Back Story

Light Collective are not a standard lighting consultancy… in fact, we really struggle to categorise ourselves given that our body of light based work is so diverse.

Our creative portfolio of work houses more than architectural lighting design and has grown to encompass many innovative projects which include light art installations, marketing projects, competitions, curated exhibitions, lighting awards, branding, trade stands and shows, epic parties, pop up events, guerrilla lighting, community projects, writing books, activism and light education.

Our clients have ranged from the small scale to the large: designing for a school in Glasgow to a shopping mall in Kuwait, lighting an exhibition at the Museum of London to inventing an app for Phillips… We are based in the UK but have worked all over the world; creating light in the snow in Finland or in the heat of Kenya…

All of our work has light at the heart of it and always looks to promote light, lighting design and lighting designers to as wide an audience as possible. Both of us have also previously been active in lighting associations that are dedicated to promoting lighting design globally. We continue this ethos independently in our work.

Up until 2023, we were only two people. Martin Lupton and Sharon Stammers. Martin has a PhD and Sharon has an MSc in Lighting. We have both worked in the lighting industry for over 25 years and started Light Collective in 2009. Martin began in environmental engineering and then moved on to Directorial roles at both Pinniger and Partners and BDP prior to co-founding Light Collective. Sharon started her career in stage lighting working in London before becoming an Associate Director at both Lighting Design Partnership and Lightmatters.

In 2023, we have added a new member of the team to form Light Collective LATAM. Magali Méndez is based in Mexico City and is an architect in love with light. She has a Masters in Lighting Design from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden and worked at Wonderfulight in France before starting her own company in 2009 SáaS Lighting Conception where she has worked on small scale projects i.e. a bathroom to large scale, a city Master plan and her designs include the Morelos Theatre, Fronton Mexico and Arena Acapulco. Magali is past winner of the 40under40 Award and also the ambassador for Women in Lighting in Mexico. She is also the co-founder of Light in Me, a platform that promotes the awareness of mental health and balance in life.

Magali´s commitment to light has prompted her to be an active promoter of light and a dedicated educator, organising workshops, coordinating a Diploma Lighting course and running events all over Latin America – two of which were with Light Collective. She is a prefect addition to our team :-)

We are active fans of self commissioning and when we have an idea, we will do what we can to make it happen ourselves.
We are always open to any light based challenge you can give us.
When we work on a project, we work as a team. Our clients get input from the both us through all stages of a project, from concept to commissioning or from brainstorm to opening night.
Whatever the light-based brief you give us, we are confident that the result will be unique and innovative.