelPATT, 12 x PATT 2013s, 36 x OnePATTs and 23 x PicklePATTs.
Andreas is quick to share credit for this WOW factor with the team from MDL, adding that the idea behind it was “to add a strong and unique Robe identity to the overall design” and doing it with this family of very Robe specific fixtures proved the way-to-go.
The PATT centrepiece was flanked by two flown grids of bespoke moving LED panels framed with RGBW pixel dots designed by MDL. These were also available for the finalists to use.
Six groups of two Robe Tetra2 bars were rigged vertically in front of the main LED screen at the back of the space, with five more Tetra2 moving LED battens in a line upstage along the floor. All the other fixtures were distributed between a series of curved floor-mounted trusses, the studio’s roof grid and the deck.
The 10 brand-new Robe FORTEs were joined by 10 x ESPRITES and 8 x SPOTEs – also among Robe’s newest moving luminaires – as well as popular industry-standard Robe products like Spiider and Tarrantula LED wash beams, MegaPointes, LEDBeam 150s and miniPointes.
In addition to the competition rig, a load more Robe fixtures were deployed for general studio lighting like illuminating the judge’s platforms and other areas, with nine T1 Profiles for key lighting, plus more Spiiders, miniPointes and PicklePATTs, ParFect 150s and two RoboSpot remote controlled follow spot systems.
Each finalist had three days to pre-vis their show at home before arriving at the studio with their show-file, and a further 3 hours onsite to upload this and fine-tune, with a choice of grandMA or ChamSys consoles.
The Finale light shows were judged by four leading industry professionals, all present in the studio, although the identity of the show creator remained anonymous throughout the performance and judging!
Two sets of marks were awarded – for the technical and creative elements of each show – by each judge.
The eminent judges were Philippe Cerceau from Paris-based creative design company Clair Obscur, known for his fresh and innovative approach to lighting, a craft finessed over 20 years’ experience working at the cutting edge of fashion and style events and luxury brand activations.
He was joined byFrédéric “Aldo” Fayard,founder and artistic director of Paris-based creative design practice Concept K, who – normally – travels worldwide working on the coolest and most imaginative projects including live shows and installations.
The third judge was Dimitri Vassiliu, one of France’s best-known music, concert touring and show lighting and visual designers and scenographers, famous for his highly original production and concept ideas and perspectives.
“It was truly amazing to get judges of this calibre involved in the project,” commented Robe France CEO Bruno Garros.
The fourth judge was Robe s.r.o.’s global business development manager Bram De Clerck, who stated, “It was fantastic to see these efforts made by Bruno, Elie, Vincent, Jean Philippe and the team from Robe France and their partner companies, all of whom gave their time and resources into making this event happen during one of the toughest lockdowns.
“The quality of the contestants was excellent as was the Finale event! The whole competition has proved a great talking point, generated lots of positivity, engagement and conversions and it’s also been a lot of fun presenting these new challenges to the contestants!”
After some extremely tough judging, Jean-Pierre Cary, a lighting designer and assistant operator, was declared the winner.
The runners up were theatre LD Alexandre Marcadé and lighting technician Matthieu Laurent, while fourth place was decided by public vote via Facebook, going to LD Eve Harpe.
Bruno Garros enthused, “Apart from connecting with so many people across the French lighting community through these Robe Awards, it was a huge honour to work with everyone involved – from the judges to our collaborating technical partners! We all enjoyed the passion, ingenuity, and attention to detail that our entrants put into their shows, and above everything, the finale event was a fantastic chance to show how we can safely stage Covid-safe events.”
He added that it is intended to run the Robe Awards again, probably at the same time of year, because even in ‘normal’ times with no pandemic and the industry buzzing and everyone working, December through early February is a traditional ‘down’ time.
Those all-important technical partners included MDL who provided lighting, video, 3D tracking, teams setup, catering, and more; Plani-Presse who supplied cameras, sound, mics, and editing services; and JBL Sonorisation who delivered the 12 x Robe SilverScans that were also included in the Finale lighting rig together with some of the power / electrical distribution.
