ASIA KLAASEN LIGHTING DESIGN
Individual services in a niche market
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Klaasen Lighting Design is demonstrating a clear commitment to changing the face of lighting design across the Asia Pacific region, incorporating sustainable practices and innovative approaches in all areas of the business Writer: Phoebe Calver Project Manager: Tom Cullum E: Singapore@kldesign.co W: www.kldesign.co
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LIGHT TALK laasen Lighting Design’s philosophies have adapted over the years to fit with the changing realities of the world, from sustainability to creating human-centric lighting and now meeting with the demands of intelligent lighting with IoT capabilities. Since the Company was established
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in 2011 by the Director, Martin Klaasen, it has continuously adapted to these requirements, gaining market recognition over the years that has brought it to the present point of success as one of the leading architectural lighting designers in the world. “I began my career as a lighting designer at the Philips Lighting Design
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“We have witnessed the evolution of both the quality and rendering techniques of our presentations...”
and Engineering Centre, and following many years of travelling for work, I was posted in Singapore,” explains Klaasen. “This was in order to set up the Support Centre for Professional Lighting, while also developing and supporting project business in Asia Pacific. “During those years I travelled extensively to train and support the
staff, providing me with invaluable experience that - alongside the Philips reorganisation in 1990 triggered my desire to start up my own business and saw the birth of Lumino Design.” Soon after the practice was created, it was landing projects that placed it firmly on the global stage, including the KLCC Petronas Twin Towers.
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Surpassing expectations
In its present-day form, the Company is especially recognised for its ability to deliver quality work that surpasses the client’s expectations. Klaasen adds: “We realise that it is of crucial importance to put a smile on our clients’ face, creating lasting relationships for the future. Further to that, we are continuously looking for ways to re-invest ourselves in the delivery of our services, a factor that has been at the core of our vision and mission. “We have witnessed the evolution of both the quality and rendering techniques of our presentations; now we are able to present our clients with a walk-through video that will provide them with a realistic visualisation of what their illuminated environment will look like with our designs.” A core strategy of the Company is to deliver as promised and to a strict timeline, ensuring that deliverables “At present our portfolio has a leading margin of and budgets are mutually agreed high-end hospitality projects...” upon in advance. As a result of this attitude at Klaasen Lighting Design, it “Despite our ever-increasing is able to deliver in a reliable manner, portfolio where the sky seemed to be much to the delight of the project the limit, the Asean market crashed in manager’s planning. 1997 and with that the project offices The popularity and reliable we had built were hit hard,” continues reputation of the Company within Klaasen. “To make life easier and the market has allowed it to go from manageable, we moved our operations strength-to-strength in terms of to Perth, Australia, where I bought a new launches within its portfolio, share in a local lighting design practice for example the recent launch of its in order to merge my few remaining Lighting Design of Things platform. projects in the new Company named “This platform allows us to provide Lighting Images. our clients with an infrastructure “In the years following we carried that achieves the integration of IoT out some exceptional projects, features and data analytics through winning numerous lighting design the use of lighting systems as a host,” awards and with the economy on-track explains Klaasen. “We have been I was able to expand the Company able to achieve this through creating back into Asia by reopening an office strategic partnerships with IoT in Singapore. From this point we leaders within the industry, meaning began building towards the launch of that we were propositioned with Klaasen Lighting Design, launched on a unique opportunity for clients to 1 January, 2011 and we haven’t looked facilitate the integration of IoT and back since.” lighting in their projects.
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TECHNOLITE Technolite is an architectural lighting specialist recognised for empowering designers with an extensive range of cutting edge luminaires from the world’s best brands. The Company does a lot of amazing things, but behind every outstanding deliverable is a solid process that keeps true to their overall goal - making the world a better place through the art and science of lighting. The Technolite team comprises of creatives, planners, and problem solvers capable of delivering a wide range of general and technical services in the lighting field. From design support and interactive product illustrations to mock-ups and installations, complex programming and to on-site maintenance, all of the company’s services happen in-house and are focused on their clients’ goals. Today, Technolite is a bridge for designers and manufacturers all over the world, offering unique and innovative lighting solutions to inspire great ideas that incorporate the latest technology. It is through collaboration that the company is able to take a holistic approach to develop strong lighting design concepts and implement end-to-end solutions - eliminating any between “imagination” and “reality”. In Asia, the Company has completed notable projects such as Gardens by the Bay (Singapore), Changi Airport Jewel Xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx (Singapore), Changi Airport xxxxxxxxx Terminal 3 (Singapore), Helix Bridge (Singapore), Legoland (Malaysia), Oasia Downtown Hotel (Singapore), and Disneyland Shanghai (China). For details on products and services, please visit www.technolite.global
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“At present our portfolio has a leading margin of high-end hospitality projects from the world’s leading hospitality brands, complemented by a wide selection of projects in commercial retail, corporate, residential and urban redevelopments.” More recently the Company has embarked on smart city master planning and public transportation projects such as airport terminals, utilising its knowledge that spreads across all applications. In principle there is no limitation to the projects that it can and can’t do.
