Up Close with Jill Cody

Jill Cody began her lighting design firm almost by accident. After working for HGA in Milwaukee, she moved to Seattle with her husband and discovered almost all lighting design there was provided through engineering firms.

An architect hired her to design a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho resort. At the time, she worked out of the architect's office and had no desire to set up her own business. After being in demand by word of mouth, she opened Dark Light. This has given her the flexibility to chose the clients and projects she works with. And, she emphasizes that both groups are remarkable!

Jill first thought of the name Dark Light during an education seminar at LightFair. She recalls, “There were these two presenters from Norway giving an esoteric presentation. They began discussing the importance of darkness to complement light and it really resonated.” She felt strongly about not naming the firm after herself. Thinking about the 2 or 3 hours of daylighting that Norway experiences in the winter, Dark Light was born. She continued by explaining that so much of what a lighting designer does is not just lighting objects, but deciding what not to light. “You can’t drive focus if you light everything. So, the name implies that we are thinking more than just the additive; sometimes the subtractive is just as important.”

Before COVID, Jill planned for expansion as she realized the benefits of diversifying geographically. She chose St. Louis as a second location for only one reason—that is where Dark Light Principal Ron Kurtz lives. Jill explained, “Seattle has been a great place to start Dark Light because the city has experienced so much growth, but we need expertise in other geographic and design areas.” She highlighted that Ron brings experience diversity with his strong footprint in hospitality design.

Dark Light has worked on projects for several big clients including T-Mobile and Microsoft. Jill admitted that sometimes you just get a project randomly and then you build on it. She said, “We have been really fortunate because there’s so much tech work going on in our market.”

Many of the spaces are open floor plans with meeting rooms of various sizes, some as small as accommodations for two people. Tech clients typically want the amenities space to provide a different environment, not just a break room, but for collaboration as well. Jill practices Dark Light's style of dichotomy, "If a person is working under 30-footcandles of uniform light and they are there for a long time, they need a break. Our goal is to provide visual relief when outside of those main workzones."

Another area of expertise is higher education. Jill mused that students get exposed to her lighting design at various universities, and then upon graduation, some experience Dark Light designs in Seattle at many of the tech companies.

Jill doesn’t use the word "nighttime", instead she says “after dark”, because Seattle can be dark at 4:00 p.m. in the middle of December. Her specifications use a lot of 3000K, not because of freezing cold temperatures, but because of sad and dreary winters. She strives to give clients a lantern effect.

On Dark Light’s choice not to specialize in particular project types, Jill stated, "The truth is that's the way we work. Yes, there are certain technical requirements of certain jobs, but at the end of the day we’re doing the same thing for all of our projects. We are lighting a task or creating focus and enhancing the materials that are important to the architect.”

Jill concluded by explaining the importance of her team, and she attributes their tremendous growth to the incredible people she works with, which now includes Ron in St. Louis and the rest of the team scattered around this country. She also expressed her good fortune to be working as a lighting designer, a profession that makes a real difference, and that has so many amazing people. ■