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Did you know the only federal lighting requirement for prisons is 20 foot-candles, with no ceiling at all?

Edward Bartholomew, principal of Bartholomew Lighting and executive director of Light Justice, and Richard Muthama, lighting designer at Lam Partners and Light Justice curator, join Lisa Reed of RBLD and Avi Mor of Morlights to make the case for humane lighting. Night walks. Quality darkness. The first IES recommended practice for spaces of incarceration. And the November 4 symposium. “Why should we have a 2x4 that is pushing out 5000 lumens within a cell?”

Edward Bartholomew, IALD, LC, LEED AP, IES, is Principal of Bartholomew Lighting, an award-winning architectural lighting design firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With over 40 years of experience, he advances lighting design as both an architectural discipline and a means of addressing social and environmental justice. Edward is co-founder and executive director of Light Justice, an organization advocating for equitable, community-engaged lighting that supports underserved communities and building occupants. Light Justice recognizes light and darkness as essential environmental resources influencing health, safety, dignity, and belonging.

Richard Muthama is a lighting designer at Lam Partners in Cambridge, MA. He is the Curator of Light Justice. He holds an MFA in Lighting Design from Parsons School of Design, where his thesis on humane lighting for prison cell sleep environments received the Parsons Lighting Design Partners Thesis Prize for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice. Richard is Vice President of Black United in Lighting and Design (BUILD) and serves on the IES Security Committee, where he helped develop the first IES Recommended Practice for lighting spaces of incarceration.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Lighting for spaces of incarceration
• (07:38) Night walks challenge “more light equals safety”
• (13:53) Daylight access, power, and back-of-house lighting
• (21:09) No recommended practice for incarceration spaces
• (26:40) Outward-facing mission and the November 4 symposium
• (35:41) ACA’s 20 foot-candle rule and amber light
• (41:04) Favorite spaces: Grandmother’s living room, Kenyan daylight
• 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:

Light Justice

https://lightjustice.org/

Symposium registration (IES events)

https://ies.org/events/

Past Light Justice symposium videos

https://lightjustice.org/webinars

IES e-learning: Light + Justice

https://elearning.ies.org/p/lightjustice

Illuminating Engineering Society

https://www.ies.org

American Correctional Association

https://www.aca.org

Lam Partne...

How much of your product's value depends on an organization nobody credits?

IES standards aren't free, and Brienne Willcock wants the lighting industry to understand why. This episode covers the real cost of a recommended practice, IES's growing footprint (AES, NCQLP), and a client-trust framework borrowed from healthcare. Brienne is Associate Executive Director at the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and she joins hosts Avi Mor (Morlights) and Lisa Reed (Reed Burkett Lighting Design) to trace her path from fine art and flower color-matching into IES leadership. They dig into IES's mergers with the Audio Engineering Society and NCQLP, the real cost behind every IES file, and why "dumbing it down" is a phrase Brienne refuses to use. It's a candid look at standards, advocacy, and earning trust in the built environment.

Brienne Willcock is Associate Executive Director at IES, focused on Strategy, Standards, and Industry Engagement, leading content strategy across technical standards and education. Her background as an architectural lighting designer shapes how she manages collaborative programs, gathers input, and curates content. Brienne was named to Lighting Magazine's International 40 Under 40 (2017), served as past president of the Detroit IES section (2013–2015) and IES Annual Conference Committee Chair (2016–2017), and was awarded Honorary Affiliate status by the American Institute of Architects (2014).

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Brienne's expanding role as IES Associate Executive Director
• (15:09) Building bridges with AIA, ASID, and allied organizations
• (22:10) Manufacturer funding fatigue and thirty competing lighting organizations
• (30:35) Six years in the red: IES's financial turnaround and advocacy
• (40:35) The hidden value of the IES file and standards funding
• (50:52) The patient advocacy model for earning client trust
• (58:33) Brienne's favorite illuminated space: the Detroit Institute of Arts
• 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:

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

Audio Engineering Society (AES) — https://aes2.org

National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP) — https://www.ncqlp.org

National Lighting Bureau (NLB) — https://www.nlb.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/

Morlight...

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Could bad lighting be quietly costing a restaurant its best customers?

"People aren't buying lumens. They're buying outcomes." Jenny West, founder of West Consulting and a former workplace strategist at Knoll and CRESA, joins hosts Avi Mor of Morlights and Lisa Reed of Reed Burkett Lighting Design (RBLD). West traces her path from Gensler through corporate change management to a practice spanning retail, aviation, and art. The trio unpacks budget pressure, borrows a fee structure from Broadway theater, and insists lighting teams belong in the visioning session from day one. Why does the industry still lack a shared research voice?

Jenny West is a multidisciplinary designer and artist and the founder of West Consulting, based in Colorado. A Kansas State University graduate in Interior Architecture and Product Design, she began at Gensler, where her work included the Westin Hotel and Transit Center at Denver International Airport. She spent nearly a decade at Knoll as a Global Account Director working with Fortune 100 brands including Google and Microsoft, then led Gensler's Denver consulting practice and later directed national workplace strategy as Vice President at Cresa. She holds NCIDQ and LEED AP ID+C credentials and has spoken at NeoCon, CoreNet, and IIDA.

In This Episode:

• (00:00) Framing part two of the Illuminate@NeoCon debrief
• (02:07) Hunter Tremaine of QTL on crossing into architecture and design
• (05:13) Why color quality is the "magic sauce" of good LED
• (08:35) Gregory Kay of Lightology and PureEdge on educating with color temperature
• (12:45) Brian Keilt of Lighting Services Inc on the color and material vignette
• (16:44) The ArtLifting installation and its last-minute rescue
• (19:29) Brian Maite of ALW on reaching an audience they don't normally see
• (23:32) Rebranding as an architectural brand, not a lighting brand
• 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:

Watch the Illuminate@NeoCon panel referenced in this episode — "Lighting that Shapes Design" — featuring Avi Mor, Lisa Reed, and Jenny West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OKOe1oX90Q

Jenny West / West Consulting — official site, portfolio, and press: https://www.jennywestartist.com

IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) — www.ies.org

IIDA (International Interior Design Association) — www.iida.org

ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) — www.asid.org

Lighting Matters Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighting-matters-podcast/
Lighting...