2012 - What a year for Electrolight

It has been quite a year for Electrolight. Sitting here in Melbourne reflecting on the year that has passed brings to mind so many good things that have happened.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened this year is the establishment of Electrolight’s Sydney studio run by Electrolight Sydney Director Donn Salisbury. I have been a long time fan of Donn and to get the opportunity to collaborate with him on a regular basis is one of the highlights of my professional career.  Since establishing the studio in May, we have grown to a team of 4 with the talented Ryan Shamier, Catriona Simmonds and Angela Suarez completing the line-up and a very swish office in the CBD to boot.

Electrolight Sydney

We have been busy working on lots of interesting projects. Some highlights include collaboration with Robert Owen Fine Art Services on the design of two original art pieces installed in the new Hamer Hall.   We also worked with John Wardle Architects and Studio NADAAA designing the lighting to the new School of Architecture building at Melbourne University.  We also completed projects including  Crown Burswood refurbishment, Crown East End Facade and the Australian Synchrotron amongst many others.

We were blessed to be working alongside Christopher Knowlton who completed a year as ‘designer in residence’ before heading back to the UK.  2012 also saw us say goodbye to Rachel Burke after a fabulous 5 year period with us to concentrate more on her theatre lighting career.  We were pleased to welcome Jack Stigwood and Toby Jellah to our team this year.

We were busy of the community lighting front too. In June we organised Shed Light, an event as part of the 2012 Light in Winter Festival.  The design community was invited to design, construct and install a small shelter in Federation Square’s main plaza for the duration of the festival and a series of programmed events were held in and around these shelters. It was very well received and there was much interaction with the public.  We are looking to do something amazing for the 2013 festival too, watch this space…

The Sheds in Federation Square

And we some some awards – the Melbourne Design Award for Lighting Design for Lonsdale Street Dandenong, an IES award of Excellence for the State Theatre Centre project in Perth, a NZ IES Award for Wynyard Quarter in Auckland and another IES award for Westfield Sky Lobby in Sydney.

Crown East End Facade

Also in 2012 I had the honour of presenting 2 papers at the fantastic Enlighten Americas conference in Vancouver and representing the IALD at the CIE2012 Conference in Hangzhou, China.  And in breaking news, I have been elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the IALD in 2013-14.

What a year. A heartfelt thank you to everyone within the Electrolight team for your unswerving dedication to making the world a better lit place. The credit for what we’ve achieved this year is yours. And to our clients and collaborators, we thank you for your support and for doing your bit towards keeping independent design alive and kicking.