The week that was 13-17th April
Milan, weekend 18-19 April 2015
Monday 13; Milan – Leonardo Da Vinci!
Arrived in Milan early this morning for our Euroluce and IGuzini visit. I am undertaking this visit as one of the international advisors to the CLDA (the Chinese Lighting Designer Association) and our mission this trip is multiple; first to get a feel of the latest lighting developments at the fair and second to develop relations with quality manufacturers with the aim to support each other in improving the quality of lighting in China. Believe it or not but even the Chinese lighting designers are fed up themselves with the poor quality products they are sometimes forced to work with. Highlight of the day was undoubtedly the specially arranged visit to the Cenacolo Vinciano which houses the original Leonardo Da Vinci mural painting “The Last Supper” (created sometimes between 1494-1498). It was recently restored with special lighting from IGuzzini allowing a bit more prolonged viewing times, but for conservation purpose visits are strictly limited and exceptional. Visitors go through triple airlocks to keep out air pollution with temperature and humidity kept at constantly monitored levels. With the detailed expert explanations we received it was an absolute unique experience. Lighting temperatures (3400K), CRI (95) and intensity were providing an excellent visual impression of the painting. IGuzzini’s Piergiovanni Cereglioli, who willbe speaking at PLDC in Rome later this year was so kind to give us the lighting background. Appreciation of the lighting is very subjective in my opinion, but most of all I could not help thinking how Leonardo Da Vinci himself would have been going about his painting. It is my understanding that he painted it during the day from 8am onwards, not with any artificial lighting…hence the final choice of 3400K for the artificial lighting is interesting…
Tuesday 14, Milan – Euroluce
Today was pretty much Euroluce day, Halls 9 to 15. The regulars like Flos, Artemide, Targetti, Vibia, Fontana Arte, Foscarini and so on, had company of more architecturally focussed companies like LineaLight, Simes, Delta, Modular, etc. Interesting to note was the presence of LG with a whole stand dedicated to OLEDs. Overall I did not see or feel any spectacular products or developments, but then this is a more decoratively oriented fair rather than technical performance. The only thing that did stood out to me was Viabuzzone’s N55 system, a cleverly designed component systems that consists of a proprietary 4-pin lamp holder base, a fitted COB engine unit and a multitude of attachments, from performance based reflector systems to decorative light globes of a variety of shapes and forms. This is a development that I am keen to see replicated. I was alsso duly impressed by their integrated illuminated retail shelving system. The systems were on display in Viabuzzone’s showroom located right in the middle of the city centre’s design district. The showroom including the temporary outdoor space and artwork, were the highlight for me. At the Euroluce fair itself I would say that the honours go to FLOS (now with Ares outdoor lighting) for an outstanding stand and great innovative products.
Wednesday, 15 Recanati – IGuzzini factory
After a 400km drive to Recanati we spent the rest of the day at the factory to make sure the CLDA delegates got a good feel and understanding of production quality and the amount of effort and dedication that go into producing quality products including optic design and product engineering, quality control, testing, certification and logistics. Metal works, painting, components, assembly, warehousing, tc., are all part and parcel of the final product that one day will see it installed in a project mostly specified by one of the (lighting) designers in this world. It is without doubt that IGuzzini is one of the leading European lighting manufacturers which is clearly visible from their professionalism on all levels, on the factory floor, in their offices and in receiving their visitors irrespective their backgrounds. The day was completed by a visit late at night (after a late dinner) to their outdoor lighting lab, showcasing the lighting effects of their key range of products in actual application. This included the latest smart road lighting system demonstrated along an actual road with a driving car…the future is here…
Thursday 9 Recanati – Light First; Martin and IGuzzini
This is the day that I wanted to give something back to the IGuzzini team in Recanati in appreciation of the many years of collaboration an many project. It was an opportunity to share a number of my projects in which their products had featured prominently and I wanted to share the design process and actual implementation on site to give the team a better understanding of what we do and what how their products end up being used. Many of them had seen the beautiful pictures of the completed projects or seen media feeds, even lighting design awards, as feedback of success, but getting an actual detailed run through from design concept to final completion was a feedback that only the lighting designer could provide. Besides the company staff several architects and designers from the region where in attendance and from the feedback received it was clear that this talk was highly appreciated…not often do the lighting designers using “their” products come to the factory to share their experience in doing so! As my presentation progress statements and key phrases were tweeted life on IGuzzini’s twitter and other social media. A very switched on event, thanks for making this possible!
PS: And Max, next time drive a bit more carefully please!… I am honoured you crashed your car to try and make it in time for my talk… luckily it ended with only material damage…Light AND Safety First!
Friday 10 Milan – Back to Euroluce
A final day at the fair with some business and potential project meetings as well as a final tour of the fair including some parts of the Salone di Mobile as interestingly you sometimes find innovative ways of lighting applications. The CLDA delegation leaves on a high that I am sure, as they got a great insight of the workings of an internationally reputed company like IGuzzini as well as seeing some of the great names in the industry displaying their quality products at the fair. With all them very familiar with the Asian fairs (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, etc) it must have been an eye-opening experience to tour a fair with hardly any Chinese company on display. I am convinced that the newly acquired knowledge will help to firm up their belief in quality and most of all spur them on to promote better lighting quality with their clients back in China. A successful trip for sure…
The week that was…
The week that was April 6-10
Singapore, weekend 11-12 April 2015
Monday 6; Singapore – Insights in our market
This week I am interviewing a number of lighting designers in search of a new job, some with several years of experience, some freshly graduated, and today I am talking to 3 of them. This is an interesting situation as I am learning that two of the candidates I am interviewing are being laid off by one of my competitors, a third one, freshly graduated is hell bend on working in a country like Singapore or Australia rather than Indonesia or China. Interviewing these people teaches me a lot. Besides that it gives me an insight in their lighting design skills and experience, it also gives me a look behind the curtain of their cultural background, their personal life and future work expectation as well as an insight in their current work responsibilities and salaries. This helps me to assess the market that we derive our work from in general, but the current economic climate more specifically. We have noticed an overall slowdown with fewer RFP’s and payments from our client taking more time to materialise, but that some of my competitors are now laying off staff is a definite a sign of a slowing market. While we are not in that situation (yet?), I feel I better be careful and not take on new staff until the market outlook feels more stable…
Tuesday 7 Singapore – Insurances
Talking about future security; it’s time to renew our company insurances and today I met with our insurance agent to see if any of policies and packages need updating. There are a few insurances that are critical in our business and one of this is our worldwide professional indemnity and public liability insurance. While in practice it is unlikely that you will ever have to fall back on it (In my 30+ years I have never had to call on it), it certainly provides you and your client piece of mind. With a team that travels extensively to attend design coordination meetings with clients and visit project sites, travel insurance is another must have insurance. This one we have claimed on several times, mostly due to flight delays or other flight related mishaps. The pay-outs are never what you hope for but at least it is there as a compensation for lost time or luggage. Our office insurance against property damage and contents just needs updating as our equipment like laptops, measuring devices or camera’s is a continuously moving target. Finally there is the companies welfare package in regards to medical benefits, besides the professional indemnity insurance probably the most expensive one of the lot. The medical benefits have to be carefully weighed against income and responsibilities in the company so these are divided in several groups. As we cannot cater for everyone’s requirements, the companies medical benefits are generally a base package that each can individually complement with their own.