The event’s technical director was Florian Thuillier, the lighting technical director was Vincent Bourveau, director of photography for the livestream was Dimitri Gogos and the cameras were directed by Marc Regnaudin.
Yannick Duc was the operator for both lighting and media server during the finale. Media server and XR tracking was looked after by Sebastien Barry with streaming support from Quentin Fayette.
The studio video and lighting equipment, logistics and supply for the Finale was overseen by Sebastien Dendele.
The Awards project manager was Kevin Dalibert, with stage managing in the capable hands of Régis Douvry. A console support group was co-ordinated by Quentin Douriez and Kevin Bellay and the teaser and Robe Awards media creation was looked after by Séléné Grandchamp.
Jean-Philippe Fouilleul, Maxime Jeanjean and Vincent Bouquet from Robe France were on hand with global support throughout the competition including during all the rounds and the Finale.
The Covid protocol and testing manager at Les Studios de la Montjoie for the Finale was Annie Rhino.
Bruno emphasises the central role played by Sébastien Dendele in the whole event and the finale. “Without his passion, enthusiasm and perseverance we would never have been able to stage a project of these dimensions, especially during these extraordinary times,” he concluded.
Please check this link for an English sub-titled version of the Finale broadcast event https://youtu.be/iyIEeT8xgCQ
Photos: Courtesy Robe France.
Taking place during the original LuxLive dates of 11 and 12 November, the LuxLive Digital Festival will be representing an ambitious and comprehensive digital education programme focusing on a central theme of Health and Wellbeing.
The festival will be made up of four strands with their sessions split over the two days: Emergency Lighting, Smart Lighting, Workplace and the Lightspace Festival, focusing on lighting in architecture.
In addition to the headline acts, the festival will also offer sponsored keynote presentations as well as case studies and interactive learning.
Furthermore, there will be plenty of opportunity for networking with one-to-one meeting facilities, round table discussions, video presentations, live polling, and Q&A sessions throughout.
The popular Lux Awards will close the festival as it makes its digital debut edition in the award’s celebrated history.
Helvar is proud to announce that they are a WiredScore Accredited Professional partner for SmartScore, among the first in the Nordics. Helvar’s SmartScore accreditation is a powerful indicator to the clients of Helvar’s expertise and leadership in the fields of digital connectivity, intelligent lighting solutions and smart technology.
WiredScore provides internationally recognised certification, assessing, evaluating, and certifying the digital connectivity of buildings. Helvar’s accreditation was announced during The WiredScore Future Forum on Tuesday 23rd November. This virtual event was a unique opportunity to gain industry-leading insights from innovation trailblazers and technology experts from across Europe. Featuring some of the most forward-thinking industry leaders, this WiredScore-hosted event looked at how real estate is changing across Europe and how in-building technology is instrumental in responding to that change.
“This is an exciting opportunity to be recognized as one of the most forward-looking leaders across Europe”, says Adel Hattab, CEO of Helvar. “We can help our clients to understand, improve, benchmark and promote smart technology in their buildings and development projects. By optimising design during the planning and construction of the development, one can avoid future renovation costs. Many buildings were designed and built-in pre-internet times. An astonishing 75% of all non-residential building stock in the EU was built before 1999, which creates urgency to renovate these buildings and now turn them into smart buildings.” SmartScore is the global certification for smart buildings, helping landlords understand, improve, and communicate the user functionality and technological foundations of their buildings.
2021 also marks Helvar’s 100th year in business. The company is continuing to introduce innovative and futureproof technologies to support its mission of Turning Everyday Places into Brighter Spaces. “Our mission reflects spaces that are sustainable, exceptionally well lit and intelligent, and thus support people’s wellbeing, creativity and productivity”, says Hattab. “These innovations and developments have been welcomed and acknowledged in the industry through several prestigious awards, including Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 Europe Company of the Year Award, the Controls Product of the Year at the 2020 Lux Awards, and an award and commendation at the 2020 DALI lighting awards.”
