On your marks for this year’s Lights in Alingsås festival

Last weekend a group of lighting designers gathered to start working on the twentieth annual Lights in Alingsås festival, which takes place this autumn in Sweden.

This year’s chosen designers are a mix of previous students, old Workshop Heads and a couple of newcomers to the event.

” Lighting has always been important for me. When I was little a close relative was attacked in a dark tunnel and during the following weeks several older women were attacked in the same place. So even as a child I thought something should be done. Lighting up an area means that more people dare venture out and that increases security,” says Natalie Redford who works as a lighting designer in Edinburgh and has previously been here as a student.

Jim Farula has been in Alingsås several times as a programmer, but this is the first time he is acting as a Workshop Head. He is from New York but has worked in Sweden for thirty years and finds the lighting scene here very different to New York’s.

” I work a lot with exteriors and have found some resistance to illuminating some of the beautiful environments you have here in Sweden. It’s strange, as it’s so dark here for so much of the year,” says Jim.

This weekend the designers had to get through a lot of points in the programme. This year’s theme was introduced, and the designers walked the lighting trail for the first time, after which they chose the places they will light up this autumn.

The places to be illuminated, the route of the lighting trail and this year’s theme will all be revealed later this spring.

This year’s lighting designers

Jackson Stigwood, Australia

Jackson is an Australian lighting designer and co-founder of A Billion Suns back in Melbourne. He has Swedish roots and is joining Lights in Alingsås for the first time.

Natalie Redford and Claire Tomara, Scotland

One of this year’s three duos, they work together at KSLD | EFLA Lighting Design in Edinburgh. Their passion is teaching, and they are happy to be here to share their expertise with this year’s students. As a student herself, Natalie attended the Lights in Alingsås workshop in 2004 and 2005.

Kapil Surlakar, India

Ten years after his previous visit, Kapil is back in Alingsås as a Workshop Head. He is the director of design at Light@Work Design Consultants in Goa, India and also works with the lighting event, Lights in Goa, which is inspired by Lights in Alingsås.

Vladan Paunovic and Juha Hälikkä, Denmark and Finland

Both work for Ramboll Architectural Lighting Design, one in Denmark and the other in Finland. They have many years’ experience of workshops and lighting installations and this year they aim to deliver a work that Lights in Alingsås can be proud of.

Erin Slaviero, United Arab Emirates

Erin is originally from Australia, but works in Dubai for Nulty – Lighting Design Consultants. In 2017 she joined the ranks of 40 under 40, nominated by Lighting Magazine. She is looking forward to using her skills and expertise during the workshop to realise her student´s ideas.

Jim Farula, Sweden

Jim studied Environmental Design and Architecture in USA. He has thirty years experience of lighting in all its forms and has previously been involved in the festival as a programmer. This year he’s looking forward to taking on a new role as a Workshop Head.

Cecilia Cronelid and Johanna Enger, Sweden

This year’s Swedish duo both studied for their Master’s degrees in Architectural Lighting Design at KTH in Stockholm, and both have teaching experience. During the year Johanna will finish her PhD in Environmental Psychology/Lighting design at the University of Lund in Sweden. In 2013, when she was a student, Cecilia participated in the Lights in Alingsås workshop and now she has her own company, Building Pieces AB.