Structural engineers are licensed. Architects are licensed. Why isn't lighting?

Hosts Avi Mor of Morlights and Lisa Reed of Reed Burkett Lighting Design go unscripted. It starts with a hotel ballroom running 20 footcandles at a dinner event, broken dimmers, and no one who knew how to operate them. From that comes a pointed question: why is proper lighting still treated as a luxury? The specification market sits at roughly 3–5% of total luminaires sold in the U.S. Lisa and Avi dig into licensure, the IES partnership with America by Design, and whether Neocon's Illuminated show can move that number.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Season preview and upcoming guest lineup
• (06:18) Hotel ballroom lighting failure and the luxury perception problem
• (12:04) Neocon's Illuminated show: lighting in front of 50,000 designers
• (17:41) When lighting work becomes how you see everything
• (21:03) KU Campanile project and plans for the season ahead
• Would you be interested in sponsoring our podcast? Reach out to us.
• Share your thoughts, comments, like and subscribe to hear all of our informative upcoming episodes!

About the show:

Lighting Matters is hosted by Lisa Reed and Avi Mor. In each episode, we’ll dig deep into the meticulous process of creating lighting design for architecture, showcasing industry leaders who balance artistic creativity with technical precision, and listen as they share their successes and challenges in architectural lighting design.

Resources:
IES (Illuminating Engineering Society): https://www.ies.org

Neocon / Illuminated: https://www.neocon.com

The Merchandise Mart, Chicago: https://www.themart.com

IALD (International Association of Lighting Designers): https://www.iald.org
Lighting Matters Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighting-matters-podcast/
Lighting Matters Podcast YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLkEKnB8XgSXoeDY0T8t3w

Lisa Reed https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-j-reed-b198154/

Reed Burkett Lighting Design http://www.rbldi.com

Avraham Mor https://www.linkedin.com/in/avrahammor/

Morlights https://www.morlights.com/

Ten experienced lighting designers walk into a conference. Can they agree on what they actually do for a living?

"What do you do?" For lighting designers, it's a deceptively hard question to answer well. At the IALD Enlighten Americas 2025 conference in Tucson, hosts Avraham Mor (Morlights) and Lisa Reed (Reed Burkett Lighting Design) posed three pointed questions to ten industry veterans —

Chip Israel (Lighting Design Alliance, A Salas O'Brien Company)
Aram Ebben (EXP)
Francesca Bastianini (Sighte Studio)
Ron Kurtz (Dark Light Design)
Randy Burkett (RBLD)
Giulio Pedota (Schuler Shook)
Steven Rosen (Available Light)
Laura Arroyo (FLOU Lighting Design)
Gonzalo Saez (SV Lighting Design)
Nancy Clanton (Clanton & Associates)

The conversation cuts to the core of professional identity, the real distinction from electrical contractors, and whether a unified global vocabulary for the profession is even achievable. Then ChatGPT weighs in — sort of.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Welcome and IALD Enlighten Americas 2025 conference recap
• (06:47) How do you describe lighting design to a non-technical audience?
• (10:48) Lighting designer vs. electrical contractor: where expertise diverges
• (14:31) Can the profession agree on a shared vocabulary?
• (20:44) ChatGPT synthesizes responses from eight designers
• (26:30) Debating the definition — and who it actually needs to reach
• Would you be interested in sponsoring our podcast? Reach out to us.
• Share your thoughts, comments, like and subscribe to hear all of our informative upcoming episodes!

About the show:

Lighting Matters is hosted by Lisa Reed and Avi Mor. In each episode, we’ll dig deep into the meticulous process of creating lighting design for architecture, showcasing industry leaders who balance artistic creativity with technical precision, and listen as they share their successes and challenges in architectural lighting design.

Resources:
IALD: https://iald.org/Conferences/EA25
Lighting Matters Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighting-matters-podcast/
Lighting Matters Podcast YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLkEKnB8XgSXoeDY0T8t3w

Lisa Reed https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-j-reed-b198154/

Reed Burkett Lighting Design http://www.rbldi.com

Avraham Mor https://www.linkedin.com/in/avrahammor/

Morlights https://www.morlights.com/

How does lighting affect how we tell stories? Avraham Mor of Morlights and Lisa Reed of Reed Burkett Lighting Design interview David Woody of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry? They look at how storytelling is affected by lighting. How can we improve lighting and storytelling to have them intersect? The conversation reveals how much lighting can leave the imprint of a story on us, and how much it adds to the emotional connections we have with each other and to the stories we tell.

In This Episode:

· (00:00) Introduction to the Griffis Museum of Science and Industry

· (03:16) David Woody’s Unique Role and Background

· (09:24) The Intersection of Storytelling and Design

· (12:27) The Importance of Lighting in Storytelling

· (24:18) Celebrating Innovations and Addressing Challenges

· (34:23) The Intersection of Storytelling and Experience

· (37:42) Designing Emotional Connections in Spaces

· (53:24) Future Innovations in Lighting Design

· Would you be interested in sponsoring our podcast? Reach out to us.

· Share your thoughts, comments, like and subscribe to hear all of our informative upcoming episodes!

About the show: Lighting Matters is hosted by Lisa Reed and Avi Mor. In each episode, we’ll dig deep into the meticulous process of creating lighting design for architecture, showcasing industry leaders who balance artistic creativity with technical precision, and listen as they share their successes and challenges in architectural lighting design.

Resources:

David Woody: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-woody-2713172

Lighting Matters Podcast LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighting-matters-podcast/
Lighting Matters Podcast YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLkEKnB8XgSXoeDY0T8t3w
Lisa Reed https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-j-reed-b198154/
Reed Burkett Lighting Design http://www.rbldi.com
Avraham Mor https://www.linkedin.com/in/avrahammor/
Morlights https://www.morlights.com/