Wednesday 8 Singapore – Dumb and dumber to
The title of irresponsible contractor(s) of the month has to go to the contractors of one of our KL projects. The project is reaching its final stages and regular site visits are now required to make sure everything is installed as per design specification, focussed, tested and programmed to satisfaction. Our team on site today was shocked when they discovered a contractor had spray painted the ceiling without the already installed light fittings being properly protected. And if only these had been cheap down lights one could possibly have forgiven the contractor, but in this case we were talking about highly sophisticated ERCO spot lights mounted on a track. To found them covered in spray paint was a nasty surprise. Both KLD and the manufacturer informed the client immediately and requested that all lights (nearly 200 of them!) be taken down, cleaned and then approved suitable for operation by the manufacturer. We cannot take the risk that lights fail at a later stage due to the paint. Besides that it is, even high up in the ceiling, a poor sight. The façade contractor managed another feat of utter stupidity by drilling holes for the fixing of opposing floodlights on the façade in such locations preventing any form of aiming and adjustment of the floodlights as they block each other out. Despite drawings and clear indications on how and where to fix somehow they manage to get it wrong. Here also nearly hundred points have to be redone! At least our site team caught this one in the butt…
Thursday 9 Singapore – Manufacturer relationships
Crucial in our line of work is our relationship with manufacturers. We are as good as the products we specify hence making sure we are on top of what we specify or understanding what is available to us is critical. Over the years you develop your relationships with the manufacturers and going to fairs like Light & Build in Frankfurt or visiting factories is part and parcel of keeping that up to speed. It is not only what is available today that is important but also the understanding what is “cooking in the kitchen” so we know what is coming. As responsible lighting designers we have a role to play in this by continuously feeding back our experiences in projects and way to improve products to meet today’s requirements. Next week I will be in Italy and as part of the trip I have a scheduled visit to the IGuzzini head office and will be presenting past and present projects in which we used their products, share my experience in doing so and engage in discussions for future improvement. In appreciation of my longstanding collaboration with IGuzzini I was today presented with a dedicated issue of the 2015 product book, a special limited edition signed by the president of the company. Thanks Adolpho and Max, see you next week in Recanati!
Friday 10 Singapore – Press and media
Part of our marketing and promotions activity in profiling our company to the general public is to participate in public and lighting related professional events. I was in Vietnam 2 weeks ago and in India last week and over the next few weeks some of the interviews and media feedback will be appearing in local and national magazines. Today I was sent a newspaper cut from a local chronicle that reported on the event in Bangalore last week. While it is probably just a gossip column of sort t still puts you out there and being projected as an award winning lighting designer (which I obviously am) helps maintain our image in the market as experts in our field. It is hard to actually measure in hard figures how this contributes to the bottom line but it is sure to help in public awareness and positioning us a professional award winning company. More to come over the next few weeks…
Have a great weekend
The week that was…
The (short) week that was 30 March – 2 April
Singapore, long weekend 3-5 April 2015
Monday 30; Singapore – Graphene lighting technology
Are we finally going to get some serious competition for the current LED lighting technology? As I am preparing my presentation for my Bangalore trip later in the week, I read up on the announcement that the graphene lighting technology is here to stay…better still it will commercially go on sale later in 2015! Graphene is the most conductive material in the world and is 200 times stronger than steel it is claimed; on top of that it is one million times thinner than a human hair…which begs the question how in heaven can you even work this?!? Anyhow the University of Manchester seems to have mastered this and it is thought that the graphene lamp will be the first commercial graphene application to become commercially available! The lamp, in the shape of traditional lightbulb, will have LED filaments (yes still…) coated with the ultrathin and ultra-conductive graphene. The developers claim that the production is cheaper than current LED technology and that it will cut the energy use with another 10%, be more efficient (more light?), last longer and will have smooth dimming (YES!) characteristics. I cant wait to get my hand on one to see what this is all about!..
Tuesday 31 Singapore – Solar power
While our daily work in the office rumbles on, another lighting related news flash reaches my inbox…The solar impulse, an airplane designed to be powered solely by solar power and currently on a trip around the world, just arrived in Nanjing, China after a night flight from Myanmar. Not surprisingly all lighting on board, like in all new airplanes today, is LED technology. One of the great interests, I guess, is the advancement of solar captive technology. Slowly but surely it seems like solar technology is mastering the conversion of solar light into usable energy to power light and other power hungry products. I imagine that the graphene technology mentioned in my previous blog may find some serious application opportunities here as well. One of the lighting concepts on my bucket list is a zero energy façade lighting design. I have looked at it on past projects, but none of them were deemed suitable for this. But I can feel that the implementation of solar in commercial building applications on a larger scale (I know it was done in Beijing a few year ago) is coming nearer and nearer, not only in regards of viable technology but also as an affordable solution.