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“Many of our projects have been award winning, with the most recent being our Alila Yangshuo Hotel project in China, which was subsequently voted best new hotel of 2017 in Asia by Dezeen Magazine and also gained awards for best hotel and spa resort,” the Director states. “We also scored wins at the LIT awards for both His Majesty’s Theatre - a century old heritage project in Perth - and The Atlas Bar in Singapore, a stunning bar that was voted best new bar in the world in 2017. Both His Majesty’s Theatre as well as the Atlas Bar received a Lighting Design Award of Merit from the IES/NA this year.”
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Niche operations
Klaasen Lighting Design today has become extremely well established with repeat projects from many of its clients. “We are not seeking to conquer the world, instead we have the perfect niche in Asia that ranges form China and Korea in the north, Australia and New Zealand in the South and the Philippines in the east and India in the West,” explains Klaasen. “However, we have also carried out projects in Africa, Russia and the Middle East, going as far as Tahiti more recently. “We place no geographical limit
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steps in filling the gaps in the market and providing a service that no other company is providing at present. “We realise that there will be copiers and followers, however, at Klaasen Lighting Design we have the distinct honour of being the leader, innovator, initiator and facilitator of LDoT which will always make it unique in the market,” continues Klaasen. “One of the key pillars of KLD in general but also for me specifically is our drive to share knowledge with the greater public, lighting industry, our clients, developers and fellow project consultants. “In the present day, lighting design is becoming highly complex and budgets are increasingly under pressure, resulting in quality standards often being sidestepped as a result.” In general the current appreciation of lighting design is low, hence creating awareness of the of the importance and benefits of good “Many of our projects quality and smart lighting design for have been award the natural progression of the industry. winning, with the most recent being our It is unfortunate that lighting design Alila Yangshuo Hotel is often still the last item on a budget project in China.” provision, even though it is effectively one of the most visible aspects of a project and good or bad lighting design will make or break any space. “We hope to change this by educating our clients and the wider industry, making it a crucial mission for the future of our profession,” explains through the provision of professional Klaasen. “Through my personal blog, and innovative training workshops on a regular basis, while also taking the Light Talk, and book of the same name, team to important events such as Light feature articles in industry magazines, as well as my frequent appearances at & Build in Frankfurt. lighting events and seminars around “We appreciate that motivation and the world, we are able to contribute to confidence are equally important tools and assets for our staff to have, as it will maturing the industry and creating an inevitably translate in the delivery and appreciation of what we do. “We hope that in a couple of years presentation of our work to the clients.” from now we will have cemented our Individual service position as a visionary in the industry; When taking into account its recent we never set out for others to follow, move to provide its Lighting Design but we do believe for the survival of this practice in the long-term we all need to of Things (LDoT) platform to clients, Klaasen Lighting Design has taken clear make a move forward with the times.” “A lighting designer’s main commodities are time and knowledge...”
“We are not seeking to conquer the world, instead we have the perfect niche in Asia...”
on our project location, but do not actively pursue these places as we like the majority of our work to be located within reasonable travel reach.” Due to a combination of the Company’s reputation and recognition within the market, it isn’t forced to pursue an aggressive project acquisition strategy, with approximately 80 percent of its projects achieved through wordof-mouth and referrals. The Director continues: “A lighting designer’s main commodities are time and knowledge, therefore we choose to invest in both the training and education of our staff. We achieve this
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226A East Coast Road, Singapore 428923 Tel: +65-6440 3768 singapore@kldesign.co www.kldesign.co
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