Renee Joosten
Joosten Studio was founded in 2023 by Renée Joosten, a Dutch native with 20 years of experience working and living in New York City.
After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, the Netherlands Renée Joosten moved to New York City where she earned her master’s degree in Architectural Lighting from Parsons School of Design.
From 2004 to 2011 she worked at Cooley Monato Studio, an award winning New York-based architectural lighting design studio where she worked on numerous residential and retail projects, including Tiffany’s, Gucci, and Nike.
From 2011 to 2022, Renée served as the Lighting Director at ICRAVE, an award-winning New York based interior design studio, where she built and lead in-house lighting department.
Over 11 years, she led the lighting team’s process from conceptualization throughout construction administration, and implementation in high profile and award-winning projects such as Sphere (Las Vegas), Memorial Sloan Kettering Koch Center (NYC), Little Spain Mercado (NYC), Le District (NYC), Marquee Nightclub (Singapore), Ocean Prime (Beverly Hills), and Terminal A at Washington DC Airport.
From 2009 through 2011, Renée served as an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, teaching the integrated Studio. She also gave guest lectures at the New York School of Interior Design. Renée has served as a judge for both the national and the New York section of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). She is currently an active member of industry lighting organizations including the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), and Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).
Lewis Taylor
As Design Director of David Collins Studio, Lewis has led the design and delivery of the Studio’s hospitality and retail projects including the Alexander McQueen and Jimmy Choo worldwide store roll-outs, projects for Harrods, David Morris, McQ, Louis Leeman, Pret A Manger and de Grisogono and most recently the 376 key hotel Le Meridien in Seoul. He works closely with Creative Director Simon Rawlings, ensuring that Simon’s creative vision is realised and overseeing each element of the design and delivery process at a senior level.
Since joining David Collins Studio in 2008, Lewis has tackled an increasingly global scope of projects. “The Alexander McQueen store roll-out was one of the most memorable,” he says. “Each of the 50 stores channels the same design concept – the signature element being a large-scale carved wax panel – yet each is unique. The New York store has double-height ceilings, Tokyo is edgier, while some of the stores were created on much smaller budgets while maintaining the core aesthetic elements. It was both creatively challenging and extremely rewarding.”
Lewis has a particular passion for the FF&E aspect of his work, having started out as a furniture designer – a passion for beautifully made furnishings instilled from an early age with visits to his grandfather’s antique shop. He studied for his BA in Product & Furniture Design at De Montford University and while showing his graduation work at New Designers, was invited to bring in his portfolio by a member of the David Collins Studio team. He was immediately offered a job and started on a part-time basis while studying for his Masters in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (under Ron Arad, in his valedictory year as professor). Lewis eventually joined The Studio full-time in 2006, working closely with David Collins on a variety of projects.
“What David taught me was always to put myself in the customer’s shoes,” he says. “To painstakingly consider every aspect of the user journey. When you’re entering a restaurant, what is the first thing you see, the first thing you touch? When you’re entering a hotel room, is there somewhere to leave your keys and hang your coat? It’s easy to lose sight of the practical requirements of a space when you’re in the midst of the design process, but that is one of the major strengths of David Collins Studio – we’re always acutely aware that a space has to work operationally as well as aesthetically.”
Michael Curry
Michael has worked in lighting design for over 25 years and joined dpa lighting consultants in 1999. Michael has worked extensively on many prestigious projects worldwide and has been an integral part of the Practice’s growth and development over the past decade. Michael leads one of three design teams within the Oxfordshire Studio and has a group of creative and technically competent designers who contribute significantly to the varied and exciting projects within the team.
Hospitality lighting design forms a large part of the practices portfolio and Michael has been instrumental in developing his team’s creative thinking by encouraging them to be “brave and use less light so that the drama and theatre of the interior space is enhanced whilst maintaining a balance of functionality.”
Michael seeks inspiration from visiting all aspects of architecture, art and design both home and abroad and is a keen photographer with an appreciation of light and shadow over any other aspect of photography. Michael further comments that:
“As lighting designers, we are fortunate to contribute to varied project types from small scale individual spaces such as a residential commission through to large scale public realm environments which capture a different scale of detailing but always receive creative care and attention throughout the design process. We are also fortunate to work with some very interesting Clients, Designers and Architects who have an outstanding vision and clearly see the importance of good lighting design to contribute to the overall project."
Nigel Tresise
Align Design and Architecture Director and Co-Founder Nigel Tresise is a hugely-experienced creative business leader, bringing many years’ experience of architecture and construction to all the company’s projects, as well as an incredible wealth of technical knowledge. Nigel is an RSA Fellow, a member of the Sustainable Design Collective and a Design Ambassador for Design Insider.