Wednesday 1 Bangalore – All in a days work…
One of those days that seems never ending…I got up bright and early today to catch my 7 am flight to Bangalore where in the afternoon I am the guest of honour and guest speaker at an event organised at the occasion of the launch of the new FLOS showroom there. Dignitaries, key design consultants, developers and local media have been invited to attend the event. I had arrived late in the morning after a 4 hour flight, refreshed myself, checked my emails (as you do) and then found my way to the venue, the Samaavesh Building that now also houses the FLOS lighting showroom. My afternoon was consumed with making sure the projection and sound equipment was working, followed by two interviews with a local design magazine and an organisation promoting passion for life and work. The crowd arrived fashionably late (normal in India) and after the official introductions I started the proceedings with my presentation about the art of sustainable lighting design (a local adaptation of what I presented in Vietnam 2 weeks ago). This was followed by the official ribbon cutting and the reception in the actual showroom. From the enthusiastic feedback I received I felt the subject was spot on. In between the social networking afterwards, another interview with a national design magazine was organised for me in a “quiet” corner. I was touched with the respect and appreciation I received and nice to have some colleagues in the industry coming all the way to attend (thanks Armadeep!). I look forward to come back.
See also our KLD Facebook page.
Thursday 2 Bangalore – Time to take it in…
Due to limited flight availability I have a day to do a bit of R&R before I go to the airport which I happily use to explore the city where for some reason I had never set foot before despite my many years of doing projects in India…can you believe it? I organised a driver/ guide and went out to explore the landmarks and history of Bangalore; Bangalore Palace, the Vidhana Soudha, the High Court and National Library Buildings in Cubbon Park and of course the Botanical Gardens with its famous Glass House. It gave me a mixed bag of feelings… there is without doubt a lot of history and heritage in a city that is understandably called the Garden City because of its lush parks and gardens, but I was disappointed about the derelict state most of the historic buildings were in. On my drive through the city new and modern buildings are sprouting up, but overall the part that I saw has still a long way to go. I would have loved to have seen the city at night to get a feel of the night time lighting in the city, but except my trip from the hotel to the airport in the evening, my flight time did not allow that. I hardly noticed any tall building let alone any purposely lit building…definitely scope for (lighting) designers…here are some pictures for those who have never been…
Friday 3 Good Friday – Public holiday
Have a great (long) weekend
The week that was…
The week that was 23-27th March
Perth, weekend 28-29th March 2015
Monday 23; Perth – Architects of time
This morning the world and Singapore specifically woke up to the news of the passing away of Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), the architect of Singapore, he was 91. Singaporeans had been well prepared to the news as his worsening state of health had been meticulously communicated over the last few weeks leaving little doubt that his death was not far away. It definitely signifies an end to an era and how this legacy will live on and most of all how todays generation will pick it up and run with it is yet to see. It is without doubt that in life he was still hovering above every decision and direction made in and for Singapore. He commanded enormous respect throughout the world and his achievements are there for everyone to see. Now that he has gone the future for Singapore may lie in a different direction, but which one is difficult to predict at this stage. It is for sure that the little island state with one of the highest per capita income in the world has an excellent business environment, one that I have enjoyed for many years now and that I hope will continue for a long time. I consider LKY to be an architect of time, someone who leaves an indelible imprint in our society. I like to think that we as lighting designers are (on a mini scale I guess) little architects of time as well, with some of our projects leaving little imprints in our society here and there…
Kilometers of queues formed in Singapore to say goodbye to LKY…
Tuesday 24 Perth – Dimming…again
It is without doubt that dimming of LED’s is one of the key issues that plague us lighting designers the most. It is therefore with eagerness that I engage with anyone who may have the key to resolve this. Today I met with one of the leading LED developers who happened to be in Perth and within the shortest of time our discussions came down to the dimming issues that we face today, specifically in the retrofit market. As a company we now try t stay away from specifying, let alone approving (!), retrofit LED lamp installation specifically when they need to be dimmed, we have been burned too many times over the last few years. Point in case, in one of our recent projects we even had to resort in overturning the earlier decision to put retrofit LED lamps in existing ceiling chandeliers and revert back to the use of new generation halogen lamps simply because after many times testing and trying we couldn’t get it to dim properly. You would think that with all the experience we have we should be able to make it work, but no…we couldn’t; within the constraints of availability and budgets we could not get it right. But I know how we could get it right but it needs some out of the box thinking from the LED manufacturers with our help, so I really jumped on this occasion today and look forward to further discussions as I think we are on to something!
