Up Close With Christopher Knowlton

At school I was really interested in the performing arts and drama and I joined the National Youth Music Theatre and went and did some tours with them when I was 12. I did the backstage stuff like stage managing and making props. We got to work with some really cool lighting designers who came and did different productions with us.

They really gave of their knowledge and time to young people. It inspired me to do lighting design when later I went to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

It led to me going to work for Equation [Lighting Design] where I worked with Mark Hensman, then I worked for Lighting Design International and did my Masters at the Bartlett [School of Architecture at University College London].

The last stage of my designing career was with Paul Beale at 18 Degrees where things came full circle and I worked on three theatres, the Mayflower in Southampton and the Boulevard and the Trafalgar in London.

This was amazing because it was like reconnecting with all the people that you love from that industry, but you're able to bring something else to it, which was an interesting mix. There's no one like theatre people.

At 18 Degrees I really enjoyed the business side of things so I decided to do an MBA.

At the time I was on the board of the IALD and then the interim CEO left and the president and past president asked me if I would be the CEO.

So I was both excited and terrified and it was a baptism of fire.

The great thing is that I get to work with all of the people that I love, the ones that I never would have got the chance to if I was working in my own business.

And that's kind of a privilege that I don't take lightly.

For those entering the profession I would say find yourself some good mentors, ones who are actually going to invest in helping you develop and put the time into doing that.

But the relationship has to be two way. You can't ask someone to mentor you and they get nothing out of it. It could be that could be that they need help with something or they have a project that they're looking for some assistance with. It’s trying to find a way to balance things.

I would also say to work in places where you respect the work that's being done. That will keep you motivated.

Negotiation is another thing. Remember that you have to negotiate with everyone every single day about everything.

Construction, particularly, is a negotiation. First of all, you have to negotiate your ideas through the creative process. Then you have to get them approved, and then you've got to get them executed. That's a whole lot of hassle if you are not a good negotiator. You do need to understand what is driving people.

Just five to 10 per cent of the work is actual design, making it it happen is the rest. And the majority of that is be organised and be able to work with people. Like, that's pretty much the two things. That's all you need to know.

Back up what you're doing. Do you know what it costs? Because when the contractor sits there and says ‘it costs twice as much’ you need to be able to say with confidence ‘no, that's wrong’.

I think the worst design decisions happen in those meetings where it's like, ‘we want an outcome’ and at the end of this meeting, there’s pressure to have an outcome, but the ramifications are huge. And you're sat in a room with 20 people and then the conversation stops and everyone turns to you and asks ‘so why does this cost 200 grand?’ It’s just being able to understand how to negotiate those things and get around them. ■