Family and friends
Shanghai, 8th February 2010
Today I would like to pay tribute to our real support team! Not our staff, but the people that matter to us at home, our partners, our children, our parents, our friends, our loved ones. The ones who have to endure our frequent travel, our unpredictable time schedules, our moods, our successes and our failures.
The occasion is my Dad’s birthday today. Both my Dad and my Mum have always been very supportive of me (rain or shine) and I would like to thank them for that. It has and still means a lot to me. While we of course depend heavily on our front staff in the office, it’s the love and support of the people back home that carry us. I can’t emphasis enough how important family and friends are. It gives meaning to our life!
In our job as lighting designers we tend to travel a lot. It is not a 9-5 behind the desk job. It requires going out to meet clients, architects and coordinating works on site. And as there are not that many lighting designers around, we find ourselves travelling the world. Someone ever told me that for all projects that would require a professional lighting designer, less than 5% actually do. It is not hard to see that we can easily get our priorities mixed up. Certainly those who are entrepreneurs and business owners, as work never stops!
In Asian culture work seems to have priority over family life, so it makes it extra hard as the “system” expects you to work on Sundays if needed or give up your holidays to attend to urgent deadlines. Somehow project deadlines never seem to consider private life, let alone holidays!
So to all my family and friends who have supported me through thick and thin over the years I say thank you! …Happy birthday Dad!
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