For those of you into music even Bill Haley sung about it: Dim, Dim the lights by Bill Haley and the Comets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2T9pogo9Ng
Wednesday 25 Perth – Keeping our skills current
To keep my design skills and experience current with creative impulses from cross application ideas I do once in a while dive into the art scene of light festivals. I have participated in ILight Marina Bay and have been developing ideas for other light festivals as well. Today is the last day for the submission of one of those in Europe and I have been working with an artistic friend of mine to develop our submission. What I find particularly interesting about doing this,, is that it challenges me to think differently about lighting, outside my daily routine of my more or less run of the mill projects. It forces me to think out of the box, think about human interaction, think about perception and human behaviour, all while keeping the principles of light and lighting relevant and applicable to the theme and intent of the festival. On top of that these are generally temporary installations so our way of going about design and specifications are different. I have no great illusions that we will be selected (better keep your expectations down and be happily surprised) but the exercise by itself is worth it and keeps my mind sharp and fresh…
Thursday 26 Perth – Going to church
Today I literally went to church as we got appointed to light up three historic churches in the centre of Perth. All three are owned by the same congregation and all three are in dire need for a major upgrade in their interior lighting. Two of them will also get an exterior face lift so that the churches will be seen and admired at night. In some of the interior areas it is even tough to read the bible or music and with the increased engagement of the public in events and others, it becomes more important than ever that not only the public is comfortable in the church when attending service but also that the stage is “set” to performances and presentations. Besides that the churches are also often the background for exhibitions and artwork expositions and possibly a whole flurry of other activities; hence the lighting design will face a multitude of challenges from functional performance based lighting to special event lighting. All that against the background of a heritage listed building fabric that will need to be taken into consideration when we develop our lighting design concept. The idea of packaging the three churches together is of course economy of scale, not only in design, but specifically also in future operation and maintenance. I am looking forward to the challenge…
Friday 27 Perth – Visa trouble
I am not really in trouble, this relates more about the trouble and planning we have to go through to get our visa’s when we travel. As you well know I travel a lot and in order to minimise my visa worries I generally get one year multiple entry visa’s so I have peace of mind for a year and I can hop on a plane in a moment’s notice. But visa’s are generally not obtained overnight and for countries like India and China it normally takes 3 to 5 days. So you need to be able to make sure you are on a location for about a week to allow for the application to be processed and the return of your passport (without which you obviously can not travel!). This week I finally got to renew my India visa, for which I had not found time since February! Luckily nowadays you can prepare most of the application on line and the actual time at the embassy or consulate is reduced to a minimum through actual appointments, but you still need to plan and schedule ahead and make sure your clients provide you with invitation letters, that you have your headshots done, etc, etc…today I just received my passport back just in the nick of time as I am off this Sunday again…
Have a great weekend, the week that was…
The week that was 16-19 March
HCMC, weekend 21-22nd March 2015
Monday 16; Singapore – Raffles Hotel Jakarta finally open
It has been a long time coming and a project we have been involved with since we started in 2008, but today Raffles Hotel, Jakarta finally opened it’s doors, though as a rather “soft” opening. The main entrance lobby, the writers bar, the All Day Dining and a handful of room and suites have opened to the public and the first guests stayed the night. Our team went in the weeks passed and actually already spent a few nights in the guestrooms, pre-opening; one of the “perks” of being one of the project consultants. As we carry out our programming, aiming, testing and commissioning we actually stay in the rooms, having the staff, then in full training, wait on us. One of the tasks we do get from the operator in return for our free overnight stay is to report any issues or mal-functioning (yes including lighting and lighting controls!) on an elaborate check list. As a lighting designer staying in a finished room that you designed is a priceless feedback. You get to literally experience first-hand how well your design works! There are still areas to finish but at least we can claim completion on a significant part of the hotel!
Tuesday 17 Singapore – Developing concepts to client’s approval
Key to all design work is to develop the concept. Over the past two days we have been working on the design concepts for two new hotel projects. Key for us in lighting is the interaction with the lead consultants, architects and interior designer. We can’t be developing our lighting concepts independently from the overall interior design intent when it comes to the interiors or the building’s architectural features when it comes to façade lighting for instance. But crucial for us is to make sure we are on the same page with our fellow project consultants. The worst thing that can happen when presenting your lighting concept to your client is to find the architect or interior designer coming up with all kinds of objections, hence meeting and agreeing with them prior to any progress to presentation is essential. After that, specifically when a hospitality operator is involved, is making sure that they also are on your side and you have ironed out any issues that may be regarded as a miss in your design concept. When all parties are aligned your concept presentation to the client is strong, thought through and most of all supported by all. You then find your team members going into bat for you because they are on the same page and agreed with your approach! I have always found this the most rewarding approach to making sure you can move your concept ahead!
Wednesday 18 Singapore – Lighting solutions
I generally do not go into specifics when it comes to specific manufacturers preferring to talk in a more general way and principles, but with the announcement today that Philips Lighting is planning a move to the stock exchange it is perhaps good to have a look back what happened as it maybe symptomatic for other leading lighting manufacturers in the world. Philips is one of the oldest lighting manufacturers in the world ( I should know as I spent 12 years working for them). They have been the innovators of many lighting products as we know them today, compact fluorescent and LED included. But as a huge international conglomerate, with more than 300,000 employees a few decades ago, that had a hand in probably too many things (consumer products!), it had to face the reality of today where focussed, dynamic and innovation driven strategies rule the world. It already made strategic decisions to get rid of all its divisions except what it deemed strategically and commercially viable, namely health care and lighting. To further sharpen the strategy it decided some time ago to focus on the high yield activities which are innovation and turnkey lighting solutions rather than competing with low yield and extremely competitive market of manufacturing. While I believe they still have a stake in some key production facilities and own a forest of patents and copyrights, they now no longer produce LED lighting leaving this cut throat market to better placed companies. Philips Lighting Solutions has now announced privatisation by making the move to the stock exchange market by early next year. It will be interesting to follow and see if Philips lighting can continue towards reaching its double centenary!
Thursday 19 HCMC, Vietnam – Emerging markets
Vietnam is no doubt an emerging market. Long thought to be around twenty years behind leading economies like Singapore, it is now making a dash to catch up with many developments planned and in construction. While I have done some work in Vietnam before, it has always been a low key country for us, but on the back of signing a new project and other opportunities ahead I am in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is called today, till the weekend invited by one the countries’ leading lighting suppliers to conduct a seminar for architects, interior designers and potential developers. For some reason I had never been to HCMC before, one of the rare places missing on my list of countries and places visited over the last 25 years in Asia. To familiarise myself with the city and understand “what’s going on” in regards to lighting I spent my first day and night with my host touring the city’s landmarks. There is nothing worst in my opinion then to present your knowledge about lighting without being able to relate it the local situation. It is imperative to adapt or better set fit your design and your standards within what would work locally. I was surprised to see that still many lights showed the use of conventional lighting technology. Halogen, (compact) fluorescent and gas discharge lighting technology can still widely been found both in exteriors and interiors. But of course Led has already found its way and you just have to look at the city skyline at night to realise that the LED tsunami has arrived at the Vietnamese doors as well. But with the same token the presence of the LED Cowboys is also omnipresent! It is without doubt that my lighting design seminar is timely in this emerging market!
