The week that was…8th – 12th October 2018

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The week that was…8th – 12th October 2018

Perth – Singapore, Weekend 13-14th October 2018
Time and again I can’t get over how different the lifestyle in Australia is compared to Asia. The open spaces, the landscape, the weather (seasons, we are going into spring) and way of living give a real sense of freedom, it relaxes and recharges your batteries. The balance with work (yes we do work!) seems much healthier…it was also a week when we heard that Two Roads Hospitality (to which our beloved Alila Hotel brand belongs) has been sold to the Hyatt group…it will be interesting to see how that might impact on the projects we are currently working on…When Raffles/Fairmont was taken over by Accor it resulted in some definite delays in our Raffles projects…

International Lighting Advisory Council (ILAC)
In the beginning of the week I met with fellow board member, James Wallace, to further discuss our plans for this coming year. We recently added “Lighting” to the original IAC name to underscore that we are in lighting. Originally set up as an advisory council the Chinese Lighting Design Association, we have now expanded our scope to develop lighting design event programs for fair organisers like Messe Frankfurt, who is one of our partners in the Asia Pacific region. We have big plans for the coming year!

LDoT Australia
Continuing our relentless strive to develop our LDoT business platform, my presence in Perth earlier in the week was used to officially incorporate Lighting Design of Things Pty Ltd in Australia. As Ingmar is driving this from Perth it made sense to protect our national interests with an official company incorporation and trademark protection. We are excited and look forward to develop the business in Australia as well.

LIT Award juror
This week I also confirmed my participation as a juror to next year’s LIT awards which will take place in February next year. Besides professional lighting design practices the competition is also open to the new generation of lighting designers, encouraging students to participate in the competition. My blog will offer additional education value to the competition. Last years awards were hugely successful culminating in an exhibition in Tokio earlier this year. Next year’s venue is not yet determined…Singapore perhaps? More at www.litawards.com

Inaugural Lighting Design Summit Melbourne
Looks like next year’s schedule is already quickly filling up with also my participation as a guest speaker at the inaugural Lighting Design Summit to be held in Melbourne in March next year confirmed. Looking forward to catch up with some of my colleagues in the industry who will be speaking there as well. More at www.lightingdesignsummit.com.au

Atlas II
While details are still confidential, we had an exciting meeting with the client of the hugely successful Atlas Bar in Singapore. This year ranked at nr.8 on the world’s best bar ranking, it was great news to hear that a little sister bar is being planned for the new year! We are excited to be invited to work on the little sister. The Atlas Bar is a really unique concept and figures as one of the top attractions of the PLDC excursions. While the guided excursion (to be led by our own Cheryline) is sold out, the bar is a public space and as such open for a visit any time. I am sure its little sister once completed next year will be as successful…

PLDC Singapore 2018
PLDC is now really around the corner, another 10 days and we are off to the first ever convention outside Europe. The pre-convention program is all confirmed with the Cities Forum and the Educators meeting starting off the proceedings on Thursday. On Thursday’s opening night (to be held on location at Marina Bay Sands) I will be delivering a short keynote presentation on LDoT after Joachim Ritter’s welcome address. Besides giving me the opportunity to welcome PLDC in Singapore on behalf of the Singapore and Asian design community, my LDoT presentation will also allow us to set the tone for the “smart move” mantra that has been chosen for this year’s convention in Singapore. Next week I will be out an a about with Frank Kelly, our lead designer who has been in charge of organising the lighting fit out for our gala dinner the last couple of months, a lot of work! More at www.pld-c.com

LDoT round the table podcast
My participation to the round the table conference organised around my Lighting Design of Things concept has been recorded as a podcast and is now officially available on Signify’s Lighting University website. See the podcast here.

Have a great weekend!