May 6, 2025
Lighting Designers Embrace CLD at Rising Rate
Streamlined application process drives notable increase in credentialed lighting designers
If you’ve scrolled through LinkedIn in recent months and count architectural lighting designers among your connections, chances are you’ve noticed a trend: a steady stream of posts announcing new CLD credentials. The format is familiar — a headshot, a thank-you, a nod to the Certified Lighting Designer designation.
The CLD — offered through the Certified Lighting Designer Commission — has been available for years, but recent numbers show a notable uptick in adoption. Since December 2024, 152 professionals have earned the credential. That includes both established names and newer voices in architectural lighting, suggesting that the designation is gaining traction as a mark of competence.
A Professional Nod, Not a Watershed
According to the CLD Commission, the program is intended to serve as an international benchmark for lighting design proficiency. It evaluates candidates across seven domains of practice, with an emphasis on both technical knowledge and project experience. For those who complete it, the credential provides a layer of professional validation that can support career advancement or strengthen a client-facing résumé.
But the recent increase isn’t necessarily the result of a grassroots movement. Much of the growth is attributable to an expedited application process available to IALD and FIALD members — practitioners who are already deeply embedded in the profession. For these individuals, the certification process has been streamlined: no exhibit submissions, no domain narratives, and application fees waived through June 2025. That convenience appears to have helped move the needle.
The CLD Commission’s own website lists just 184 published certificants as of early May 2025. Given that 152 professionals earned the credential since December 2024, this latest wave may represent a majority of all currently credentialed CLDs. That’s not definitive — not all certificants opt to have their names listed publicly — but it points to just how significant this recent influx may be in shaping the CLD’s professional footprint.
| Lighting Designer | Firm | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Walter Amort | Studio Amort | Italy |
| Simon Berry | Nulty+ | United Kingdom |
| Lorang Brendlokken | Ljossatt AS | Norway |
| CJ Brockway | SparkLab Lighting Design | United States |
| Lorraine Calcott | It Does Lighting Consultancy | United Kingdom |
| Christophe Canadell | Ikome | France |
| Carlo D'Alesio | D'Alesio & Santoro | Italy |
| Casey Diers | Morlights | United States |
| Sarah Donald | Lam Partners | United States |
| Paige Donnell | SmithGroup | United States |
| Kenneth Douglas | Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design | United States |
| Erin Dreyfous | Studio DXD | United States |
| Mark Elliott | Lightistry Ltd | United Kingdom |
| Annie Eng | Light Collab | Singapore |
| Sarah Erickson | LS Group LLC | United States |
| Richard Falconer | NV5 Consulting | United States |
| Frank Feist | MCLA Architectural Lighting Design | United States |
| Alison Fiedler | Stantec Consulting | United States |
| Randall Fisher | NBBJ Lighting | United States |
| Gilberto Franco | Franco Associados | Brazil |
| Tzipy Frank Dudai | Holon Institute of Technology | Israel |
| Matt Franks | Arup | United States |
| Kevin Frary | Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design | United States |
| Dayuan Fu | IA Interior Architects | United States |
| Lilian Fu | WSP USA | United States |
| Shigeki Fujii | Nipek | Japan |
| Morgan Gabler | Gabler Youngston | United States |
| Patricia Glasow | Apeiro Design | United States |
| Meike Goessling | Hong Kong | |
| Melissa Goren | MG Engineering | United States |
| Gwen Grossman | Gwen Grossman Lighting Design | United States |
| Maria-Luisa Guerrieri Gonzaga | architecturaLLighting Conception Lumiere | Luxembourg |
