How to Attract Young Talent to the Lighting Industry
The lighting industry is an exciting business to be in, but unless your company has one or two generations of families involved, it might as well be a secret to the outside (non-lighting) world.
Quorum International’s Director of Design David Patton wants to change that. For the past 10 years, he has guest lectured at the University of Houston and Southern Methodist University (SMU) on the opportunities available to today’s design students.
A few months ago, a group of students from University of Houston’s design program drove to Dallas with their professor for an organized “firm tour.” These organized firm tours expose students to many different types of design work that could lead to a successful career.
“For example, before they came to see me, they went to a watch manufacturer, a traditional design firm, and a major car company,” Patton comments. “I could have taken the students to Quorum’s studio and shown them where we do the design work, but instead I took them to the Trade Mart in the Dallas Market Center and walked them through the Quorum, Oxygen, and Cyan showrooms. I wanted them to see the majesty of the marketplace — not just our own showrooms, but to see all of the lighting companies that are here. This is a buffet of opportunity for students. Then I walked them over to the World Trade Center, and when they saw there were 15 floors of manufacturers, they were blown away. They had no idea that these industries existed or that Dallas is a huge hub for lighting.”
Patton – whose design experience spans categories as diverse as sporting goods, consumer electronics, commercial furniture, and lighting – realized that business education is often missing from the design school curriculum.
“There’s just not enough time to train in every aspect over a four-year period,” he explains. “Students often lack business training. They come to work for [a manufacturer] and don’t understand that product design has to marry up with business goals. They don’t talk about this in design school because they just don’t have time. Programs like the one that I’ve been involved with, and have brought to Quorum, give me an opportunity to educate these students. Part of my goal is to have them experience product-business alignment. The most successful designers I know understand this very well, but many young designers believe this is an art career — and it’s not. Design is not art. An artist stands alone and is not responsible for whether or not you like their work. A designer is a member of a team that needs to create the right product for the right markets that is on trend and at the price points needed to grow the business. This is the point I stress to young people. And I show them that, where lighting is concerned, it’s one of the few fields that you can go into where there is a complete marriage between art and design.”
It was while working in the commercial furniture industry that Patton made that connection for himself. “I learned a lot. That’s where I made my transformation from being a design director into having more of an executive mindset,” he recalls. “How do we grow the business? How do we give back and do more than just simply be in business? And that’s when I started to work more closely with schools and help train the next generation.”
Patton’s lectures have proven inspirational. “I’ve gone out to the colleges and gave lectures and those students end up applying for an internship,” he says. “I did a lecture in the fall of 2023, when I first came to Quorum, and a student wanted to intern with us. He came in, he dabbled in lighting design, and he enjoyed it. In fact, he developed some designs that Quorum will be introducing next market. Maybe he’ll ultimately join the lighting industry, and maybe he won’t. I think that the lighting industry as a whole – especially in the industrial design community – is largely not visible. Students don’t even know that this is a category of design that they can go into — and that’s one of my goals: to bring awareness to these students that lighting can be a rewarding and fun path to go down. Just knowing that I’m giving back is rewarding. Students may not come work for me, but they will remember the tour that they took at Quorum that started their career.”
In Patton’s opinion, not a lot of companies are interested in fostering interest in the lighting industry. He’s also noticed that the industrial design community is moving away from traditional, physical products and going toward digital design. “Students and young people these days don’t want to work in an office, and digital provides them with that option,” he observes.
Patton’s advice to design students who are curious about a career in lighting design is to reach out to lighting manufacturers. “Get in their front view mirror where they can see you and know you,” he advises. “I hire a lot of people from the relationships I’ve formed. Relationships matter. Get exposed and be seen.”
As many in the lighting industry grow older and retire, Patton says it’s time to focus on bringing in younger workers. “I don’t consider young professionals as competition; I see them as our future. With young eyes comes fresh designs and perspectives,” he affirms.
Whether you work for a design firm, a manufacturer, or a lighting showroom, reach out to the local design schools and community programs and offer to share the rewarding opportunities available with students. As Patton noted, many young people aren’t aware of lighting as a career choice and it benefits the industry as a whole to actively seek out new talent to bring in.
