Today we’d like to introduce you to John Featherstone.
John, please share your story with us.
For twenty-five years Lightswitch has been committed changing the way people experience their world. We are a consortium of internationally recognized lighting, media and visual designers who create unforgettable experiences where people live, work, learn and play.
Whether for a concert, an event, an experiential environment, or an architectural project, we use a balance of artistry, practicality and technical mastery to create memorable, compelling and responsible lighting and visual design.
This core principle guides our team of dedicated designers who serve our clients from six full-service offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Hong Kong. It’s also a challenge that drives us to continually refine our craft and affirm our belief that successful visual design is a balance of artistry, practicality and technological mastery.
It’s currently a popular word, but the intention has influenced everything we’ve done at Lightswitch since our founding.
Principals Norm Schwab and I founded Lightswitch, with the intention of creating a truly different and distinctive Lighting and Visual Design company. We came together after successful solo careers both sides of the Atlantic, with acclaimed projects ranging from arena tours for major concert artists to blockbuster theme park attractions and special events.
In 1993, Norm and I spent a weekend at Point Reyes Beach in California and conceived a lighting and visual design company with a very specific set of intentions in mind. What if we could create a design company unlike any other? What if we focused on the excellence of our work above all else? What if we could make design easy for our clients, and the complex simple? What if we founded a company that wasn’t named after us, and was more about collaboration, than ego? Did we dare? We decided to give it a six-month trial, and twenty-five years later, we’re still working to excel at that vision.
It was important to us that the company had its own ‘personality’, was more than the sum of its parts, and had a name that reflected the goals we had when we founded the company – besides, ‘Featherstone and Schwab’ sounds like an accountant, not a lighting design studio! We wanted a name that spoke to the intent of innovation and creativity, but also to making our clients lives easy. What is more intuitive and simple yet powerful than a light switch? So our company was born, and named!
Working from studios in San Francisco and Chicago, Lightswitch rapidly built a base of loyal, satisfied clients, many of whom are still with us many years later. Apple and Nintendo are but two companies for whom we are proud to have designed remarkable projects for a quarter of a century. As the company grew, so did our team. Talented designers and support staff moved in and out of the company – some ‘got’ what we were doing and stayed, some moved on to other ventures.
After several years it was apparent that geographic expansion was essential, especially for our burgeoning theme park work and our intent to offer exemplary service to our clients. In 1999 Orlando based designer Brad Malkus joined Lightswitch first as an Associate, and later in 2008 as a full Principal running our studio in the theme park capital of the World. Brad brought years of concert touring, control system design and themed environment experience to Lightswitch, combined with a remarkable attention to detail and a reputation for designing projects with a distinctive aesthetic. Brad has been an irreplaceable part of the Lightswitch management team for over a decade.
As we continued to grow, the New York market was clearly an opportunity to build on our intent to offer a nationwide service for our clients, so we began to search for a fourth member of our leadership team. New York designer Howard Werner had established an admirable reputation with his own design practice, balancing acclaimed on and off Broadway projects with the distinctive special event and corporate design. In 2004 we were thrilled when Howard joined Lightswitch as a full Principal. Howard’s unrelenting drive for excellence has elevated the gravitas of the company both internally and externally in immeasurable ways.
With our third office in place, we turned our attention to expanding into markets beyond our theatrical, event and entertainment heritage. With continued interest from clients in the themed environment and architectural space, we decided to focus on this market. We found our deep attention to both experience and bespoke storytelling resonated with architectural clients tired of ‘white box’ and unimaginative lighting design, and ready for something different.
No Lighting and Visual Design company can truly claim to be ‘nationwide’ without a studio in Los Angeles. After several talented designers moving in and out of the practice, we sought out a designer with not only the right talents but also the right sensibility to guide Lightswitch from Southern California. Designer Chris Medvitz was Director of Lighting Design for an experiential marketing agency and has lit breathtaking concerts, innovative television specials, memorable exhibits and distinctive product launches and Vegas shows. Chris’s breadth of ability is impressive but more than that he immediately ‘got’ what Lightswitch was intended to be, and was an instant fit for our culture. Like Brad, Chris joined Lightswitch as Associate in 2004 but soon became a full Principal heading our Los Angeles practice.
