I was trained as an Interior Architect, and like most students, I assumed that the single lighting module in my four-year programme was all I needed to know. It wasn’t until my second job, when I met Rahul that a completely new world opened up for me.

Training at a lighting manufacturing facility gave me insights no course, book, or blog had offered. Lights aren’t just fixtures; they are engineered products, an outcome of countless experiments designed to create a specific mood. Something as simple as changing the fabric of a lampshade over a basic LED bulb can shift a space from industrial and focused to soft and intimate. That’s the power of good design.

So why is a Lighting Designer important?

When you’re deep in planning spatial layouts, finalizing materials, and detailing construction, knee deep in quality vs cost assessments, how often do you get the time to obsess over the finer points of lighting?

Do you pause to consider how a change in beam angle of a track spotlight could transform a kitchenette, a bar counter, or a piece of art?

Do you correlate your chosen materials with how they will react to a specific light source?

Do you remember to add reinforcements where recessed fixtures are coming, or it gets left out till the end and needs to be redone?

It’s for these nuanced decisions, the ones that quietly shape the entire atmosphere, that you bring in a specialist. A Lighting Designer doesn’t just place fixtures; they bring the entire project to life.

In our next post, we will discuss when to start engaging with a Lighting Designer during the course of your project.