The Bright Lights of Saint Louis

By Randy Reid

Saint Louis has long been associated with discovery, innovation, and collaboration. Just over 200 years ago this “Gateway to the West” served as the launchpad for a legendary expedition, and 100 years back a rising jazz star described its riverboats as “floating conservatories.”

More recently, in 1993, a Saint Louis lighting luminary critiqued the senior project of an architectural engineering student. Little did they realize that this chance meeting would blossom into future collaborations and culminate in the merger of their lighting design firms. Randy Burkett Lighting Design and Envision Lighting Design have combined their considerable forces to become Reed Burkett Lighting Design.

When Randy Burkett had a key employee leave his company, what appeared at first to be bad news became fuel for transformation. As an alternative to finding senior lighting designers to fill in, he sought another lighting business owner whose collaboration might become long-term.

Randy Burkett and Lisa Reed had been collaborating on key projects for many years since that chance encounter in 1993. Lisa was coming in to help on key projects, and working together led to the merger. Envision Lighting Design was a growing firm. Merging with Randy met certain of Lisa’s goals, and it put the two of them in a position to solicit new and exciting clients that neither had access to before. Lisa says of her mentor turned business partner, “I’ve always admired Randy as my iconic definition of a lighting designer.”

Before the merger, Lisa’s firm was operating from a co-working space and searching for something more permanent. As fate would have it, Randy had some open office space and offered it well before they ever knew they would merge. The two of them value the office culture and the physical office experience and have worked to offer their employees flexibility between office and remote working.

Photo Credit: rbldi.com

When looking at trends, Randy says that, currently, outdoor lighting is over 50% of his business, but 20 years ago outdoor lighting was less than 20%. He designs lighting for many large-scale urban parks, sculpture gardens, and more. He believes that the current generation is excited about living in cities and making them livable, so the lighting is changing. Lisa on the other hand often works in healthcare, higher education, and commercial offices. Lisa and Randy had strengths in different markets, opening up new project opportunities for both of them.

Photo Credit: rbldi.com

Photo Credit: rbldi.com

Randy explained that a lot of his time was consumed by administrative work and that he wanted to get back to lighting design. He said, “The time I do have left in lighting, I want to spend on designing, not administration.” His passion for design is best demonstrated in the work he produces. He craves spending more time with clients and working on passion projects. Lisa says that before the merger, she spent a lot of time doing billing and accounting but is excited to have a team of people who can take on office tasks, freeing her to do more design.

When it comes to the current workload, the duo is plenty busy. Randy expresses that one of the biggest trials he used to face was convincing a client that lighting design is a legitimate discipline. Now it’s more likely to be seen as vital to the user, and most don’t need to be convinced that a lighting designer is essential. As Randy says, “The people who know enough about lighting to design successful environments need to be out there talking about it.”

The firm is now at work on a new visitor center for the botanical gardens in town and, like the gardens themselves, their firm is continuing to grow. “People are excited about lighting and realizing they’re making a difference with not only their clients but the whole world.”

And just who were those explorers venturing forth over 200 years ago from Saint Louis to light the path of westward expansion? You may have guessed it already: the legendary Lewis and Clark.

And that future star plying the riverboat trade off the banks of Saint Louis? None other than the great Louis Armstrong. We look forward to seeing where the expedition takes Reed Burkett Lighting Design: perhaps to a place where light becomes music distilled. Saint Louis continues to inspire. ■