Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerquist of Front Design
When legendary designer and architect Charlotte Perriand applied to join the design team in Le Corbusier's studio, his reply was as simple as it was stupid: "we don't embroider cushions here."
Perriand would go on to become an integral member of that design team, but only after Le Corbusier saw her work at Salon d'Automne and realized his mistake. Even then, she would not receive credit for many of the designs she developed there until long after she had left for her (remarkable) solo career.
Although lighting design has been one of the more progressive and equitable fields since its birth in the early twentieth century, it can still very often feel like a "boy's club." It behooves us all to work for greater equality in every way we can, so we're devoting this post to celebrating just a few of the brilliant women who have designed some of our favourite lights.
Lindsey Adelman
Manhattan-based lighting designer Lindsey Adelman’s pathway into the world of lighting design was quite spontaneous. While working at the Smithsonian, she met a woman carving french fries out of form for an exhibition. Deciding it looked more fun than her editorial job, she enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design.
Fast-forward twenty years and you’ll find Adelman exhibiting her works at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Design Miami, and Nilufar Gallery. Her iconic Agnes collection (pictured above in the ten-light version) perfectly reflects up her nature-inspired aesthetic and boundless imagination. She’s even started designing other products like jewellery and blankets, though her lights remain her signature.
The Knotty Bubbles Chain chandelier, designed for Roll & Hill by Lindsey Adelman
Deborah Bowness
The world of wallpaper has forever changed thanks to the artistic touch of British designer Deborah Bowness. During her graduate studies in constructed textiles at the Royal College of Art in 1999, Bowness began to eschew the notion of the repetitive patterns of decades past. Instead, she opted for playful and imaginative designs created from montages of her own photographs.
Today Bowness’ silkscreen printed designs, including her lampshades for Innermost, have led her to collaborations with Reebok, Paul Smith, and Selfridges. Her work is also featured in the print collections at the V&A, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and Musee des Arts Decoratifs.
Moscow Graffiti floor lamp, Laurie Grove small pendant, and the Bric-a-Brac large pendant by Deborah Bowness
Bec Brittain
Best known for her critically acclaimed Seed suspension light (pictured above next to the designer herself), which she designed for Roll & Hill, Bec Brittain brings her background in product design philosophy, and architecture to everything she creates.
Her appreciation of linear forms is evident in her airy yet geometric lights, which often showcase her artistry through the media of glass and metal. This is only natural, as Brittain launched her career designing door hardware, allowing her to explore a love of metalworking early on. Since opening her Brooklyn studio in 2011, she’s counted some of the world’s top designers and architects as her clients.
Bec Brittain's Maxhedron collection captures galaxies within its internal reflections
Ionna Vautrin
When Ionna Vautrin first fell in love with design at age six (while experimenting in a ceramics workshop), she probably didn’t foresee that she would end up working for some of Europe’s leading design firms. The Paris-based powerhouse worked with Camper in Spain, George J. Sowden in Italy, and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec in France, before opening her own studio.
Her ability to infuse elementary shapes with charming modernity has earned her countless accolades including the Grand Prize for Creation from the City of Paris for her Binic light, pictured above.
Ionna explains the inspiration behind her Binic light
Corinna Warm
There was a notable applause from the international lighting design community when Corinna Warm launched her own brand, Warm, in 2007. After years of working with renowned contemporary designers including Shin and Tomoko Azumi, Isao Hosoe in Milan, Tom Dixon and LINLEY, Berlin-born Warm's solo venture was a promise of great things to come.
The Central Saint Martin’s graduate is often celebrated for her forward-thinking approach to designing versatile furniture and products—take one look at her classically spun aluminium Circus lights for Innermost, and you’ll see why.
Corinna Warm's Circus pendants at Muntpunt library in Brussels.
Jette Scheib
For the stories she tells through industrial design, Berlin-based Jette Scheib finds inspiration everywhere: in music and art, in people and their fascinating habits.
While fairly new to the lighting design scene, her thought-provoking pieces have already garnered worldwide attention for their sculptural appeal. After designing the Membrane light, featuring a smokey hand-blown glass body created by Czech glassworkers, Scheib has established herself as one of the most exciting up and coming lighting designers.
Blending her interests in the arts, science and mathematics, Rosie Li has challenged the status quo of traditional lamp systems. Her success is not surprising, considering she was practically a child prodigy.
After emigrating from China to the United States at age three, Li displayed an above-average aptitude for rendering animals through drawing and painting. Her natural talent, cultivated at the Rhode Island School of Design, led her to found Rosi Li Studio in Brooklyn and produce several noteworthy lighting fixtures, including one of our favourite wall sconces, Stella (above and below).
It’s hard to put a finger on the greatest triumph of Inma Bermudez, simply because the Valencia-based designer has done so much since she began her career working for German design studios like IDEA, BUSSE DESIGN and PRODESIGN.
Over the years, she’s collaborated with IKEA, Lladró, and the Vitra Design Museum, taking on the roles of programme coordinator, public relations, as well as assistant to designers Sigga Heimis and Jaime Hayón. The Belle de Nuitfamilyof porcelainchandeliers, which she co-designed with Lladró's design team, is a typically clever collision of values, with dignity and exuberance joined together in its floral designs.
Today, her studio focuses mainly on furniture, lighting design, and accessories, where Bermudez consistently brings a clever touch to her functional products.
Front Design
Creating an elegant lamp composed of a horse-shaped sculpture is no easy feat. Just ask the ladies of Front Design, a Swedish studio in demand for its experimental creations. With Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerquist at the helm, Front has brought a provocative edge to commissions for customers including Moroso, Porro, Moooi (note Horse floor structure, above), FontanaArte, Established & Sons, Kvadrat, Stelton, and IKEA.
The duo is celebrated for its experimental processes. For one project, they put a roll of wallpaper into a rat cage, letting the rodents gnaw to create a new design—talk about unconventional innovation.
Tripod floor lamp, designed by Front Design for FontanaArte, was unveiled in 2017 at Euroluce in Milan.
Nika Zupanc
One of Nika Zupanc’s favourite photographs is said to be an image from Playboy that depicts an all-male group of leading lighting designers from the 1960s. “This is the party Zupanc wants to crash,” wrote William Wiles in Icon magazine. Having collaborations with Moooi (such as her provocative Lolitacollection, above and below), Sé, Moroso, and Nodus under her belt, it’s safe to say Zupanc has accomplished her mission.
And yet, the Slovenian designer continues to push the boundaries with her poetic products and installations. She, among many other contemporary female lighting designers, didn’t just crash the party—she became the life of it.
Whether favouring traditionally-feminine forms like flowers, dolls and feather-dusters in politically-charged designs like Nika Zupanc, or embracing gender-neutral and masculine sensibilities like Bec Brittain's Maxhedron, our industry is filled with bold, innovative women whose work is constantly redefining style. We've highlighted only a few of these brilliant lighting designers here, but we hearily encourage you to check our designers pages and to read our International Women's Day post to discover more inspiring women in design.
