How has lighting design developed in Turkey? Emre Gunes, the editor of the Turkish version of “Professional Lighting Design magazine” (PLD Turkey), talked about this by introducing his own career.

Gunes called himself a “supporter of lighting design.” For about 20 years, he worked as a poster boy for the popularization of lighting design in Turkey under various titles, while holding a strong belief: “excellent lighting designs are not a result of coincidence, rather, a result of designing.” He established “PLD Turkey” (first published in 2005), the first magazine specializing in lighting design, and worked as its chief editor for 14 years. The range of his activities is extensive, which include being the co-founder of Agustos Teknoloji, an organization that introduces innovative technologies, and the business development chief of lighting maker LIGMAN in Turkey.

All of these activities have been considered as a platform for disseminating lighting design, and he has planned and organized more than 20 events. One of his early event projects was a workshop to establish a Turkish association of lighting designers. Back then, Gunes had no experience in planning/organizing an event, so everything was new to him. He learned as he worked on it. Fortunately, the government cooperated and supported the event that Gunes had planned, since the Istanbul city government had gained an interest in lighting design, making it easier to obtain sponsors and reserve a venue.
While he conducted various activities, design offices specializing in lighting design began to emerge in Istanbul, partially due to the buoyant economy. Focusing on this trend, Gunes visited six or seven major universities in Turkey with designers from the design offices to plan and carry out tours for interacting with college students. Many participating students were interested in lighting design, and aimed to become lighting designers, Gunes said.

In the “Guerrilla Lighting Istanbul” event, several hundred participants conducted guerilla-like activities, in which they lit up public spaces in the city with lighting fixtures that they brought with them, disseminating the value of lighting design at a street level.
He finished his talk with his challenges for the future: to introduce lighting design mainly to elementary school children and to pass down to the next generation the dissemination/enlightenment activities for lighting design that he launched from scratch.

【Date & Time】15:30‒16:30, March 6, 2019
【Venue】Room 101, 1F, Conference Tower, Tokyo Big Sight
【Speaker】Emre Gunes, Editor in chief, PLD Turkiye magazine
【Organizers】IALD Japan, JLMA, Nikkei Inc.

Profile

Emre Gunes

Lighting Design Advocate . Formerly an industrial engineer, he lives and breathes lighting design. By a series of coincidences, he started publishing the only architectural lighting design magazine in Turkey back in 2005. Since then he kept reading, writing, learning, searching and organising events about lighting design.