Friday 20 HCMC, Vietnam – The art of sustainable lighting design
This was the title of my seminar today which was attended by around 60 plus leading design professionals and developers. The subtitle to the seminar was “balancing budget and quality”, a clear indication where the main challenges are lying in this country. In my presentation which was simultaneously translated in Vietnamese for maximum impact I touched upon the opportunities that lighting provides for the tourism and hospitality industry but most of all educating the participants about the fact that lighting design is an art (not just an engineering exercise) that requires creativity an artistry combined with a high level of understanding of today’s technology, specifically it’s pitfalls (dimming to name just one!). Sustainability does not just mean saving energy and dimming/controlling lights, in the same breath we need to make sure that any sustainable lighting design considers also the cost of the design (capital and operating costs) as well as the human aspects of lighting design such as mood and ambiance. We should never forget that we design for people and not for lux or energy meters! The afternoon was engaging with all participants on the edge of their chairs eagerly absorbing the key points of the art of sustainable lighting design and the ways to avoid the pitfalls created by LED Cowboy suppliers and cost cutting contractors at installation. The day was concluded with a reception at night in one of HCMC authentic bistro’s that saw many of the key players attend. I believe I leave back a very appreciative crowd.
The week that was…
The week that was March 9-13
Singapore, weekend 14-15th March 2015
Monday 9; Singapore, Hong Kong, Guilin– Travelling
Being on the road is part of our job, sometimes it is a few hours, even a few minutes, sometimes, like today, it can be a full day before you reach your destination. And while the actual distance may allow you to reach your destination within a few hours if you had access to a private jet or helicopter, the reality is that we depend on public and commercial transport and flights and with that their available time schedules. As it turns out my destination has only one flight a day from Hong Kong so everything is built around that. An early departure from Singapore, transit in Hong Kong, the flight to Guilin and then another good hour drive to Yangshuo. Having gotten up at 6am I finally arrived at destination 12 hours later. Too late to do any meaningful work. The client gallantly invited us to dinner where we reunited with the rest of the team and caught up on the latest in regards to our project and the individual gossip. As a lay in bed I think about the drive into Yangshuo which remains impressive with all its famous mountain sights made famous on the back of Chinese 20 Yuan dollar note.
Tuesday 10 Yangshuo, China – “Heated” discussions
While we are slowly moving into spring temperatures are still low for this time of the year (below 10 degree Celcius) and our “meeting” room on site does not have any heating, so its left to the little stoves with burning coals to heat us up. We are all wrapped in several layers of winter clothing with some scattered coal stoves around the table to keep us a bit warm, but more then once we find ourselves continue the discussion grouped around the stoves. It is really kind of adventurous and I am sure that when we reach completion of the project and meet in nicely and comfortably warmed up meeting rooms we will look back at this early spartanesque project time with pleasure and stories to tell. Even the local flock of chickens and roosters keep us company in the background with the roosters seemingly unware of the time, sounding their wakeup call throughout the day and right through our presentations…
Wednesday 11 Yangshuo, China – Productive meetings
Nothing beats face to face meetings between consultants and our meetings here are no different. As we can see the building starts coming out of the ground with the structure of the basement levels completed and the building about to go into its first above ground levels. It is therefore critical that all design issues affecting the structural building construction are resolved with clear direction to the site contractor team. Critical in regards to lighting at this stage is the confirmation of the lighting points and control schedules which in turn determines cabling and conduit routes. The reticulation of power to be embedded in the concrete is therefore critical. Because of the distance between the various consultants (Beijing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Singapore) the communication had been going back and forth with final confirmation. We achieved that today in our meetings allowing us to issue the final directives to the contractor; a satisfying but expected outcome from a team that seems to work well together. Amazingly this project does not have a project manager, but surprisingly it is very well handled by the owners themselves…at least so far. We are now reaching crunch time and a dedicated professional project manager maybe something to think about.
Thursday 12 Guilin, Hong Kong Singapore – Urine powered lighting
Today is the long way home, the same as we did on Monday but in reverse. As always while travelling I read up on some magazine and newspapers and find an article about urine powered lighting. It of course catches my attention. Said to have originated in Nigeria on an idea of students and further developed with support of aid agency Oxfam, a prototype toilet is now being tested on the campus at the University of the West of England in Bristol that converts urine into electrical power. It is said that about 1 litre of urine could provide 6 hours of power, but exactly how much was not clear from the article. From my understanding the system seperates the urine in nitrogen , water and hydrogen. Purified hydrogen gas is then used for the generator to produce electricity. I personally support initiatives that use our waste products to generate daily commodities like electricity. Surely in combination with low energy consuming LED light sources this could be a winner! Something to watch?
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/urine-powered-generator.html
Friday 13, Singapore – Dimming warranty
By far the most interesting statement of the week goes to a lighting manufacturer who came to visit us today and said they provide dimming warranties with their downlights. While he initially mentioned it in passing, I stopped him in his tracks to get a clear explanation of what exactly he meant with his “dimming warranty. Dimming problems are one of our key issues time and again and seemingly not one project is realised without an LED dimming problem somewhere, so obviously I sat straight up when he mentioned this. Yes, they are so confident in their engineered LED downlights (it appears they have their downlights installed in the latest Airbus A380!) that they are happy to put their money where their mouth is and come out and fix any problem that may occur with dimming their down lights, regardless what dimming brand or protocol! Ok, the fittings are not the cheapest around, but in comparison with the reputable brands, certainly quite competitive. The down lights look good, compact, professional wit extremely narrow binning tolerances (less than 1 McA they claim). I have an immediate project that I will check this out as this is one of the key issues that we fight on a nearly daily basis. I asked him if he was sure he was going to give this dimming warranty unconditionally warning him of the Asian contractor and installation qualities, but he maintained his stand. Ok then, let’s go and proof the pudding!
Have a great weekend!
The week that was…
The week that was 2-6 March
Singapore, weekend 7-8th March 2015
Monday 2; Sydney – Balancing act
Being able to balance business and private family life is something that is crucial and a challenge for anyone and not easy by any count. It becomes easier if you are more in charge of your life business wise and privately, but many of us don’t and I certainly had very difficult times in balancing my private and business life when I just started my own business many years back. When you run your own business as a start-up are the sole bread winner and have a family (of 3 school going kids!) to support I can tell you that is a challenge. In order to support my family I made (developing) the business and hence bread on the shelf my priority, which was not fully understood my then wife who for very understandable reasons needed my support as well. I felt I was doing the right thing but ultimately it costs us our marriage. Looking back I still don’t know whether I made the right decisions, that is hindsight, but now with my business doing well and an understanding partner who earns her own way professionally, life and decisions regarding the balancing of business and private seems easier and a no brainer. I am in Sydney today and tomorrow in support of our private life, putting business a bit on the back burner. Having said that I acknowledge everyone engaging this challenge on a daily basis, I hope it all works out for you as a good balance is key to joy and success in life!
Tuesday 3 Sydney – Responsibilities
While I am spending some quality family time here in Sydney, I am following some of the project developments via Skype and email (what would we do without internet!) and note one issue in particular which came floating back to the surface and which I blogged about before…where do the responsibilities of the lighting designer start and where do they end? This “agreement” is often a grey matter that maybe roughly laid down in the terms and conditions of your contract and scope of works but when the going gets tough the tough gets going as they say. While responsibilities in relation to technical light fitting specifications are pretty straight forward, it becomes a bit more dicey when they border on disciplines that are not our core competence, like electrical safety, material suitability, structural strength etc. While we are responsible for the light fitting in a cove are we responsible for the architectural execution and safety of it, likewise in a decorative chandelier design and manufactured by a specialist manufacturer are we responsible for the heat management, the structural and electrical safety of the complete chandelier. We select the light source/fitting, recommend its performance and quality criteria, its preferred way of integration inclusive some other issues like colour and preferred material characteristics in relation to lighting effects to be achieved. But does that make us overall responsible of that particular architectural cove or chandelier? I believe that we have a great role to play in its final appearance and installation but ultimately I would say that the contractor or manufacturer producing the end product has to take final responsibility!
On a private note: Happy birthday Alex!
Wednesday 4 Sydney – Making light waves visible
Light is not visible; we don’t see light we see reflections. However modern technology in photography has now made it possible to visualise light by showing it as particles and waves. As I was flying back to Singapore I am catching up on my reading and came across this article where this breakthrough photography was reported. The way they manage to capture this is a bit too complicated for me to understand in detail, it talks about nanowires, electrons and photons hitting on each other and creating energy exchanges that are visible to the eye (camera) and hence show the nature of light through quantum mechanics. Light has always been a fascinating medium, invisible when it travels through air, making things visible only when it hits an object.; lucky it is that way, imagine we would see the light waves as it travels through space our visual environment would be an absolute chaos! While using smoke or fogging to show light beams is a spectacular way to create some added effect I think we should be blessed that we cannot actually see the light! How difficult would that make our profession of lighting design!
The report was published in “Nature Communications” dated 2nd March 2015 If interested you can read u via this link: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150302/ncomms7407/full/ncomms7407.html
Thursday 5 Bandung – The (inexperienced) optimist
I am back to site for the same project as last month with the same problems still not resolved. While the client optimistically believes that he will be able to open the hotel in another 3 months any trained professional who has done hotel openings before will see that this is at least another 6-12 months before any form of opening can be envisaged. There is still far too much to be resolved and completed. The problem is the client himself, first of all they have no experience in opening a 5 star hotel property built from scratch, this is their first major foray into this market. They built their wealth I understand through banking (they own a bank), the textile industry and residential developments, but that does not make them knowledgeable to develop these kind of projects. They kind of acknowledge that by appointing professionals including myself as lighting consultant. However his focus is on quantity (not quality) with little understanding in regards to money that is needed to achieve this level of projects. Hence we end up redoing the same thing over and over again (cheap-cheap) rather than spending the correct amount of money for good acceptable quality. Today I had a few of these issues. The client had gone ahead purchasing the linear lights specified from his friend at undoubtedly cutthroat prices…the result each badge of the same product has a different intensity, different colour, in other words no two of the supposedly same products are actually looking the same. This is going to be fun when installed! Not even mentioning the potentially short lifespan and quick depreciation that is to be expected. When I confront him with this then he says ok we can change! Then why purchase this rubbish in the first place? I guess in his optimistic outlook he was hoping I would approve it. Will he ever learn?
Friday 6, Bandung – The weakest link
With this client it is not surprising that we will undoubtedly run into problems with dimming the (cheap) LED light fittings. Today I discovered another way in regards to the length he will go to hopefully safe some money. I had already managed to convince him to buy my down lights as specified. However on testing the dim ability of the lights with the dimming system he had purchased without consulting me (from his “friend” no doubt) it appeared the lights could NOT be dimmed, what??? Further investigation learned that he had indeed purchased the desired down lights however in an attempt to save money had followed his friendly suppliers’ advice and changed all the drivers from the specified one to some local alternative, no doubt cheaper than cheap. Confronted with the situation he agreed to sent all drivers back to his friend and replace them with the proper ones…why not do it right in the first place. The investigation also brought up another potentially serious issue. All electrical connections between junction box and driver where twisted wire taped together not even using a proper termination block! Having discovered that I instructed the lectrical contractor too make sure that proper electrical connectors be used! Any installation is as good as its weakest link and this one potentially could well become that weakest link if not properly addressed!
Have a great weekend!