| Catherine Hall | Hammel Green & Abrahamson Inc. | United States |
| Won Keun Han | Brandston Partnership | United States |
| Andrea Hartranft | Hartranft Lighting Studios | United States |
| Dan Hatt | Peterson Guadagnolo Consulting Engineers PC | United States |
| Glenn Heinmiller | Lam Partners | United States |
| Peter Hugh | Hugh Lighting Design LLC | United States |
| Charles Israel | Lighting Design Alliance | United States |
| Stephen Kaye | Mulvey & Banani Lighting | Canada |
| Miory Kightlinger | Coherent Design | United States |
| Grant Kightlinger | Pivotal Lighting Design | United States |
| Petra Kleegraefe | Architectural Lighting Design | Australia |
| Kristen Kordecki Miller | LS Group | United States |
| Jonas Kuo | NBBJ Studio 9 Lighting Design | United States |
| Iris Hiu Ching Kwok | ALD Lighting | United States |
| Hyo-Jeong Lee | WSP NYC | United States |
| Stephen Lees | Business of Light Education, Inc. | United States |
| Ching-Yu Lin | CosmoC Lighting, Ltd | Taiwan |
| Linus Lopez | Lirio Lopez Lighting Design Consultants | India |
| Ion Luh | Salas O'Brien-Architectural Lighting | Canada |
| Gregg Mackell | Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design | United States |
| Maureen Mahr | Maureen Mahr Lighting Design | United States |
| Matt Marshall | Cundall Singapore Pte, Ltd. | Singapore |
| Ted Mather | Available Light, Inc. | United States |
| Alan McIntosh | Mulvey & Banani Lighting, Inc. | Canada |
| Molly McKnight | Arup | United States |
| Joseph Montange | NBBJ Studio 9 Lighting Design | United States |
| Sean O'Connor | Sean O'Connor Lighting, Inc. | United States |
| Diego Ocana | Docana Lighting | Spain |
| Craig Oty | The Engineering Enterprise | United States |
| Jennifer Pieszak | Pieszak Lighting Design LLC | United States |
| Steph Powell | Mazzetti | United States |
| Kim Quint | Robert Singer & Associates Inc. | United States |
| Christina Raschko | Escent Lighting Design | United States |
| Lisa Reed | Reed Burkett Lighting Design Inc. | United States |
| Peter Romaniello | Conceptual Lighting | United States |
| Philip Rose | Speirs Major Light Architecture | United Kingdom |
| Steven Rosen | Available Light, Inc. | United States |
| Gonzalo Saez | SV Lighting Design | United States |
| Kris Sandheinrich | Kaplan Gehring McCarroll Architectural Lighting, Inc. | United States |
| Cherine Saroufim | Atelier Saroufim | Lebanon |
| Anna Sbokou | ASlight | Greece |
| Kevan Shaw | KSLD | United Kingdom |
| Glenn Shrum | FLUX Studio Ltd. | United States |
| Guðjón Sigurðsson | Liska Ehf | Iceland |
| Korhan Sisman | Planlux Lighting Design | Turkey |
| Neha Sivaprasad | Sol Light Studio | United States |
| Jesse Smith | DLR Group | United States |
| Joshua Spitzig | Buro Happold | United States |
| Craig Spring | Luminosity | United States |
| Brian Stacy | Arup | United States |
| Gisela Steiger | Autentico Architectural & Engineering Lighting Design | Spain |
| Christopher Stroik | Lam Partners | United States |
| Reinhardt Swart | SmithGroup | United States |
| Andre Tammes | Australia | |
| Stephanie Tan | Lang Lighting Design | United States |
| Eileen Thomas | WSP USA | United States |
| Martin Van Koolbergen | KGM Architectural Lighting | United States |
| Dongning Wang | Beijing Ning's Field Lighting Design Corp., Ltd. | China |
| Mu Wang | Anne Kustner Lighting Design | United States |
| Daniel Weissman | Lam Partners, Inc. | United States |
| Jered Widmer | The Lighting Practice | United States |
| Carla Wilkins | Lichtvision Design GmbH | Germany |
| Keith Yancey | Lam Partners, Inc. | United States |
(95 of the recent 152 certificants permitted their names to be publicized)
While this isn’t an inflection point for the lighting design profession, it’s a signal. Credentialing remains a personal and professional choice but with more designers opting in, especially under a reduced barrier to entry, the CLD is showing signs of becoming part of the professional toolkit for a wider swath of the field.