One of the Society of Light and Lighting’s flagship events, Ready Steady Light will be returning this Autumn. Taking place in partnership with Rose Bruford College, the competition will be back at the college’s leafy Sidcup campus on 19 October 2021.
As is tradition, the SLL is inviting teams of lighting professionals to compete against each other in this back-to-basics celebration of the art and science of light. Each team will be challenged with creating an exterior light installation, with a limited range of kit and only 180 minutes.
Whilst the lighting community has worked to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic, day to day work has continued. There have been new starters and the same requirements to support development but without the crucial interaction that comes with working alongside colleagues in a shared space. The Society feels it is more important than ever to provide design practices and lighting professionals with an opportunity to have fun and work together, with the added element of some friendly competition.
As always, there will be three awards up for grabs. A panel of expert judges from the SLL and the IALD will be deciding the winners of the Technical and Artistic Awards, with the coveted Peer Prize decided by the contestants taking part.
Students enrolled in Rose Bruford College’s Lighting and Design BA courses support the event, with the opportunity to learn from and assist lighting professionals working in this unique environment.
Previous winners have included dpa lighting consultants, Future Designs, UCL, WSP, Arup, Hoare Lea, Thorlux Lighting, Speirs Major, Aecom and many more. Do you think you’re up for the challenge?
Find out more and register your team for SLL Ready Steady Light 2021 –
https://www.cibse.org/society-of-light-and-lighting-sll/sll-events/sll-ready-steady-light
If you are interested in donating kit or supporting this event, please contact sll@cibse.org
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, John Cullen Lighting continues to be at the forefront of the ongoing lighting transformation. Recognised throughout the world for lighting design excellence with award-winning schemes and discreet architectural luminaires, John Cullen Lighting is known for its ability to enhance the enjoyment of spaces through the power of light. Whether working on a town or country residence, garden, hotel or superyacht, contemporary or traditional, the goal is always to integrate with the vision of each client and ensure their imagination is exceeded.
Creative Director Sally Storey is a leading name in lighting who has a passion for the effects and impact of light on space and design, as did the company founder, lighting designer John Cullen. As Sally explains, “John Cullen’s philosophy is to create the finest quality of light from the most discreet luminaires; in achieving this, the light source should always be concealed.” Nature has provided the company’s vision. Inspired by natural light, Sally and her experienced team have developed bespoke schemes that have highlighted the drama that light can create, paying close attention to the quality of light, the discreetness of the fittings and their effects, cleverly illuminating colour, shape, form and shadow according to each individual space and requirement.
As Sally Storey notes “Lighting is the most versatile interior design tool that can entirely change the way a room looks and feels at the touch of a button. No other interior element can have such a strong impact. Architectural lighting should be as discreet as possible, to look effortless and make any space wonderful to be in.”
Sally and her team’s extensive knowledge and understanding of light and technology have, over time, helped alter perceptions of how lighting can be used. Today, good lighting is seen as an art form. As an innovator, Sally has transformed the perception of this sector so that lighting is now considered a key element of any project alongside architects, interior and landscape designers. John Cullen Lighting is credited with creating a lighting narrative that in turn has elevated and enhanced the UK lighting industry.
Innovation continues to be a driving force. John Cullen Lighting’s own research and development department is adept at adapting to each technological advance and application, creating its own British designed world-class high-quality luminaries capable of incredible effects. Included in its toolbox are some of the most iconic designs such as the classic Polespring downlight that has evolved and improved over the years in response and benefit from the newest technology. It remains the most discreet and elegant downlight on the market.
As a trusted authority in the lighting arena, John Cullen Lighting continues to be inspired by the drama of natural light. John Cullen lighting is looking forward to embracing the newest development in lighting, such as smart technology, and ensuring that its clients continue to benefit from the power of excellent lighting in the enjoyment of their spaces, both inside and out.
JOHN CULLEN LIGHTING – TIMELINE (1981-2021)
1981
Founded by John Cullen, a pioneer of lighting design at the start of the halogen revolution. The first Showroom was opened in Smith Street, London, demonstrating lighting designed by Sally Storey.
