Issue 126

As I sit writing this, it has been two whole years since we published our big Light + Building preview issue, where I talked rather prematurely about how excited I was to be heading back to Frankfurt for the big show. Two years later and we’ve still not made it back there, and with the event once again being postponed (this time to October this year), that wait will go on a little longer. Since those heady days of February 2020, the world has changed considerably, and in the process, many are questioning whether the big shows such as Light + Building even need to happen anymore, especially with the emergence of new, smaller, more boutique events (like our very own [d]arc sessions). I guess time will tell on that front.

Speaking of change, by this point you’ve no doubt noticed that we’ve gone through a few changes of our own, with a very jazzy new look. Hats off to our Production Manager and designer Dave Bell for all of his hard work over the past few weeks to freshen up the magazine and deliver this beautiful redesign. I hope you’ll agree that it looks incredible.

You’ll see in the pages ahead that we’ve mixed things up, dropped some features, reworked some others, and even introduced a couple of new elements too. One such element is the very welcome addition of Kaye Preston, Founder of Designers Mind, to our team of contributors. Over the past two years, the subject of mental wellbeing has been brought firmly to the front of our minds, and the work that Designers Mind is doing to raise awareness and acknowledgement of the subject in the design community has been tremendous. I’m very much looking forward to seeing Kaye’s contributions in the magazine going forward.

Change is also one of the key topics in one of this issue’s big feature interviews – change on a much larger scale. Regular readers will know that we’ve been discussing equality and privilege in recent issues; while this has previously been focused more on gender, this time around I broach the subject of racial diversity, equity and inclusion in the lighting industry in a fascinating chat with Lauren Dandridge. It is a very frank, at times challenging conversation, but as Lauren herself says, it is only through having these difficult conversations that true change can start to happen.

I hope that you like the new look. Enjoy the issue!
Matt Waring
Editor
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