We are happy to have Emil Piotrowski as an interview partner today. He currently lives in Poland in the city of Tarnow. His journey in lighting started around the year 2012/2013. He decided to move to the UK where he managed to start his first permanent contract at one of the large lighting manufacturers (Thorlux Lighting) as an assembly worker where he learned the nuts and bolts of lighting. From this point a succesfull journey started and now he is a lighting designer and also part of the DIALux trainer network.
Emil, how was your journey towards lighting design?
At some point in time I`ve decided that I would like to try something new and applied for a lighting design engineer job that was available.
Did I mention that at that time I did not have any lighting background? I`ve finished university back in Poland and I hold a bachelor's degree in economics.
I believe that due to being a hard working person, putting plenty of attention into details etc. and a bit of my university experience, I was able to successfully pass the interview for the lighting design engineer role and officially started my journey in lighting. Since then I have participated in a variety of internal and external courses such as LIA Certificate / Advance Interior / Advance Exterior + some photometrical ones, which not only gave me a very good level of understanding but also confidence in what I was doing. In March 2020, I`ve decided to come back to Poland and due to my experience and independence at work I was able to work remotely and still provide the best possible service to the same lighting manufacturer that I`ve started my lighting journey with.
How long have you been working with DIALux, how did you get in touch with DIALux?
I`ve known DIALux since I`ve started my work at Thorlux. Funny enough I`ve self-taught DIALux 4.13 within the first couple of weeks! Since then I was mesmerized with what you can do with the software. After couple of months I`ve had the pleasure of meeting DIAL team in person as one of my „lighting duties“ was maintaining DIALux Database, therefore me and a coworker decided to visit DIAL.
Which new features help you in your daily work?
DIALux evo was a major improvement over DIALux 4.13 and you could feel the difference from the very first use. If I need to pick up one thing that helps me with my daily work - I would need to say it`s versatility of the software and semi-automations which helps speed up the design process significantly.
What trends do you observe in lighting design and how do you implement them?
The main trend currently (in light of current economic situation) I can observe is focusing more and more or saving energy / implementing better lighting controls with energy consumption monitoring as well as helping with understanding how the area is being used.
Solar lighting seems to also be growing quite rapidly especially within Asian countries.
Is sustainability a factor in your work as a lighting designer?
Definitely a trend that is worth following. I believe that a role of lighting designer is not only capability of producing compliant schemes but also making sure that our schemes / designs will be based on products made out of easy to recycle materials - this way we can have a small but meaningful input into helping our planet.
Show us one of your outstanding projects!
As I`m working for a lighting manufacturer, I do / or was a part of many lighting schemes throughout the years. What I can say is that over nearly 9 years in lighting industry I was a part of many inspiring projects such as below:
https://www.thorlux.com/v4/en/projects/loxley-house - large scale retrofit job
https://www.thorlux.co.uk/v4/en/projects/bilton-grange - done many areas for Rugby School
https://www.thorlux.co.uk/v4/en/projects/coventry-university - only done some parts here
https://www.thorlux.co.uk/v4/en/projects/ibrb-university-of-warwick - quite engaging project overall
https://www.thorlux.co.uk/v4/en/projects/sheffield-hallam-university - only done main atrium area
Emil, since you are a certified DIALux trainer, what do you learn from your trainings and what experiences have you made?
Any training that I`ve conducted made me aware that the lighting industry is not going anywhere and it will stay and develop rapidly in the following years. People are being very engaged in each training session and they`re looking for the best, user-friendly software solution available on the market so they can focus on producing the best possible lighting schemes and providing the best possible service to their customers.
You want to get in touch with Emil? He offers DIALux trainings in English and Polish.
The best place to start would be our website from where interested people can find certified trainers at their local areas. You can also contact him at his LinkedIn page here.
You are also interested in becoming a certified DIALux trainer. All information are available at our website. Feel free to contact us.
[BJ1]https://www.dialux.com/en-GB/trainer
[BJ2]https://www.linkedin.com/in/emil-piotrowski/
[BJ3]https://academy.dialux.com/information-dialux-trainernetwork