1983
John Cullen passed away and Sally Storey took over as Design Director.
1986
The showroom was moved from Smith Street to Fulham Palace Road.
1990
The introduction of the first John Cullen halogen products that were designed in house and manufactured in the UK – Polestar downlight and Highlight, free standing uplight.
The 50W Polestar was the smallest downlights on the market, a third of the size of downlights before which used the 80 watt Par 38 lamp. The introduction by John Cullen of the double black baffle – black inner to reduce glare and lamp recessed into the ceiling to prevent even more glare – revolutionised the downlight ensuring a much more discreet unobtrusive way of lighting the home.
1992
The showroom was moved to a single unit on the famous Kings Road, London. Having developed a new floor wash light for the villa Sirolo, John Cullen’s iconic Sirolo was launched. After several improvements is still going strong today. The Columini was designed as the first uplight. Hot to the touch with the halogen bulb, one had to be careful where it was installed to ensure bags and fingers were not burnt!
1993
The first Lighting Masterclass was introduced to educate both trade and public alike on the new architectural lighting transforming homes and gardens. Lighting is more than just a pendant in the centre of a room.
1994
The warehouse opened for storage and dispatch of products. John Cullen luminaires were installed on a Superyacht for the first time.
2000
Sally Storey released her first book titled ‘Lighting: Recipes and Ideas’ by Quadrille. A self-help book to help people understand the impact of architectural lighting on the home.
2006
Sally Storey released her second book titled ‘Lighting by Design’, an aspirational book with stunning images specially commissioned by Luke White.
2006 also marked the start of the LED revolution when LED had developed sufficiently to be suitable for use in the home. Our first LED was launched, the ‘LED Polespring’, a low power 8W LED version of the iconic 50W downlight.
This was swiftly followed by the “cool to touch” 1W Lucca uplight, to replace the hotter Columini.
2008
Sally Storey released her third book titled ‘Perfect Lighting’ whilst the warehouse space was doubled to accommodate the growth of the company.
2011
First LED garden light fittings, the Kew spotlight and Hampton flood light were introduced into the range. At just 1W each, this heralded the ability to light a small garden for 60 watts, less than a conventional light bulb!
This year John Cullen also won the Best Lighting Project Award at the inaugural idFX Design Awards for a barn conversion in Devon.
2012
The company move to a double fronted showroom with a basement design studio along the King’s Road in London. This is where the “John Cullen House” took shape and became an Inspiration Centre for lighting ideas. This included the first unique John Cullen “lighting pod”, an all-white space in which the effect of lighting truly demonstrates the power and magic of light.
2015
Lighting of Marcus Barnett’s award-winning show garden at Chelsea Flower Show, followed by two further award-winning gardens at Chelsea for Hay Joung Hwang in 2016 and 2018.
2016
John Cullen celebrated 35 years and opened its new Middle East office in Dubai.
2018
The quest to miniaturize products started when the Polespring 50 downlight range was made smaller and the 40 range was born. This was coupled with the new versatile Vorsa spotlight range with over 200 variations to choose from.
The international reach extended with a new European team and studio in Paris, as well as doubling the team in Dubai. The India division was opened to work closely with local architects and interior designers across the subcontinent.
2019
The evolution of the downlight continued with the even smaller 30 range. The new design has all the functionality and adaptability expected from the 50 and 40 range but in a new miniature downlight.
2020
The Dubai team set up the British Design House with the new Showroom furnished by other UK luxury brands.
Sally Storey’s contribution to lighting is recognised internationally as she receives The LIT 2020 Lighting Achievement Awards (the Oscar equivalent in lighting)
2021 – where we are headed…
The focus for 2021 and beyond is further miniaturisation:-
– The Minim joinery downlight – the same size as a UK 5 pence piece
– The Vorsa Dot – the smallest luminaire on the market
John Cullen is currently working on a sustainability policy to be carbon neutral by 2030 driving towards luminaire design and manufacture for the circular economy.
