Lighting Design: A Brief History

We can safely say that everything that exists has evolved, including lighting design. Until the eighteenth century, there were two sources of light. Daylight was available during the day, and there was firelight or flames at night. 

The speculation is that the Stone Age was responsible for the flame as a lighting source. Daylight is the oldest of the two lighting sources. Our stone-age ancestors, with their intelligence, created what they needed and developed a way to make fire a lighting source, so the flame was born. Then along with tools that they invented came different ways to make the flame portable so they could see the art created inside their caves. Those two lighting sources were pretty much the standard in terms of lighting design for a long time.

As the human race continued to evolve, so did the artwork representative of their time in history. Let’s face it, a cave drawing demands different lighting than a painting created during the Renaissance age. Hence, lighting design had to continue to evolve.

With the evolution of lighting design, our great ancestors used their ingenuity to create architectural structures (buildings) with windows to allow daylight in. But they were still limited by what they could do since the weather could change. Thus, that beautiful spring sunshine could turn hot and blistery and ruin the artwork it was supposed to enhance. 

Let’s fast forward to modern-day and the creativity of Gerald Olesker and ADG Lighting. Gerald and his team have created some of the most beautiful lighting designs that completely blow the mind. He uses the architectural design of the building so that both natural and artificial lighting work together to create the specific illusion the client ordered. 

Gerald also creates one-of-a-kind lighting fixtures or even a replica of an obscure fixture that holds sentimental value. Visit our list of projects for his impressive list of clients and works of lighting genius. 

Learn about how the ADG Advantage can help you with your design goals for your home or space.

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From the Factory Floor

by Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting