The week that was…9th – 13th October 2017
Singapore, weekend 14-15th October 2017
This week I have a special guest blogger from Vietnam, a country going through a strong economic growth with many projects on the go, some of which we are fortunate to be doing. Through my regular trips to Vietnam over the years I have learned to appreciate the culture, its people and its amazing food. An ambassador for good quality lighting, tirelessly advocating the benefits of good lighting to his (and some of our clients), Mr “Thong”, as we all call him, has become a bit of an icon in his country. I have known Mr Thong for more than 20 years and it has always been a pleasure to work with him, supported by his team and his vast lighting knowledge. These are the type of suppliers (and there are many of them around Asia) that make our lives as lighting design consultants so much easier. In this week’s blog entry below, Mr Thong will share what he calls the “hospital” concept. A concept we have discussed many times over the years, but which is now gradually taking shape…a great idea! I wish it all the success!
The lighting hospital concept, by Nguyen Quoc Thong
One day, I received a call from a lighting designer. He complained that some fixtures we supplied on a project did not work well. After a short research, we realized that the project was using LED fixtures (supplied by us) but the drivers supplied by another source were meant to be for halogen lamps and the contractor used an incandescent dimmer. No surprise then, that the lighting fixtures started to fail rapidly. This is what I explained to the designer who was in a tough position with the client because he approved all the products. “Oh! I thought they would know!!!”, he said, talking about the driver supplier and the electrical contractor.
Since LED has appeared in the lighting industry, there have been a lot of gaps in the coordination between designer, manufacturer, lighting supplier, contractor, etc. This gap has caused many troubles for the end user but no one resolves it because it is not really in their scope of works. This is how I came up with a “hospital” concept for lighting.
When you go to the hospital, you have the choice of which doctor will see you. After the doctor examines you, he will make a diagnostic and give you a prescription for drugs. From then, you can go to the pharmacy of the hospital, or you can go to another pharmacy. If you chose to go to another pharmacy, they may provide you with some alternatives drugs which may be of a slightly different formula than the actual prescription. Those may not be suitable for you and may not give the expected result. On the other hand, if you chose to go to the hospital pharmacy, they will make sure to provide you with the exact medicine which the doctor has prescribed, the purchase will be recorded and the hospital will take full responsibility for your prescription.
Once you have bought the medicine, you need to be careful with dosage and frequency and be aware of side effect. Some drugs can’t be taken before meals, others after meals. Some drugs can’t be combined with some type of food or drinks. Others will make you sleep, or stay awake, etc. If you are not careful and do not take the medicine properly, it may prevent a full recovery or generate unwanted side effects. Alternatively, you can stay at the hospital where the nurse will make sure that you will take the medicine at the right time and handle the risk of incompatibility with some foods and drinks. This would give you the best chance of recovering from your health issue fully and rapidly and would keep the hospital responsible in case of any side effect.
For lighting, my hospital concept works exactly in the same way. LED lighting is like a medicine, clients should not buy it directly from the manufacturer. They should to go through a supplier and receive advice on how to use the product and which accessories are compatible. When a client comes to us with a need, we give them a choice of lighting designers (invited by us), who could take care of their project. The lighting designers act as the doctors and the client will chose the most suitable for his purpose. After the design is finalized, the client can choose to buy the specified products or look for alternatives from other suppliers. If he prefers alternatives, he will come back to the designer cum doctor to perform the value-engineering and approve, or not, the selected products. This is the equivalent work of the pharmacy and selecting the source of supply is essential to ensure that the end-result will be true to the design.
Finally, when the time comes to install the products, the client has the possibility to use our installation team, the equivalent to the hospital nurse, or to ask for an external contractor. By using the internal installation team, you are sure that the installation will be done properly, by people who understand the project, the design and the products.
For the client, choosing a designer, products and an installation team who are working together saves time and ensures that everything will work as it is supposed to. In case of need, the “hospital” will have access to his record and will be able to understand potential issues rapidly and take the proper action. On the opposite, by selecting suppliers who have no relation to each other, the client risks incompatibilities. It is also likely that the responsibilities will be rejected or discussed between the different parties, leading to a slow resolution of problems, if any.
On the other hand, the first prescription from doctor is not the only and last solution, the patient must see the doctor again after some time, the doctor needs to review. In some cases, the prescription should be adjusted more appropriately. Similar to the lighting designer, the first lighting specification must be reviewed and adjusted to suit the reality of the project. Clients cannot rely on the first prescription to do it themselves without the designer’s opinion. Otherwise, clients will not get the results corresponding to the money that they spend!
A branded hospital needs a good doctor. The good doctor needs a good hospital to improve their reputation! Enjoy the weekend!
Mr Thong
Below some images from Mr Thongs “hospital” 😊
The week that was… 2-6th October 2017
Singapore, weekend 7-8th October 2017
As always, my stays in Perth provide me with that balance between lifestyle (Australia) and a driven business environment (Singapore/ Asia Pacific). The dryer, crisper and presumably healthier air of the Australian West Coast combined with the generally blue skies and sunny days give me that energy booster so badly needed to keep going for our projects around the world. But as the years are starting to count taking it easy and pacing yourself is crucial for the long run. Avoiding overnight flights whenever possible, use reasonable departure times to avoid having to get up at 4am, taking your time to go to the airport in time to avoid any form of potential stress…it’s all part of keeping sane and healthy.
The same strategy also applies towards our projects. Our main commodities are time and knowledge. Knowing how to distribute your knowledge in time is key to survival. For that you need to make sure you have enough time to research, prepare and document your work. As we are not working on just one project the net time needed is not the time you can advise your clients. There are too many variables that can influence your available time to deliver so making sure you have a comfortable time buffer to do your work is elementary in the success of your project and the appreciation you get from your client and the rest of the team in the process. When you are stressed for time, you are bound to take short cuts and the quality of your work suffers.
This in turn leads to the importance of prompt and good communication! Clarity about what a client or the rest of the team can expect from you is crucial. While in the early days we were eager to please and got easily “bullied” into delivering our design work within unreasonable time periods, we have learned how to master that by communicating and educating our clients early about the time we will need to deliver our work during the various stages of the design process.
The positive side effect of all this is that I have a happy team that does rarely slog it out till late hours to meet unreasonable deadlines. A happy family means a happy designer, a happy designer means a more motivated designer and a more motivated designer means a better quality of work delivery. It’s a win-win for all.
Just because we tell our clients that we need 3 weeks to deliver a stage of work does not mean we cannot deliver earlier, on the contrary, we love to do that as that provides our clients with a pleasant feeling that we look after them and treat their project as a priority! And if by any chance we have problems meeting the agreed timeline we will let our client know as early as possible with the reasons why, rather than keep silent. By definition people always think bad about you if they don’t know what is going on. You may as well be upfront and open about it and if there are time issues discuss together how best to resolve that with minimum impact to the project or other team members.
So after some energy boosting time in Perth where I did take some time for some hiking and outdoor activities after work, it was back to Singapore by mid-week to attend to some meetings and meet with suppliers for our project fitting selections. From natural light (life) to artificial light (life). It’s not that you cant do outdoor activities in Singapore, it’s just that the climate and life style does not really encourage you like it does in Australia…😊
While I do generally not attend all manufacturers and suppliers that come into our office, sometimes I do and this time I listened in on the latest product update from Luce & Light a company whose products we have been using regularly in our projects. It is really interesting to see how some companies find their way up in the industry from humble and modest beginnings with just a few good quality products to a leading position with innovative product features. There is no doubt that survival in this industry depends on the innovative power of your products, the novelty factors, being a step ahead of the competitions as the moment you become a me-too manufacturer it is much harder to keep your potential clients interested! Luce & Light is one of those companies that seems to have found the right balance between quality, innovation and service…
As lighting designers, we need to be in the forefront of design, show our clients that we know what is going on, and for that we need trendsetting lighting fixtures, be aware of the latest technologies. Hence the importance of keeping in touch with our manufacturers. You don’t want your clients to tell you about some new lighting innovation you are not aware off!
Below the contrast between beautiful (Perth) nature and natural light, colours and reflections versus office and artificial light
Enjoy the weekend!
The week that was…25-29th September 2017
Perth, weekend 30 – 1st October 2017
It’s hard to believe October is already here! This year is really flying past…In a few weeks I will be off to Paris for the PLDC and then before you know it will be Xmas! The last few months of the year will be very busy though. Work has been steady and there are many new projects in the pipeline and I got some speaking engagements too. On a personal level I have also a lot of pet projects cooking in the kitchen that I am eager to move forward with. While I am less involved in the day to day running of the company and actual project design works, I have increased my attention to some of my pet activities such as writing, knowledge sharing and since recently exploring the opportunities of Light as a Service. With the IoT and smart nation approaches that countries and project clients more and more seem to adopt there is new terrain to explore as a lighting designer. Where do we fit in, how can we remain relevant in the lighting design industry if non-lighting functions and requirements are gradually making their way into the lighting solutions? It is important to get a good understanding on how this will affect us and how we can stay ahead to make sure that quality lighting design remains the lead design priority.
Just a difficult client?
On Monday I flew to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) to attend to a hotel mock up room review with the lead consultant and operator for a client who has been extremely difficult or perhaps I should say “ignorant” of the design process and the importance to look after your consultants to get a good result…it’s a long story…
I think we all have had these clients and moments at times…those clients who think you will do everything they ask, deliver everything they need, sometimes repeatedly because of their internal poor communication within unrealistic times and most of all without paying you. In this case it relates to a high end 5-star hotel and the project is now approaching its 10-year milestone! We are only part of the team for the last 3-4 years but the lead consultants and operator since the beginning! What keeps you in such project that creates more frustration than joy, let alone income?
Good question and quite honestly, I have contemplated a few times to call it quits, as has the lead consultant, but then you have put in so much efforts already that you do want to try and see this come to a good end.
What are the frustrations that we are dealing with?
First of all, the clients’ total ignorance about the project design process. Having only done residential projects where the consultant inputs are minimal they are now suddenly confronted with a multitude of consultants and an operator (Marriott) who all follow stringent design guidelines and standards requiring an enormous amount of coordination. The client appointed an engineering company to manage the project but with no experience in the hospitality field they are struggling to follow our lead and try time and again to implement the way of working as they were used to, to build a factory or residential unit. To show they understand the process, they just issued us with a process / organisation diagram indicating turn-around times. My experience is that the more diagrams and schedules they issue the less they really understand of the process! They also do not seem to be able to read or print from a computer as every time we are slapped with demands to send out hard copies…
Ah..and then of course there are the payments. Not once have we had an invoice “normally” accepted and paid. Every time there are excuses, the name of the project manager has changed, the company name should be different, a receipt is missing, the invoiced scope should be different, etc, etc…Then they need a hard copy to be sent before they can start the process and so on. I learned that this company has a department that does nothing else then finding ways to delay or deny payments…go figure…
Now we, the consultants and operator, who insists the client properly uses and pays its consultants, have huddled together and we will not issue or move to any issue unless all outstanding payments are cleared. This now prompted the management company to issue a payment procedure chart that they want us to sign…
The biggest challenge yet to come is when we move from the mock up room to the final “control” room, the final sample room that will serve as the reference for the contractor to implement all other 180+ rooms. We had huge difficulties to get the mock up room built to our specifications but I am sure they will want to cut (read: slash) the cost for the implementation.
In the end we did sign off on the room but with quite a list of corrections and modifications to be implemented, specifically the room controls were a mess, a bit like when the phone rings the shower starts to work…😊
Connect Inline
Before I left for Perth we had an introduction to the new Connect Inline range, a series of modular linear lighting products that can be customised to need for both indoors and outdoors. A great initiative from Light-alive, in a market where value for money products are important to fight the cowboys that spill the market with their poor quality low price products. Good stuff!
Enjoy the weekend!
The week that was… 18-22nd September 2017
Singapore, weekend 23-24th September 2017
A little angel seems to be giving me some extra time as this week as again a planned trip was pushed back to a later date. I am not sure if the postponements are symptomatic or just a coincidence, possibly a combination of both…in both cases however it was related to the client/ contractor needing more time to properly finish preparations to avoid having the overseas consultants flying to unfinished business. I think it is a good thing because too often I have seen clients rushing in their consultants for a quick sign off or half-baked presentations only to find out that we are not going to be bullied into signing off or accepting if it is not up to standards. I like to believe the awareness to deliver good quality, even if it means taking a bit more time, is starting to be appreciated…
This week I am pleased to welcome another guest writer, a good friend and long-time collaborator on many projects over the years, Paul McNamara, regional director for the Flos Lighting Group here in Singapore. Paul happened to be in our office on the day when we were shooting material for our corporate video last year and gracefully accepted to contribute with a little testimonial…watch Paul here.
As designers, we are often stuck in our ways and breaking out of it sometimes requires inspiration. Being inspired by creative and innovative new lighting products is one of the ways…
Breaking the Mould, by Paul McNamara
I was recently talking to an Architect friend of mine, who after completing another stunning residential house here in Singapore, was complaining that he was getting tired of doing houses and wanted to design ‘something different’. The problem he faced was that the architectural practice where he works was one of the ‘go to’ companies for a high-end residence and so the circle began; the more the projects they did, the better the projects were and the more similar projects they were awarded. In many walks of life people get ‘pigeon holed’ or typecast, from film stars to musicians once you make your mark in a particular sphere it is very difficult to persuade an audience you are something different.
Flos is very well known in architectural circles for their contemporary designs and design classics including the Arco lamp and Taccia. Last year the Flos group acquired an Italian exterior company called Ares. The decision was made to maintain Ares as a stand alone brand but introduce Flos Outdoor as a new brand in this unique sector of our industry. Coming up with new interesting product designs, product performance which meets the specification requirements of the lighting designer and durability for todays harsh environment can be difficult.
Thankfully the design community has accepted Flos Outdoor with its unique designs, use of different materials such as marble and copper finishes which make the products unparalleled.
For my architect friend, and other designers who have been tagged as experts in their own field, trying to convince clients to give you a chance or bet on the unknown to create something new is a much more difficult proposition. It maybe that an architect has to offer a very low fee to get appointed for a project where they have little experience or rely on a trusted working relationship where a developer is prepared to take a calculated risk.
However, I do not think you will see James Bond appearing in a soap opera anytime soon!
Paul
The week that was 11th- 15th September 2017
Singapore, weekend 16-17th September 2017
Back from a highly exciting time in Shanghai last week, I had the time to catch up on some back-log work (at least that was what I hoped for) but as always expect the unexpected…half way the week my laptop (my life!) started to play up with a graphics card going haywire creating the strangest sceneries on my display with a cursor jumping all over the screen, making work a near impossibility. Not deterred I turned the setback into a positive action by going out to buy myself a new laptop. It was about time anyhow as I have been upgrading/ renewing my laptop every two years or thereabouts, so this was the perfect excuse 😊. I came home with the latest HP Spectre X360, a little beauty, small, light, compact but packing an unbelievable power and memory and to top it off a touch screen and pen for my beloved sketching needs!
But obviously it came with the pain of having to transfer and re-install everything. Not my favourite pass-time and of course there were some hick-ups that required some reformatting and recovery…but it is all working now and I am enjoying it writing this blog! Next the Samsung Note 8! Out this weekend in Singapore so I may get out later and try get my hand on one. I was about to upgrade my Note 5 to the Note 7 when the battery issues happened, so I have been holding back all this time…by all accounts this also is a beauty and a great tool for designers with its handy pen sketching options 😊
Otherwise nothing spectacular happened during the week other that we had several supplier updates regarding products. Suppliers are a special breed of people, each with their own way of promoting their latest products and ways of getting you to specify their products. Let’s have a look at three distinctive supplier tactics which I encountered this week:
1- The professional one to one product sell
This is the traditional approach, based on a knowledgeable sales person, one who knows his products inside out, understands what we as lighting designers are looking for and does not bullshit around. Most of all, he is capable of highlighting the key features of his products that stand out and how these would make a difference in our projects. Not fishing for projects, just let his expertise, knowledge and product quality do the talking. This is the type I love to see in our office. They are educational, they bring real value to our product knowledge and therefore the intelligence value that we bring to our projects and clients. When they leave our office you feel excited about the new opportunity for your projects. There is no need to pitch for projects because their presentation and product introduction already have us on edge and looking for opportunities to apply them.
This week we had the visit of Orluna to update us on the latest products. I came away with 3 very interesting general product features which I would like to share as I believe these are important added value features worth educating our clients about.
The first is that their products are now being designed with recycled materials and are also designed to be recycled. Why is that important? Because it is time to switch from the current waste economy to a circular economy (Light as a Service!) and having manufacturers taking the lead and showing the way is commendable. To reinforce the message Orluna is offering a residue value to their products. In other words, a client who purchased their products would still be able to “trade in” the products at the end of use. This could be an interesting value feature in the specification process!!
The second is that they guarantee their lifespan as a result of tightly managing the LED junction temperature (JT). By ensuring that all their products have a junction temperature of <65 degrees, they can assure longevity with case studies showing some of their products having only 10% lumen depreciation after no less than 70,000 hours! I understand that common market practice is a JT of <85 degrees. Again, perhaps a consideration to actually highlight the JT as a requirement in the specifications as this is a determining factor in assuring the product lifespan!
Last but not least they also offer a dimming guarantee. I mentioned this in one of my previous blogs. Dimming quality is one of the key challenges we face in practically every project, so having a product specification supported with a guaranteed 0-100% soft dimming is a great peace of mind, not only for the client but also for us!
2- The event based product introduction
In the later part of the week we attended a product launch, this time from FLOS, who introduced us in a well arranged setting their latest outdoor lighting range. To entice a good attendance and stimulate networking, the event was held at one of the beachside restaurants in Sentosa, away of the hustle and bustle of the city. A good idea anyhow as the city is in a partial lock down at the moment for this weekend’s F1 street race.
This kind of product introductions are not so much about technical discussions or “boring” presentations, it’s the relaxed setting, get to know the products at your own pace, connect with the people behind the products. These events are often an exercise in branding and reinforcing corporate identity and the companies standing in the market as a leader of innovative products. This in turns then strengthens the brand loyalty.
The award-winning Michelin rated Tanjung Beach restaurant with its outdoor space facing the beach, the sea and the sunset was a perfect setting for some Paella, a glass of Sangria (or other 😊) and chatting with colleagues in the industry while inspecting the products on their merits in the process. These events re-enforce the bonding with your local supplier and while you may not get the immediate product specifics, you create a direct bonding and know you can pick up the phone when the need arises. We need the people’s support as much as the products themselves!
3- The personal approach
Finally, the “personal” approach, which generally happens in a one to one setting in a bar, restaurant, nightclub or golf course or the like and has but one goal is to get you committed to use their products. The “mates” deal, I help you, you help me approach. These approaches can be helpful but are generally very sensitive as there is a fine line between “friendship” and professionalism to be walked. I had one of these this week as well where one of the suppliers I had not met for a long time asked me out for drinks “wanting to catch up”. This generally means wanting to find out what projects you are working on and see if with some wining and dining (or more…) you can be seduced to promote/ specify their products. Sometimes these are just really about friendship and just catching up. After all it is a small world and keeping friendly relationships is important. Over the years you learn to know who is really trying to create a friendship and who is pretending, with the sole aim to get business from you…when you are prepared and clear about it you can use these “mate”- meetings to get some valuable market intelligence 😊. For those who are your real friends there are never any issues as they adhere to professional ethics by treating you with trust, respect and integrity!
Have a great weekend!
The week that was … 4-8th September 2017
Singapore, weekend 9-10th September 2017
What a week it was! On Monday I had a full day travel starting with a 6.30am flight from Perth to Singapore, followed by a short transit and then onwards to Shanghai where I reached my hotel well past midnight…Pudong Airport can be notoriously busy and slow getting through and it was no different on arrival Monday, it took me more than an hour to get out of the airport to find my driver! But as I had flown comfortably in front of the plane I got my preparations for the week’s proceedings all done and ready so I felt confident in my task to moderate our Lighting Design Agora at the Shanghai International Lighting Fair (SILF), a first for me!. I have always participated to these kind of events as speaker but moderating two days in a row was a totally new experience! Looking back I must say that just speaking for 45 mins is actually easier and more relaxed, but I think I acquitted myself well of my moderating task and really enjoyed directing the proceedings, introducing the speakers and leading the panel discussions. Having been instrumental in designing the concept, building the speaker program and preparing the event I felt really invested to make the event a success. Seeing and hearing the reactions of those who participated in the second instalment of this event I feel very satisfied and appreciative. The feedback was great, from the speakers, from our sponsors and from the event organisers. The Lighting Design Agora is the combined brainchild of the Chinese Lighting Design Association (Lear Hsieh), its International Advisory Council (James Wallace and myself) and Messe Frankfurt HK (Scarlet Mak). Ultimately it is our goal to develop this lighting fair to a high quality lighting designers fair (not a OEM/Product fair like Hong Kong or Guangzhou) much more in the spirit of Light & Build Frankfurt but then here in Asia. This year we made a huge step forward, with a much bigger stand, much bigger crowds and much higher quality speakers and content. It has strengthen our belief we are on the right way and we have already started planning for SILF 2018! Thanks to all that contributed and participated!
Below a day to day account in images of the event:
The Lighting Design Agora, the main stand:
Day 1, morning session: The Future of Smart Lighting
We started the program with a keynote presentation by Prof Horng- Ching Hsiao from the National University of Science and Technology in Taiwan, who unlighted the crowd about with his topic “New Technologies for Lighting Design”
He was followed by Portugese born, UK Based lighting designer Pedro Pinto, owner of Pinto Lighting Design, who presented his views of: “The Future of Smart Lighting in Small and Medium Projects”
IGuzzini’s Luca Tarsetti, General Manager of IGuzzini in China, then presented us the “Future of Smart Lighting” and giving us a sneak preview about IGuzzini’s latest art project (Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel in Padua) after the enormous success lighting Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper in Milano. All will be revealed coming week…
The morning speaker presentation was rounded up by Meike Goessling, an associate Director of Lightvision Design, based in Hong Kong. Her presentation was entitled “Light Smart”.
All speakers then joined me on stage for a panel discussion about the various subjects, challenges and opportunities generated by their respective presentations. It rounded up our morning session about the Future of Smart Lighting. Big thanks also to our simultaneous translators which made all presentations go smoothly!
Day 1, afternoon session: Lighting and the IoT
Not surprisingly we followed up the morning topics with a session on the Iot and Johan Moritz, a senior lighting designer with the City of Malmo in Sweden, kicked off the proceedings with his presentation about “Lighting and the IoT”.
Our second sponsor, Luci, followed with an interesting presentation by Mr Jie, Luci’s manager in China, about the impact of Iot on lighting products and their controls.
“The application of IoT on Lighting in Segmented Fields” was presented by Prof. Yandan Lin from Shanghai’s Fudan University’s Department of Illuminating Engineering and Light Sources.
I then rounded up the day moderating a lively panel discussion involving all presenters of the afternoon session. The IoT is obviously on people’s minds!
Day 2, morning session: Hospitality Lighting
Day 2 was purposely aimed at trendy applications in lighting. In China specifically and Asia in general a big majority of projects are in the hospitality so it made sense to us to dedicate some time to it.
Our keynote speaker starting the day was the founding partner of InSitu Asia, Mr Arjan de Boer, based in Singapore. As a previous hotelier with Alila and Regent Hotels and now developer and investor with many interests in Asia, we were blessed to have a non-lighting designer giving us insights of how good lighting design makes sense from a financial and value added perspective. His presentation “Hotel Value Creation through Lighting Design” was highly educational for everyone.
Having subsequently one of the top hospitality lighting designers, Nathan Thompson, principal of the Flaming Beacon from Melbourne Australia, speaking about “Arranging Brightness for Fine Hotels” was a perfect choice and follow up. The imagery was a delight to watch for all.
While perhaps an odd one out the following presentation by our third sponsor by Mr Frost Chou from Asensetek did make “sense”. Asensetek produces very high quality spectrometers and many lighting designers use the tool and software to verify manufacturer claims about lighting performances. I have been an enthusiastic user for the past few years.
Dr Acharawan Chutarat (“Acha”), a lecturer at Bangkok’s King Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonBurri (KMUTT), completed the morning speakers with her engaging presentation” Hospitality Lighting design; its Potential and Way Forward”
The morning speakers then joined me on stage for the panel discussions and questions from the audience.
Day 2, Afternoon session: Commercial and Retail Lighting
Like hospitality lighting, this session also touches on one of the most popular applications in this part of the world and we were grateful to see the afternoon session kicked off by Paul Traynor, Principal and Owner of Light Bureau form the UK. His presentation entitled simply “The Future of Commercial Lighting” in reality touched upon everything that is relevant in today’s lighting world, smart lighting, circadian lighting and lighting as a service. Specifically this last topic is one that we need to keep an eye on and one that I personally have also included in many of my presentation as kay subject of the future.
Mr Leo, Lutron’s sales manager in China then gave an engaging presentation about the opportunities and challenges of lighting controls in the new world reality of smart lighting and the IoT. Having paired up with Apple, it seems that Lutron is geared up for the future…Lutron was the proud sponsor of the Lutron Coffee Bar, a place where many of us made stops for a coffee shot!
No other then Warren Julian, emeritus professor Architecture Design and Planning at the University of Sydney had the honours of closing out the event with a master class presentation entitled “Commercial Office and Retail Lighting; Opportunities and Challenges”. Whoever had planned to leave, changed their minds and we ended the day with a spellbound full house audience!
It was not surprising that the ensuing panel discussion had many tongues wagging with Warren at one point leaving the stage to give the audience direct pointers showing lighting principles and effects applied in parts of the Lighting Design Agora stand, great stuff.
Day 2, Evening Gala Dinner
The international part of the event was concluded with a Gala dinner in the evening sponsored by Osram. It was a moment to thank all participating speakers, acknowledge all the sponsors and give thanks to the CLDA, the IAC and Guangyia / Messe Frankfurt for their untiring support to the event. Thank you so much for making this such a success!
See you next time at SILF in 2018!
Perth, weekend 2-3rd September 2017
I am in Perth this week for a very special reason…my son Ingmar, who re-joined the company recently and now looks after our business development, officially graduates from Curtin University as an urban and regional architectural planner. While he finished the study a while ago, the official graduation ceremony is only once a year, so glad to be able to be there! These are milestones in your kid’s life and being there is important…I have missed too many of them over the years due to my business and travel commitments…
Business Development
This week I am in Perth to work with Ingmar and the rest of the team to further develop our business in Australia which, with the apparent (slowly) growing economy, can use an extra impulse. At the same time we are working on revamping company introductions and our company profile to follow in the footsteps of the launch of our renewed website and corporate video. While the majority of our new projects comes through word of mouth and existing business relationships, we can never take things for granted. There are many new and innovative lighting design companies emerging and obviously the market is getting more crowded offering our potential clients more choice! Specifically the culture in Western Australia is hard to break through. People understandingly use people they know but also follow ways they have been used to and particularly in WA we find that either our potential clients work with lighting engineers rather than professional lighting designers or for some reason pay much more for overseas or interstate designers, who then at a later stage have practically no involvement in the implementation because of restricted travel budgets, leaving the local contractors to figure out how to install aim and program the lighting. We are aware of several “disasters” in and around Perth as a result of that situation. Your design is as good as the final implementation so being able to go to site frequently and supervise and assist the contractors in the final installation have always been one of the keys to a successful project. But we can see that the culture is gradually changing, which is an encouraging sign!
Registered Lighting Practitioner
As most of you know I am passionate about sharing my knowledge to further and improve the quality of our industry and therefore whenever I can will participate and support events that aim to create a better awareness of the benefits of good quality lighting and lighting design. This week the local IES chapter organised a talk about the lighting language for dark skies an interesting talk by one of the ERCO representatives as part of a general IES meeting and awarding of lighting certificates to those who successfully attended and completed the IES lighting programs. The event also saw WA’s first Registered Lighting Practitioner (RLP) certificate being issued to Mervyn vd Linden, well done. It made me think that while I am an IALD member, I probably should engage in obtaining the same. The RLP certification is something that you need to maintain to show that you are actively involved in the industry. On top of that we will see more and more requirements for projects to have RLP registered lighting designers to better ensure the quality of lighting design and protect the industry against “rogue” lighting designers. It was a well-attended event and offered a great opportunity to network. I had invited the president of the Chinese Lighting Designer’s Association, Lear Hsieh, who happened to be in Perth, to the event and he had the opportunity to meet Trent Dutton, the current president of the IESANZ, who had made the effort to come to Perth for this event. After all we all have the same goals with the various associations so exchange of ideas and cooperation can only further help the industry!
Having fun
Finally I want to share a bit of fun…after all we need to enjoy our job and taking the time for a little bit of fun is important. While I was in Xitang, a historic little water town near Shanghai, China a couple of weeks ago, we had a few hours free between our morning meetings and the night time lighting inspections we were due to do. Xitang is famous for a scene in the Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible 3 movie, where he runs over roofs, over bridges and along the canals guided by his side kick Simon Pegg back at HQ, who tracks and leads him via his computer GPS satellite system to the designated location. We decide to use our free time to re-enact parts of the run with the end destination being our project site. I took on the role of Tom Cruise and Grace, my project manager the role of Simon…It was great fun and Kyra, who already did a great job with our corporate video, managed to edit it in a very funny video…for good measure we added in the Chinese translation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhASk6Tofro&feature=youtu.be
Have a great weekend!
The week that was…21-25th August 2017
Singapore, weekend 26-27th August 2017
This week was a mixed bag with a trip to Jakarta midweek and our second company personal skills improvement workshop. With project activities steady but slow collections, chasing our clients this week was also one of our priorities. Though when I heard of the unpaid amounts being chased by one of our projects lead architects of more than 10 million dollars for the month, I realised I was luckily not to be in that situation…In this case the grass looked definitely greener on my side J. It does seem though like business is slowing down a bit in the region as we can clearly see that collections are slowing down, taking more time and new projects also seem to take longer to confirm. Some projects have also gone quiet…but then it could be also due to the seasonal effect…it is always slow in the first few month of the year and then there is a second wave of relative calmness mid-year before the action goes into an end sprint towards the end of the year. We have a few big and nice proposals out, so fingers crossed…
Jakarta
Sometimes we get a call out for a site visit that seems a bit over the top. In this case the client had asked me together with the architect’s boss to come to Jakarta just to review a lift cab lighting. So basically an expensive flight, day trip to Jakarta for just a half hour site review…of course with the aim to make on the spot decisions on how to proceed. We did and can now move forward but it seemed something that could have been decided in a simple conference call as both me and the architect have our local team on site for the day to day support. They had already more or less recommended the way forward, but I guess the decision had to be “”formalised” (as so often in Asia) by the bosses.
Anyhow it gave me the opportunity to use my day in Jakarta to visit my team and officiate with a little ceremony our spacious new office to which we moved recently with a celebration meal called Tumpengan, which comes with yellow rice shaped like a mountain for good luck and prosperity! Galih is doing a tremendous job with his team in Indonesia and I have full confidence they will succeed! I do not have often the time nor need to visit them so this was a nice moment to mark the occasion . I know how stimulating it is to move to a new and bigger office so it was nice to see them all excited! Like Singapore, Jakarta has a lot of potential projects ahead, but likewise faces a challenge in collections…it seems epidemic in the region…so being and remaining vigilant is key! As part of our growth plans we are looking at getting some of the key staff for training in Singapore, as we believe strongly in caring and nurturing our team for the future…
Training for the Future
KLD has embarked in providing training on all levels to support the staff and help them improve both on a technical level as well as a personal level. This month we provided a two part workshop aimed at improving communication skills. Being a good designer does not mean you can carry the message clearly to your client, so having the proper communication and presentation skills was the key focus of these workshops that ended with a final presentation yesterday. In the first week the team presented based on a brief as they would normally do to a client, it was video-taped and reviewed resulting in directives and pointers on how to make the presentations flow more smoothly and the message carried more clearly. This week, after a week of preparations, they presented (this time with me present) implementing all the advice and recommendations they had received from Mark Stuart, our brilliant workshop leader.
It was great to see the enthusiasm and the team spirit they displayed in their presentation. While there is still room for improvements I could clearly see that both the seniors as well as the juniors had grown in confidence speaking and presenting in public. Carrying this over to reality (not just the confinements of our own team) is another step, but I feel confident that the workshops will be of great help. I have to learn to step back and give them more responsibility and leadership and with time and practice they will become experts in their own right. I know they will…the workshops have given them the tools to further improve and together with our daily reality they will grow become confident communicators…after all our work is mostly about being able to communicate our ideas, our concepts and our recommendations! Once the client is on board the task is to make sure they stay on board!
Have a great weekend!
The week that was…14-18th August 2017
Singapore, weekend 19-20th August 2017
Another week without travel! It feels strange if you are so used to hop in and out planes and hotels…but these times are generally very productive. It allows me to focus my attention to things that otherwise are on the slow burner (for when I have time)…I have many plates cooking in my kitchen. As most of you know I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and the profession of lighting design through seminars, lighting events and media as I do through my articles, my book and this blog. After 35 years in the business I humbly believe I have something to tell and keeping it all up in my brain cells is of no use to anybody. Sharing my knowledge and stimulating and motivating my own team is my first call while at the same time I actively support associations and other lighting organisations and events. Besides regular ongoing project work, this week therefore was pretty much dedicated to this passion. Our profession exists by the grace of our industry reputation, our business colleagues and our clients. While much work comes in through our established reputation, staying “in the race” means that you need to be continuously active, to see and be seen. It is a harsh world out there, with many new generation dynamic entrepreneurs ready to take your place…Sometimes I wish there were more hours in a day, more days in a week or more weeks in a year… 🙂
Lighting quality awareness in Asia
There is no doubt that there is still a continuous need to create awareness of the benefits of better quality lighting and lighting design. Our profession is still very much in its infancy, though well accepted, there are still many people who do still not appreciate how good quality lighting can improve the quality of our life. I very much appreciated the insights of Alessandro in last week’s blog, who really nailed the point on behalf of many professional quality manufacturers that are continuously fighting the erosion of quality caused by unscrupulous LED Cowboys with their “Frankenstein” monster products. Quality does not necessarily means expensive…quality means considerate, balanced, thoughtful, safe and reliable!
Because of my geographic location here in Asia it is logical that I focus my attention on this region and it is for that reason that I lent my time and expertise to the International Advisory Council to help grow lighting design in China and Asia Pacific through the Chinese Lighting Design Association, specifically bearing in mind that China is pretty much the cradle of most LED manufacturing! We have had events through many cities in China including Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and others as well as Hong Kong and recently Bangkok. Together with Messe Frankfurt’s great support we are currently finalising the details of our Lighting Design Agora at the Shanghai International Lighting Fair (SILF), a concept we launched last year which consists of an enclosed speakers arena surrounded with our international top quality manufacturer sponsors and networking facilities. Contrary to the Guangzhou and to a lesser degree the Hong Kong lighting fairs, we aim for the designers/specifiers/end-users market. The whole program is a careful balance between international and local talent and aims to bring the lighting designers together with architects, interior designers, developers, operators and other relevant institutes such as governments and universities. Our aim is the same…to improve the awareness of the importance of better lighting quality. I have personally spent months together with the rest of the team putting together the booth and the speaker program…we are nearly there…the event, which I will be moderating, is held in Shanghai from 5-7th September. Please join us if you are in the neighborhood!
Professionalism and integrity
This brings me to another important issue…with quality comes the responsibility for professionalism and integrity, character traits that are a key ingredient for the longevity of our profession and the trust and confidence of the specifiers and end users in using lighting design and quality products. Not only do we need quality products we need the people behind it and the specifiers using them to lead the way of quality by example, which means a professional and independent attitude towards design and specifications, great service from suppliers and manufacturers and personal integrity in the handling of all related work and services. That’s the kind of image and identity that has to go along with the quality message that we are promoting as part of better quality awareness.
Unfortunately many times personal and commercial interests take precedent as I personally discovered this week. I was invited and confirmed to speak at an international sustainability conference in Singapore next month, with my topics and time slots confirmed. On enquiring about the event progress I was reluctantly told that I was no longer part of the program and that another speaker was taking up the lighting slots!…What? In a subsequent phone call I could not get any decent explanation other that one of the organising partners had pushed in a no-doubt “friend” for personal benefit. I have no other explanation as I learned that the speaker in question is one of my former suppliers! Beside it being totally insulting it is also a mark of total unprofessionalism which marks the event even before it has started! As I initially thought highly of my contact and the event, this has shown me I was grossly mistaken…Unfortunately there are many such conferences (I unknowingly participated in some I have to confess) that promote themselves as THE conference on the subject but as you then later find out, are in fact organised for pure financial gain rather than for a professional desire to share real knowledge, which is a real shame and murk’s people’s perception of quality…
60 Over 60
Finally I would like to salute and celebrate those who have genuinely contributed to the quality of our profession of lighting design through their years of experience and realisations. I noted that there is a “competition” that focusess in finding the brightest 40 lighting design talents under 40, the 40 under 40’s awards. Great stuff! However I would like to suggest to the lighting community to make that a perfect 100…let’s find and honor another 60 lighting designers over 60 that have visibly contributed to our society with their great designs and research! The 60 over 60’s! Not because I am over 60 but because I genuinely believe these people deserve the respect and appreciation for a life-long dedication and contributions to our profession!
Have a great weekend!
Here is a peek at the provisional program of the Lighting Design Agora coming September…
The week that was…7 – 11th August 2017
Singapore, weekend 12-13th August 2017
This week saw Singapore celebrate its 52nd birthday which is traditionally celebrated with the National Day Parade at Marina Bay. Thousands of Singaporeans (and non-Singaporeans) flock to Marina Bay to watch the sky divers, the air force fighter planes and the fireworks as the grand finale. As I happened to be in Singapore this week we decided to book a room in MBS and watch the proceedings from the sky decks infinity pool…This year, in celebration of Singapore’s strive to become a smart nation, saw a dazzling display of no less than 300 orchestrated drones performing light acrobatics…using mostly blue, white and red colors, the drones were synchronised into creating meaningful patterns and images representing Singapore. I found it interesting to see how lighting and the latest drone-technology found its way in common public festivities…it won’t be long before any ceremony without drones will be found dated and boring…laser is out…lighting drones are in! 🙂
It gives me pleasure to introduce this week’s guest blogger, one of my many loyal and long trusted lighting manufacturers, Alessandro Montenari from IGuzzini…Alex has a special place in my heart because he (and with him his team at IGuzzini) decided together with local supplier Mondoluce, to help out by sponsoring the City of Perth with the lighting for his Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, a project currently deservedly shortlisted for a DARC Award. Without IGuzzini’s and Mondoluce’s help we would not have been able to realise the project within the limited budget that had been made available. Over my more than 20 years of professional lighting design I have of course had many opportunities to work with IGuzzini and have never been disappointed. Quality always wins…and as a professional lighting designer I need to be able to rely and work with quality lighting manufacturers like IGuzzini. I thought therefore it would be interesting to hear some insights from a quality manufacturer’s perspective, so welcome Alex!
Challenges and opportunities in the lighting world
The lighting industry is becoming an extremely complex business, segmented in several product categories and price positioning: new so called “lighting manufacturers” are emerging daily with “Frankenstein products” which are merely made by key components produced by third parties without any particular added value; copied products by “Me Too” manufacturers who are infringing patents of innovative lighting manufacturers or playing around it at the limit of the legality. In addition to this, there are a massive number of low cost driven lighting manufacturers invading the market, tempting the established industry chain to go for cheap: “In the end it is just a simple light fitting, so why spend too much money, isn’t it?”
Those who haven around long enough in our industry have learned the value and importance of quality lighting, quality in both lighting effect and durability of the products. Luckily we still have lighting manufacturers who, despite the challenges they are facing on a daily basis from the Frankenstein products, the Me Too, or just the cheap manufacturers, keep the benchmark high, keep investing in research and development striving to innovate and make our industry always better. They do not compromise in quality manufacturing and they do not promise what they cannot maintain just because somebody won’t be around in the future to answer!
When in a project a Professional Lighting Designer is on board, for the professional lighting manufacturers it’s a joy. This means, first of all, that someone from the client’s side understands the importance of lighting quality in the project and also its complexity. Let’s face it, today lighting is much more complicated to be managed and selected compared to the past and an architect or interior designer has hard times to keep up to date with it and be able to design lighting by himself.
That’s why the Lighting Design Profession is becoming vital in projects that want to achieve the best overall results. A professional lighting designer brings quality lighting design in the project and usually specify quality and innovative manufacturers because he knows this is the best possible choice for his client.
The professional lighting designer cares about the lighting industry progress and is always looking for new product solutions, new application ideas or lighting possibilities. This, ultimately, will contribute to make our world a better place to live. For this reason, quality and innovative lighting manufacturers are the natural choice of the Professional Lighting Designer and the professional relationship between Lighting Designer and these professional manufacturers is the only way to go in order to sustain both categories. Without pushing quality and innovative manufacturers, there won’t be any more innovation in the industry because the Frankenstein and the Me Too products and just the cheap manufacturers will win the game. Sadly, these manufacturers are just looking to make money, definitely not contributing to the evolution of our industry and ultimately this will dry up everything, including the importance of the Lighting Designer profession.
We very well know the challenges we are facing, mostly in terms of education. Budgets are always very low for lighting and helping the client to make the best choice is always difficult. Both Professional Lighting Designers and Professional Lighting Manufacturers work daily to educate the market about the importance of light, about why the presence of a Lighting Designer in the project can be the best ever investment for the client and why increasing the budget for lighting on the overall project cost can assure superior results, consistent quality and reliability, generating much higher returns of the investment.
Professional Lighting Manufacturers create new products to meet the demand of the Professional Lighting Designers, they manufacture new tools for their new lighting design ideas. This keep the lighting industry progressing.
The relationship between Professional Lighting Designers and Professional Manufacturers is therefore vital and every time the Frankenstein, the Me Too or just the cheap manufacturers are approved as alternatives, somehow we are all putting in danger the future and existence of our industry. A world where the quality of light will have the right importance will be definitely be a much better place to live for the next generation. We are all committed to this, let’s keep working together and make this possible!
Have a great weekend!
Alessandro Montenari
Below some of the more colorful and unusual projects that we worked on with KLD…
And of course the drones…
ST20170715_1719561657 lhdrone Ong Wee Jin / Lester Hio / NDP 2017 features a drone performance with about 300 drones shown for the first time at NE Show 3.##########x##########Ong Wee Jin
The long awaited book compilation of Martin's first year of blogging is available. Order now.
Feedspot Top 100 Lighting Blogs