The week that was…
The week that was 23-28th February
Perth, weekend 28th February 2015
Monday 23; Perth – Size does not matter
Back in beautiful Perth for the week, I have a couple of project meetings lined up as well as meetings for new potential projects. Despite the general sentiment that the Western Australia economy is on the way down after the booming mining years we seem to have hit some niche areas with new project opportunities…You never know where your next project opportunity is going to come from but we keep doing fee proposals so that’s good; signed off a few new ones too. In our line of work we never know what’s coming next. In the space of one week we could be quoting for a relatively small car showroom as we did today, tomorrow we will be quoting for huge mega mall, hotel and casino. Size does not matter as they say and interestingly my visually most pleasing lighting projects are small little projects. While you may spent relatively more time on these projects they somehow turn out to be hugely satisfying. Perhaps because in small projects you can really focus your attention, whilst in mega big projects like the mixed casino, mall and hotel development the lighting sort of drowns out in the multitude of so many things happening…
Tuesday 24 Perth – Royal progress
One of the projects I am really enjoying is the Palace hotel and it is making royal progress. The contractor has been awarded and a new tenant has been given the green light to start fitting out their allocated areas. The interesting thing for us now is that we are retained as the overall lighting consultant for the client and building owner to make sure everything is being implemented as per design specifications. At the same time the tenant’s fit out designer has approached us to become their lighting consultant as they know that whatever they will design it will have to be submitted to the building owner for approval, which for the lighting will then come back to me. So it makes sense for them to hire me as I will have to review my own design! I checked this with the owner and there was no objection nor conflict of interest, on the contrary…what more do I want! Design the lighting for the fit out space and then review my design to approve it…hmmmm…I wonder what my recommendation will be 
Wednesday 25, Perth – pre warm up to PLDC warm up event
Prior to the PLDC warm up event in Sydney this Friday, which is held in conjunction with the opening of the brand-new IGuzzini showroom, Max IGuzzini and Alesaandro Montenari the Asia Pacific Business Development Manager visited Perth today. IGuzzini’s local agent, Mondoluce, organised a diner event to which some of the leading Perth lighting designers where invited. In fact a pre warm up to the Sydney PLDC warm up event and not surprisingly it was held in an Italian restaurant! J Afterwards we took the occasion to show Max and Alex some of the projects around Perth that were done with IGuzzini products. Our Fremantle cliff project and the Murdoch Artwall being one of them. Seeing pictures of projects is one thing but seeing the real thing in real life with your own eyes is a totally different experience! It makes us proud as the designers and but having the original equipment manufacturer present to see what their “babies” are achieving is a great moment for all!
Thursday 26 Perth – R&R
Max and myself have been good friends for many years so when I knew he was coming to Perth I made sure to be there so I could take him out to taste some of Perth’s way of life. That includes an early swim and breakfast at the one of Perth’s famous and beautiful beaches. Early in the morning (7am in this case) it is not yet too hot, the temperature is great, the water super inviting…when you follow that up with a breakfast at the local beach café you feel reborn and energised by the time you get back to office for the days work!. We had a 9.30am meeting to go and arrived there spirited and ready to roar! Nothing works better to fight jetlag!
Friday 26, Perth – Holy moly…
And now for something completely different…(as it happens I just finished reading John Cleese;s auto-biography “Anyhow”, a must read for any Monty Python fan…). Today I met up with a new client for the kick of meeting of a new project or projects I should say. We are on board to renovate the lighting of 3 major historical churches in Perth. All of them will be subject to Heritage Council approval when we prepare our lighting design and the funding will have to be approved by the church committee. For now we have a small budget to develop the design brief and work out the necessary methodology to upgrade the lighting to today’s technology and lighting standards including the necessary budgets required to implement it. Integrating the new lighting into the intricate fabric of the heritage interiors will be a challenge I look forward to, cant wait to get started on this one! Have a great weekend!
The week that was…
The (short) week that was…February 16-18
Singapore, Chinese New Year long weekend 19-22nd February 2015
Monday 16; Singapore – The Chinese New Year’s rush
It is a short work week this week with many companies already shutting down for Chinese New Year and from those companies still operating, many of their staff already off to family reunions, some of them travelling far. One of my staff is travelling to her family in Malaysia, others from my China office travel 16 hours by train to reach their home town. We will be closing down our office from noon Wednesday. This is the time when business in this part of the world is winding down, with some companies closed for up to 2 weeks. It is also a last minute rush to get things finished or wrapped up as many think it is good Feng Shui to start the new year with a clean desk. There was also a small inrush of new projects over the last weeks with clients wanting to sign up their consultant’s team before the new year. I will be the last to complain! One of the more interesting projects I prepared a proposal for is a bit of the beaten path for us. We are already on board for the architectural lighting of this project, but the client asked us if we would be interested and capable of taking on the specialist theatre and TV studio lighting. While I do have the knowledge, I have relatively little experience as this is not our bread and butter lighting design, so I have a specialist team with whom I collaborate and integrate in the team for the purpose. It is this out of the regular type of projects that keeps us passionate about what we do, it forces us to sharpen our minds, think out of the routine approach and find creative ways to reinvent ourselves. I enjoyed preparing the proposal today. Here is a reference project picture from my collaborator; lighting designer and cinematographer Manuel Garrido, who lit the play the Glass Anatomy at the Esplanade recently.
Tuesday 17 Singapore – Operator needs and client budgets
Being active in hospitality projects as we do means we are continuously sandwiched between operator needs and client (Developer’s) budgets. Most of the time they go NOT hand in hand, quite the contrary. Designing 5 star hotels for 2 star budgets as we often say is quite a challenge. Developers generally don’t want to spent the (quality) money they should, operators on the other hand like to get out of it as much as they can…we are trying to make ends meet . While you would think the contrary, owners / developers who are also operators are actually the worst to deal with. Today I had a tale of two opposite stories. I first had design meetings for a new project with one of our favourite operators, one who understands the meaning of good quality design and who goes into bat for their consultants with the owners to get the very best…design meetings are very satisfying, as consultants feel respected. The meetings are efficient and most of all respectful, design options are professionally reviewed and creative ideas validated on their merit. At the other end of the spectrum I had a coordination meeting with a client who also operates, in this case I was sort of summoned to the project managers office. The PM felt I was pushing too much responsibility of to the contractor and manufacturer/supplier. It’s a long story but my position is (using a metaphor) that if a car dealer sells a car he takes responsibility of the car as an end product and if there is something wrong with the tyres for instance, he will fix it, and not say go talk to the tyre manufacturer. We have a similar issue with the chandelier in this project. There are some serious lamps – diming issues with the chandelier manufacturer basically washing his hands clean asking us to solve it. That is not the attitude of a professional and responsible product manufacturer. I am happy to help, assist and recommend, but I am not a chandelier manufacturer, not an electrician, neither a structural engineer and as such cannot take on the end responsibility of a chandelier as an end product. It also does not help that the project manager is a close friend to the chandelier manufacturer which clearly seems to cloud judgment. It is a real challenge to work under these circumstances.
