The inspiration for this post was the recent Light Middle East which David Gilbey was lucky to attend as a speaker and panelist, he hung out with so many loving, supportive, and inspiring friends from the lighting community over the course of the week and was reminded just how lucky we are to be a part of this amazing lighting family and just how important friends are in our lives.
A friend is usually there on merit, but when your friends are full of light, passion, and design ideas, it creates a marvelous synergy, like a wonderful lighting soup, it is hard not to come away inspired, reinvigorated and energized from such gatherings, it certainly made you realize that virtual meetings, however important they are, cannot replace a face to face cuppa, the ching of glasses and a warm hug.
There is no secret to friendship, though there is a part that some people forget if you want good friends…BE A GOOD FRIEND. Friends are there for you, bring joy to our lives, and often magic the rabbit out of the hat in times of need, we are blessed with great friends, but they know that they can count on us as we in turn count on them.
Nobody can take away the glow of shared experiences, whether desert experiences, sailing an ocean together, immersive experiences, dinners, mountain walks, cake, fine wine, holidays, days out, any experience or anything shared with a friend is not a joy halved, it’s always a joy doubled.
The pandemic got in the way, it doubled down on life’s hardships, and dark days, our friends and the lighting community came together to make it more bearable and we can all be grateful for the emotional support at that time of need.
Life gets in the way, and design deadlines are arduous and often unfair, so take a breath, take a second, consider your friends and those you care about, and reach out, pick up the phone, send a message, a simple ‘hi’ goes a long way.
Thank you to all the friends we love and care about and for the inspiration you provide us, there is way too many to mention, but here are a few: Dipali Shirsat Katia Kolovea Karen Owens BA(Hons)DipARCH . Amardeep M. Dugar Zubair Ahmed Martin Lupton Sharon Stammers Gareth Renaud Gitte Kondrup June Murphy Martina Frattura Karen Cawley Surbhi Jindal Christine Kühne James Poore Neil Skinner Philip Hammond Arif Mehmood Waleed Fakousa Ruth Kelly Waskett Dr Shelley James Neina Sheldon Jeff Griffiths Debra Gilmore Anne Militello Victoria Helena Rastelli Montbrun Meredith Devoy Aviva Gunzburg Linus Lopez Jessica Simmonds Kirk Nelson Mark DeVries Jess Gallacher Martina Alagna Andrew Dransfield Andrew Bunker Elsa Sawma EVE GAUT, BA (HONS), MA, CIPR Giulia Brighi
