arc Oct/Nov 2018 – Issue 106

Oh what a night…
darc awards 2018 ends in spectacular fashion with Christmas themed darc night and some stunning installations…

The 2018 darc awards came to an end on 6th December with darc night, a spectacular Christmas party event in the wonderful surroundings of MC Motors in London. Christmas tree light installations, street food, a free bar and a unique presentation format all contributed to a hugely enjoyable and creative evening.

darc night marked the conclusion of a record-breaking six month process. There were over 400 entries (up from 300 last year) including 100 entries in the PLACES (Best Interior Lighting) – High Budget category and over 100 entries in the Product categories. Altogether there were projects from 50 countries submitted and, remarkably, over 7,000 votes (up from 6,000 last year) making the darc awards a truly global, democratic awards programme.

A massive congratulations to all our winners but in particular to DHA Designs, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, for their Hintze Hall project at the Natural History Museum in London. Even though this project was in the most highly contested category (PLACES – High Budget), it still received the most votes out of any of the winning projects thus winning the ultimate darc award.

Whilst 18 Degrees and Delta Light won the Best Installation on the night, all of the installations were spectacular in their creativity and delivery. I want to thank all the sponsors and installation teams that participated and helped make darc night so spectacular.

As announced during darc night, we also have some exciting news regarding darc room, our lighting specification exhibition that takes place during London Design Festival. 2019 will see the event partner with London Design Fair in the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch. Taking place on 19-22 September, darc room will have its very own hall where we will continue our unique exhibiting concept as well as having educational workshops and live streaming. We’re all very excited about this new development as being part of London Design Fair will enable us to expose lighting design to even more design professionals from outside the lighting fraternity. Something that we always strive to do with our events and media.
We look forward to your participation in next year’s [d]arc events.

Paul James
Editor
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