Align Design and Architecture work across architecture, interior design and placemaking and specialise in workplace strategy and design, along with hospitality, private and developer residential schemes and urban regeneration projects. The company’s client base – from The Economist Group and Mendeley to BrandOpus and Cathay Pacific - includes property developers, the public sector and private clients over a wide spectrum of sectors, from music and media to manufacturing, engineering, finance, aerospace, insurance, law, technology and charity.
Nigel’s considered insights have been welcomed by many industry publications, especially on workplace design, with thought leadership articles ranging from ‘What is a cool office – and would anyone want one?’ for OnOffice to a rounded view of ‘Agile Working’ for Work in Mind, opinions on ‘Workplace Collaboration’ for CIUK’s Design Insider, as well as a post-pandemic look at ‘The Future of Workplace’ for Designerati.
Nigel also contributes to broader design issues, from the future of technology to pieces on wellbeing and sustainability for Design Insider, as well as trends in materiality and, most recently, commentary on AI for FX Magazine. Nigel has appeared on panels for Design Insider and the Sustainable Design Forum talking about sustainability, toxic materials and circularity and, in 2023, was asked to co-present the inaugural Sustainable Design Collective Awards.
Natalia Duffy
Natalia Duffy heads Cundall’s Lighting Design team. She is a chartered engineer with a Master of Engineering and Master of Light and Lighting from the Bartlett, UCL. She began her career as an electrical engineer and in the past decade she has specialised in lighting design. At Cundall, she collaborates with the global lighting team as well as the wider Birmingham design team, contributing her knowledge of lighting services, techniques, software, technologies, and the lighting industry’s policies.
Natalia has contributed to the successful delivery of projects in a range of sectors including commercial, residential, education, transport and sports and leisure. She was also the lead designer for the public realm lighting strategy of Paradise, a new commercial and cultural hub that pays homage to Birmingham’s compelling history and allows freedom of movement for pedestrians though the city.
Natalia’s background in both engineering and architecture allows her to combine creative architectural lighting concepts with engineering aspects in design solutions – something she is very passionate about.
Jessica-Christin Hametner
Jessica-Christin Hametner is the editor-in-chief of ICON magazine and the former editor of OnOffice. She has written for publications including Wallpaper*, FRAME and Dezeen, among others, and judged the Caesar Design Film Award (CDFA) 2020. With a particular interest in up-and-coming talent and sustainability, Jessica-Christin is keen to explore the future of design and to uncover the world’s leading innovations.
Tom Ruddle
Tom is the Lead Remanufacture Engineer at EGG Lighting in Glasgow and has been heavily involved in developing the company’s ground-breaking and “Build Back Better” Green-Gold winning remanufacturing service. Tom graduated as an integrated design engineer (MEng) from the University of Bath, where his interest in remanufacture culminated in prototyping an autonomous textile repair system. Having worked in automotive design, R&D consultancy and a sustainability start-up aiming to eradicate microplastic pollution, Tom is a listed inventor with a problem-solving mindset.
Tom has been a central author of, and committee convenor for, the upcoming BS 8887:221 “Remanufacturing of Luminaires” code of practice. His 2021 whitepaper laid the groundwork for industry consensus on key remanufacturing concepts and models, and was promoted by the GreenLight Alliance and Scottish Institute of Remanufacture. He has presented to the lighting industry on the topic of compliance at the Recolight Remanufacturing Conference and contributed to arc magazine and the Lighting Journal, as well as CIBSE’s TM66 metric. Tom hopes that remanufacturing models will strengthen the UK lighting industry’s circular economy credentials.
Teresa Aguilar Carrasco
Teresa is an architect, who graduated from the University of Seville in 2019, and is now a researcher at the Department of Architectural Construction of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Seville. Teresa is studying for a PhD in Architecture. Her doctoral research encompasses two main lines of research: lighting and energy efficiency. It focuses on the impact of lighting, both natural and electric, on visual comfort and the health of individuals, particularly regarding its effect on circadian rhythms. She is a member of the research group TEP130: “Architecture, Heritage and Sustainability: Acoustics, Lighting, Optics and Energy”.
Samta Nadeem
Samta's interdisciplinary background equips her with a keen perspective on creative cultures and how they intertwine with contemporary complexities. A lighting designer, curator, critical thinker and creative director, she is passionate about engaging with issues of social and environmental justice through design and discourse. Samta has an MA in Curating Contemporary Design and freelances with institutions such as the Design Museum London. She leads curatorial programming and communications at STIR.
Paul Traynor
Paul Traynor founded the then UK-based Light Bureau in 1999, which became part of the larger organisation of AFRY (then ÅF Lighting) in 2017.
Paul is an internationally recognised lighting designer with a track record in diverse applications from heritage to headquarters buildings. Knowledge-sharing takes equal priority, teaching on lighting and landscape courses in Germany and UK.