As the Asian market became an increasingly important in our ventures, a presence in the Pacific Rim became an essential area for growth. Under the guidance of Norm Schwab, in 2011 we opened our studio in Hong Kong, headed by Lightswitch Senior Designer Warren Kong. Warren has subsequently taken a role as a Director, managing architectural operations both in Asia and the Southern California market.
With continued success and acclaim in the themed environment and architectural markets, this segment was growing to a more significant part of the Lightswitch portfolio. In order to focus on the specific needs of these projects we decided to create Lightswitch Architectural, a dedicated division to address permanently installed projects – a ‘company within a company’.
As we look back on twenty-five years of growth, we are very proud. Proud of a company that is more than the sum of its parts. Proud of our team of world-class designers, project managers and support staff. Proud of all the amazing projects we have been honored to design. But more than anything, proud that we have stayed true to the original intent of the company. As we eye the future, we remain committed to keeping Lightswitch that which was conceived on a beach in Northern California twenty-five years ago – a truly different and distinctive Lighting and Visual Design company.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think any company that has been in business for 25 years has faced their share of challenges and struggles. Everything from economic downturns to staffing and retention problems, to clients with ever-changing desires and ever-shrinking budgets has seemed at the time like insurmountable.
But we have a series of core beliefs. We believe in treating our clients as valued and trusted friends. We focus unrelentingly on doing good work, and being responsible and committed corporate citizens. We have an unshakable belief in our staff and are committed to paying them as much as we can afford, not as little as we can get away with.
So we have found through thick and thin, these beliefs have stood us in good stead for the last 25 years, and we believe they will work for the next 25.
Lightswitch – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I think this was largely answered in the first question, but to answer the question directly, We help people tell stories, whether a hotel developer, a concert performer, a CEO or a tech company…and to do that we create Lighting and visual design – we don’t sell, rent, or manufacture equipment, but are ‘visual architects’ and a safe harbor for impartial unbiased advice, creativity and solutions. We now work in five self-defined fields – Entertainment, Environments, Events, Museums and Architecture.
We believe that the vision of lighting and media designers is realized under the logistic and economic constraints of the real world. As such, successful design is a balance of artistry, unrelenting practicality and mastery of ever-changing technology. We constantly strive to achieve that balance without compromise, and always acknowledge the real world in which our designs are executed.
Those looking for an unfocused stream of seemingly random ideas are not well served by Lightswitch – smart clients looking for an experienced, tenacious, engaged and collaborative design partner are without exception delighted by our work.
It is this real-world execution that we believe defines us and is a hallmark of our success. We have a proven track record of delivering designs that are exciting, dynamic and visionary, yet on time and on budget. We pride ourselves on fiscal responsibility, and spending our client’s money wisely, and as if were our own.
We believe this approach is what separates us from our competition, and what separates ideas from design. All great projects begin with one thing in common – ideas. But you cannot build a museum, stage an event or engage an audience just with ideas – you need a design. Design is what lets an idea exist in the real world – design is what makes a concept, an idea, an inspiration, a vision or a dream, reality.
We believe design is armor for ideas.™
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We believe that our successes are based not only on technical and design expertise but also on a factor that is even more important – a clear understanding of the human experience. If all our diverse projects have one thing in common, it is that they present a definite experience. We define the success of our projects by the degree to which we manage to engage, amuse, entertain, educate, soothe or nurture our ultimate client.
We also have an internal metric for success – the quality of life of our employees and team members. We have only one ‘product’ – brilliant design, insightful solutions and breathtaking experiences. We believe our staff can only achieve this if we liberate them from the mundane, and reward them appropriately for their work. By striving to be an empowered organization of motivated creators, we ensure success.
Contact Info:
- Address: 535 N. Clark Street #216
Chicago, IL 60640 - Website: www.lightswitch.net
- Phone: .312.288.8777
- Email: jfeatherstone@lightswitch.net
- Instagram: instagram.com/lightswitchdesign
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lightswitchdesign
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