Page 49 - Lighting Magazine February 2020

Isat down with renowned lighting designer James Solecki – who is the founder and di- rector of Island Villa Lighting in the Turks and Caicos islands and sits on the board of direc- tors for ILLI – to discuss the evolving world
of landscape lighting and the mission of the non- profit International Landscape Lighting Institute (ILLI), which offers instruction, hands-on training, and peer-mentoring to advance excellence in the field of landscape lighting design.
Linda Longo: What Was the impetus for starting up the association?
James Solecki: As the lighting industry has been booming with the advent and adoption of LED technology, the landscape lighting industry has been steadily growing, too. There are more manu- facturers than ever, producing a wider range of products than we have seen before. There are also more contractors, and Landscape Lighting has seen a steady growth in demand as people have become accustomed to improving their out- door living spaces.
With this growth in both demand and supply, the need for professional education has never been stronger. ILLI was formed and continues to adapt to accommodate this need, focused square- ly on teaching people how to design spectacular landscape lighting systems.
The shadows that a fixture creates can be just as important to the overall aesthetic as the illumination quality.
night Magic
top and above: These highlighted bird sculptures are from a previous Intensive Course project.
February 2020 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 47
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP RIGHT AND BOTTOM LEFT: TONY LATO, WELL LIT LLC; BOTTOM RIGHT: GEORGE GRUEL