david k warfel
Lighting designers and builders often complain about each other…instead of partnering for the benefit of all. Custom residential lighting design – the way it is normally done – can be the enemy of a builder’s desire to complete the project on time and on budget. Great lighting requires more planning (adding cost and time), better... Continue Reading →
Of all the moments of discovery, connection, and understanding provided at LightFair this year, none stirred my emotions or challenged my thinking as deeply as the fifty minutes allotted to the Light + Justice conference session. Led by Edward Bartholomew, Mark Loeffler, and Lya S. Osborn, the presentation shook up my thinking and clarified my focus.... Continue Reading →
Blogging for me can be a bit like extended traveling. I pick a destination, plan a route, and usually arrive there more or less when intended. But the longer the trip, the more unpredictable it becomes, peppered with side trips and new discoveries. In other words, I did not plan this post. But sometimes my... Continue Reading →
I have fallen into the habit of stating that while I personally celebrate Christmas, professionally I celebrate Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice, which for me in Wisconsin, USA, is December 21st, marks the point in the Earth's annual orbit around the sun where we "tip" back towards longer days. As a lighting designer, that means that... Continue Reading →
Is our binary view of the industry letting us off the hook? In an era of polarization, fundamentalism, and absolutist ideologies, it is easy for me to fall into statements like "builders install the cheapest lighting possible so they can maximize profits" or "interior designers think lighting means a trendy chandelier." But is the world... Continue Reading →
I am working on a article extolling the virtues of low voltage power distribution and I find myself wondering, as Mike Teolis from Colorbeam said, "can anyone give me a valid reason why we need 120 volt infrastructure for a 14 watt LED putting out 1000 lumens?" I love to geek out on lighting technology... Continue Reading →
Recently I had the joy of virtually visiting a university classroom to talk about lighting with students. Since I can talk about lighting for hours and hours and hours, I usually ask the professor if there is a particular aspect of lighting they would like me to cover. One of my lectures this fall was... Continue Reading →
Budget conversations are my least favorite part of the lighting design process, though I have learned to dive right in rather than soft-pedal the costs and cause everyone bigger headaches down the road. The simple (unfortunate) truth is that really good lighting cannot be delivered for the same price as really bad lighting. Complicating the... Continue Reading →
I am continually amazed at the lack of color in our lighting, at home and at work. We wear colored clothing, drive colored cars, paint our homes and cabinets in color, and hang colored photos and art on our walls. We choose colored carpets and colored ceramic tile, we buy colored backpacks and purses, some... Continue Reading →
My THINK LIGHT series is my outlet for being a lighting geek. Perhaps I should rephrase that - this is my outlet for being a lighting pseudo-geek. I do love the science, geometry, biology, psychology, and technology of light, but I am no scientist, biologist, psychologist, or technologist. There is a limit to how geeky... Continue Reading →
the language of light 