Our (happy) new hotel project…
Wednesday 18, Singapore – The eve of CNY
Over the last weeks suppliers and other related businesses have been delivering their CNY’s hampers to our office; a tradition in this part of the world and a way to express their gratitude towards our confidence in using their products and services. Sometimes they come from the least expected companies, some you have hardly dealt with, but then I reckon it may be an incentive to use them more actively in the new year. Whatever the case we always end up with stacks of food and drink goodies, chocolates, cookies, wines etc. Some of it is used directly in the office, the rest I invite the staff to take home whatever they want. This year is the same as every other…wishing everyone a happy and fantastically successful new year of the goat! Here are some mood images from the traditional Chinese New Year Market in Chinatown…
The week that was…
The week that was…9-13th February 2015
Singapore, weekend 14th February 2015
Monday 9; Jakarta- Familiar territory
After more than 7 years (!) on this project the finish line is in view…finally. Have the problems changed or been resolved, no, not really. We keep issuing the same snagging list of things that need to be rectified but nothing really happens. Focus has now turned on to opening the hotel by a specific date (next month) so getting things finished is of higher priority than rectifying problem issues or poor workmanship…very familiar territory for the last year at least. We are now back every month, contrary to before the client is now duly paying their consultants and contractors perhaps having learned that not paying or delaying payment tactics only slows down the project even further. We boycotted work for several months last year for this very reason. The hotel operator now extremely frustrated with full staff already onsite has pushed the owners to open by March even though we all know it will be a super soft opening with only 45 rooms ready, the lobby the lobby bar and the all-day dining restaurant. This peek inside the site office says it all…where do I begin?
Tuesday 10; Jakarta- Flooding!
I took the opportunity to meet some other potential clients in the morning before returning to site. I wasn’t sure if I could reach their office because it had not stopped raining for several days and many parts of Jakarta are flooded. However we manage to reach their office fairly fast, eventhough in driving rain, partly because many people seem to have stayed home, creating unfamiliar empty roads. In the rush to beat the rain from my taxi into the clients building I drop my mobile phone in the taxi, but realise that just in time when entering the building, rushing back to the street hailing after the taxi. My phone is indeed on the floor in the taxi and I return soaked wet but relieved to the client’s office…that was a short call, I would never have managed to find back my phone if not for barely managing to hail the taxi back…pheewww! The meeting however went really well and besides the project that I came for the client, impressed with our credentials, proposes a package deal with some more hotel renovations…worth my rain shower…Later in the afternoon after we finish the debrief of our visit we decide to leave a bit earlier for the airport worrying about rain traffic jam and flooding. To our surprise the roads are practically empty and we reach the airport in just over 30 mins, an unprecedented record as far as I can remember. We even manage to catch an earlier flight back to Singapore. On the way to the airport on the side of the highway we did see cars stuck in what we first thought was a traffic jam caused by an accident only to see later that people where actually playing in waist deep water! Flooding on both sides of the highway as far as we could see…we had a lucky escape.
Wednesday 11, Kuala Lumpur – Quality pays
After a night in transit in Singapore I had back to the airport to catch an early flight to Kuala Lumpur for the day. A former project manager moved to a new company in Malaysia and promptly convinced his boss to engage us for the two projects he is working on, courtesy of a great professional relationship we shared under his previous company. The morale being that you always try to deliver top professional quality of work and treat your clients with due respect in the process always delivering above expectation. This is easier said than done, I know, but in his case we had always consistently been able to deliver (we are working on 5 projects with his former company) beyond our promise; under promise, over deliver! Of course now he is expecting the same, so we have created high expectation. That is even more reinforced by the fact that he decided to kick out the current lighting designer on one of the project because of non-performance. Taking over from a fellow lighting designer is never nice, but then I guess it is up to the designer and the client to work it out…it takes two to tango. While I do not know the finer details I did request to formally end the previous designer’s contract before signing us on officially. It is a small world, these things have to be settled professionally. I have gone through that myself where other consultants took over “my” project, due to irreparable differences, that happens…we deal with it and move on.
Thursday 12; Singapore – Finally a fairly quiet office day
Back in Singapore and not travelling till after Chinese New Year…settling back in the office and dealing with many issues but all in the peace and calm of the office environment without too many distractions. We have a couple of typical CNY deadlines, but overall it is clear that many companies are starting to get ready for the upcoming new year celebrations. I deal with the aftermath of my trips to Jakarta and KL, reporting back on follow-up actions and go see two project sites that nee my input. One of them is interesting because it concerns two identical office lobbies both with exactly the same lighting design and layout with only one minor difference; one side of the lift lobbies has windows, the other has not. As a result (even though the measured lighting levels are also practically identical) the visual feel of one is darker than the other. I have to note that in that section of this renovation project no additional lighting was allowed due to the feature nature of the ceiling, so we upgraded the existing lighting points. After considering various options (from adding cove lighting and others) we settled on a simple spot hidden in a nearby pendant to highlight the flower arrangement on the blind wall. Problem solved, suddenly we had a visually pleasing space and no-one complained about lighting levels anymore.
Friday 13; Singapore – Networking
Part and parcel of doing business is networking at functions and while I am not a typical networking person, I do attend to them when I feel it is relevant or something a bit out of the ordinary. This Friday, (the 13th!), I was invited by the Hong Kong Trade Development Corporation with whom I have had dealings in the past and most recently when they sponsored my talk at the Hong Kong (autumn) Light Fair. While this sort of events is often on consular level, the venue was the main attraction, the newly renovated Victoria Theatre; a place I had not yet had the opportunity to visit. Renovated by W-Architects it has become a jewel of Singapore’s heritage and certainly the lighting (not sure who did it) was well done, bar some minor misses, but that is my critical designers eye talking. While networking our way through the attending crowd, we took the opportunity to follow the guided tours that were organised as a special feature of the evening learning a lot about the history and the renovation of the building. I am now looking forward to attend a concert there very soon!
Have a great weekend.
The week that was…
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