Learning about Lighting

The  NKBA | KBIS Lighting Summit showcased education, a hands-on competition…and fun!

For its first-ever Lighting Trends Summit last week, NKBA | KBIS partnered with Lutron to hold an educational and fun-filled event at the brand’s Global Experience Center in New York. 

The event kicked-off with a welcome by Melissa Andresko, Chief Corporate Brand Ambassador for Lutron, followed by the the debut of the association’s report on Lighting Trends in Kitchen & Bath, presented by Tricia Zach, Head of Research at NKBA. Then an in-depth presentation on “Unseen Luxury” was given by Cecilia Ramos, Senior Director of Architectural Markets at Lutron, followed by a panel discussion about “The Impact of Lighting in Design”, featuring Nathalie Faubert, Lighting Designer with Cline Bettridge Bernstein; Lauren Schulte, owner of Monarch Kitchen & Bath Studio; and Lutron’s David Weinstein, VP of Residential Sales.

Attendees were also given a tour of the Lutron experience center, which showed them the different phases of light and how it could alter a space and the visual perception of a room. “Light can make a big impact in a room,” said Rob Laterza, Senior Manager of Lutron Experience Centers, who gave the tour. 

Afterwards attendees broke into groups to try their hand at the Lighting Design Challenge, which featured a chance to create a lighting plan for a fictional kitchen space owned by a multi-generational family. The groups had one hour, then handed over the final plan to the judges: Nathalie Faubert, Tony Monteleone of Monteleone Consulting, and Thomas Mnich, National Sales Manager and Lighting Designer at Lutron.

See below for the winning group with one of the judges, Thomas Mnich (far right). Lutron awarded each group member a Smart Dimmer Starter Kit.   

For more images from the Lighting Trends Summit, see below. 

All photos courtesy of Jeff Siegel | The Mad Photographer.