There’s an artistic side and a business side to the lighting community that are inextricably linked, but the skills required for each side differ. Lines can blur as businesses may employ artistic- and science-oriented individuals, but business motivations influence the behavior of employees.
They may all speak the same language—but not the same way. They have different words and goals. While it is best to talk in terms of the other person’s interest, in lighting you need to first find common threads. We all want to feel valued and take pride in the results of our efforts. For this, we need to dedicate time to understanding each other and speak of what unites us.
Sensory pleasures in our industry stem from the art of lighting. Lighting can be sensual, uplifting, and thought provoking. The architecture of buildings can be a canvas for communal art, and multiple artists can create within those spaces. Lighting designers can be artists and the first people on a project to envision what can be achieved. To make it physically real, their vision needs builders, the craftsmen who make it possible for all of us to benefit from the aesthetic pleasure of a beautiful built environment.
Most of the important things in life are not learned via pleasure, or are they? Do we learn when we view art? We see the lines that work, that flow. We learn what we like, and that lesson is a pleasure. We can assimilate, even subconsciously, what constitutes great art. A great lighting project can be instructive and ultimately bring joy and inspire awe.
The business side of this industry—the busyness of our industry—is harder to derive pleasure from. Accountants, administrators, and corporate management make project demands, but too few understand light: how to design with it and integrate it. These individuals may have a joyful spirit, but they are part of a corporate system driven by economic strategies that often conflict with quality design.
“If manufacturers stop creating and focus on selling, their golden tail signals the end of business as usual for them”
When innovation stops and manufacturers are left “harvesting the golden tail,” these manufacturers cease to be who they were. The golden tail is the end of that thing they created or refined that grew their business. Shareholders want profits, and if they can do good things while profiting, this is ideal, but profits drive most companies, not altruism. If manufacturers stop creating and focus on selling, their golden tail signals the end of business as usual for them.
Some lighting manufacturers will adapt and reinvent themselves. We see this now with lighting companies diversifying to include product types previously peripheral to the lighting industry to stay viable. For example, integrating solar panels with LED lighting positions lighting manufacturers as renewable energy providers. Lighting manufacturers are selling EV (electric vehicle) chargers, a seemingly unrelated product.
Declining profits combined with products morphing into commodities often signal doom if research and development cease. It is happening now: lighting mergers and acquisitions, increasing bankruptcies and closings, and fewer companies entering the architectural lighting field. Larger corporations, typically more diversified, are poised to assimilate or contractually integrate lighting products and/or manufacturers to complement their other devices through centralized lighting control apps and technology.
The art of lighting inspires. The business of lighting should apply science to art. This approach can be profitable, but profits as a primary motivation are antithetical to most artistic endeavors. The music industry also integrates art and science; it has a business side on a pendulum swing between that art and the financial benefits it yields, but the music comes first. Great musical artists inspire us and that seeds their profession, breeding new musicians. Now, almost anyone with the Garage Band app can refine their art.
What if generating light was simple and inexpensive, if we could just apply it like paint or print it on demand? People could do it for the love of creating, not just consequential gain. Scientific advancements are making this likely within the next decade.
Before that happens, the electrical lighting industry will be forever altered by a technology convergence uniting disparate devices and technologies previously peripheral or unrelated to our field. The leaders of this revolution have yet to be established but several have announced intent to lead us into this future.
We are in a fascinating period. Artists in lighting illuminate architecture and perform live light-based artwork. We know great lighting when we see it whether we understand how to define it or how it is done. It evokes emotion often without conspicuously revealing lighting as the stimulant. Illumination of stunning architecture can be subtle, as it enhances built structures. Without quality lighting, our built environment is less compelling, although viewers often do not understand how critical the illumination is to what they are admiring.
Art is a force that moves through us when we are open to it. Our skills can be refined but artists must create, many say their muses push them. We will always have artists in light, and the business end will transform into whatever it takes to support the artistic lighting that yields profits by enhancing the built environment. Just as some lighting products are commodities, some buildings are as well. These are built with cost or deadlines driving them, and appearances are secondary unless regulated by municipalities or the owner’s desire. Most building projects do not prioritize the humans that occupy them and seldom are artistically compelling or awe inspiring.
When our minds are in a state of awe, the part of our brain that handles the business of managing our lives and deals with daily stresses is less active and another area is activated when in that state. According to the University of Amsterdam, awe can divert our focus from our problems and stressors. It makes us feel like a connected part of a larger world and can inspire generosity and a connection to others. The decreased “default mode network” aspect of our brain is minimized, similar to the effect of meditation and psychedelics.
Awe is transformative and lighting can invoke that state. No art is seen without light, and artists and designers using light as their medium can evoke pleasure and alter us for the better. Good lighting is a sensory pleasure that refines us, and as lighting practitioners, we can contribute in a communal way and give meaning to our work. If we begin with that end in mind, it makes our efforts fulfilling. As we get caught up in the increasing pace of change in our industry, it is easy to be distracted from achieving our goal as lighting practitioners of using light to improve the quality of our lives.
Mark Lien, LC, LEED AP, is industry relations consultant for the IES.
