New Team Member – Elena Poles
Elena is an interior design graduate from Politecnico di Milano, who discovered her passion for architectural lighting during an internship in Indonesia, working on high-end hospitality projects worldwide. After progressing to a senior role in a London-based consultancy, she focused on large-scale projects incorporating media and biophilic lighting design. At EQUATION Lighting Design, Elena combines her media and technical expertise to create tailored, captivating lighting solutions for our clients.
We asked her to answer three questions, and here is what she shared with us.
๐: ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ข, ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ? ๐: Living in different parts of the world has opened my mind to different ways of approaching design. Each country values one aspect more than the others, and this has helped me understand each clientโs aspirations, interests, and taste. It is also a great advantage when it comes to look & feel and decorative lighting, as Iโm familiar with manufacturers from all over the world!
๐: ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ? ๐: Lighting has always fascinated me since my very first lighting course at uni. I think the idea of transforming a space with lighting โ an intangible tool โ is incredibly inspiring. It forces us designers to use our imagination and to be curious, discover new products and new ways of achieving lighting effects. It also gives us specialist lighting designers the opportunity to work with great architects and designers to create unique, breathtaking spaces.
๐: ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด? ๐: I have an insane love for theatre. Whenever I have the chance, I go and see a new play or musical here in London, and no New York visit is complete with a couple of Broadway shows. Stage lighting is something that has always intrigued me as it easily shifts from background to main protagonist in a split second. It gives me the inspiration to use it as a tool in my day-to-day work and present clients with quiet and subtle or quite a dramatic lighting, depending on their vision and my design instincts. We look forward to celebrating our successes and new endeavours together!