Lesley University College of Art and Design Interior Design

Suzan Tillotson,
BID 1981

President & Founder, Tillotson Pattern Associates, New York

Lighting designers operate inside a niche of specialists who sympathize the physics of lite production and distribution and the physiology and psychology of how humans perceive lite. They focus on fixed lighting, working with architects, engineers, interior designers, theatrical consultants, and others to illuminate the built environment, inside and out. Although the importance of lighting design is ever-increasing, near people exterior the design professions couldn't name a famous lighting designer or point out an architectural gem known for its lighting design. In fact, most people only notice lighting when it's absent or poorly done. Fortunately, Suzan Tillotson (BID 1981), president and founder of Tillotson Design Associates, has never suffered from this lack of insight.

Suzan has always been interested in calorie-free. She transferred to a major in interior design after taking a lighting design course during her second year in the architecture program. "I vicious in dearest immediately and knew that lighting was what I wanted to do," she recalled. Cheers to the LSU Career Middle and career days, she met several representatives from prestigious lighting pattern firms who helped farther her interest in the field.

Married prior to receiving her caste in interior design, Suzan began her career in Baton Rouge where she and her husband were living. She worked as a draftsperson at Levy-Kramer Assembly, a local engineering firm, where she quickly moved upward the ladder to head the lighting department. In her six years at Levy-Kramer, Suzan cut her teeth in lighting design on churches, schools, and hospitals; she worked on the Pennington Biomedical Inquiry Eye and the 1984 Louisiana Earth Exposition in New Orleans. "But information technology yet wasn't quite the piece of work I wanted to practice," she said.

In the economic downturn of the 1980s, Suzan and her husband both started looking for new careers. Suzan'southward experience in lighting pattern helped her state a job at Flack + Kurtz Engineers in New York City, at which signal the Tillotsons did something very brave—even past today'southward standards. They moved to New York on ane salary with a 2-year-old son!

Suzan worked at two engineering firms in New York before joining Jerry Kugler, where she became a 49 percent owner and afterwards formed Kugler Tillotson Associates. She established many of her long-term client relationships during her 16½ years at Kugler. But later nine/11, the majority of compages projects were on concur, and business continued to slow downwards due to yet another economic downturn. Proving ii economic downturns can sometimes brand a right, Suzan left Kugler in 2004 and started her ain company, Tillotson Design Assembly. The independent lighting pattern firm entered its 11th year in business in 2015.

TDA's impressive list of projects include interior and exterior lighting for academic buildings, corporate facilities, libraries, lobbies, museums and galleries, performance spaces, places of worship, residencies, restaurants, restoration, and retail. The firm completed the lighting design for Lincoln Heart Plazas, the School of American Ballet, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Wright eating place at the Guggenheim, and the Due east River Waterfront in New York. They worked on the Seattle Fundamental Public Library, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Israel Museum, and retail spaces for Diane Von Furstenburg, PRADA, Vera Wang, and more than. Outdoor lighting is one of their specialties and an area Suzan particularly enjoys. "I love extending the public's ability to go exterior," she said. "Last year we were hired past the Vieux Carre Commission to write exterior building, mounted lighting guidelines, which have since been adopted."

View Suzan'due south alumni portfolio.

Suzan is most proud of the projects she's done simply too the opportunities TDA has given to then many designers. She enjoys being a mentor and hopes everyone she has worked with can wait back and say they learned something from her—whether it be balancing a career with home life or overcoming professional challenges as women. "So many women—still—in the architectural and engineering firms hitting a glass ceiling that doesn't exist in lighting design. Knowing and then much nigh such a specific subject provides security; no one can claiming your level of expertise," she said.

When asked to give advice for those interested in pursuing a career in lighting blueprint, Suzan shared her opinion. "The only way lighting designers can really brand it is to alive in a large, metropolitan area similar New York City. Sticking to residential lighting volition always exist a struggle—not many people can afford specialty lighting services. Similar to the acoustical and theatrical consultant fields, lighting designers need big projects. It's tough living in the city when you're young, with an entry-level salary. But the sacrifices you make in the beginning will pay off large in the end."

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Source: https://design.lsu.edu/interior-design/