Up Close with Aram Ebben

By Shirley Coyle, LC

It was the stage that captured the heart and mind of Aram Ebben while still in high school – designing the sets, the scenery, the costumes. A formative summer in the magical setting of Santa Fe – working on the scenic crew for Puccini’s La Bohème, listening to world-class opera singers every night from the wings as Aram awaited the next set change – helped cement the dream of being an opera designer. After completing a BA in Theatrical Design in California, Aram went off to a graduate program in London. Following his return home to LA from the UK, Aram was working as a freelancer and was doing work in a little theatre in Hollywood with the phenomenal designer Anne Militello. Anne mentioned she knew a lighting designer looking for someone to demo some theatre gear for an architect and made the introduction.

“As life goes, you get opportunities” says Aram, “where you thought you were going to go right, but instead you get directions to go left.” This opportunity to demo was with lighting designer Patrick Gallegos. Aram’s demo was well received, and in 1996 he became employee number three at Gallegos Lighting Design. “Pat gave me a shot – he was the sort of designer who, if you showed aptitude, he would let you run with it.” Learning architectural lighting design on the job, Aram was open to the opportunity, listening and learning as much as possible.

Part way into Aram’s first year at Gallegos Lighting Design, Pat shared the good news that they had just landed a really big job in Florida – Toon Lagoon in Universal’s new theme park, Islands of Adventure. He then broke the bad news – they (a Mac office) would have to design and deliver the job in AutoCAD. Aram (Mac guy) dove in, having to research and buy a PC, crash learn AutoCAD and design/draw the entire job in AutoCAD – with the big AutoCAD bible at his side. Gallegos Lighting Design was doing a lot of theme park work, and Aram ended up opening an office for Gallegos Lighting Design in Orlando. It was sold eventually to a small engineering company and is now part of EXP – a large multidisciplinary firm providing engineering architecture, design and consulting services, where Aram leads a wonderful lighting design team spread over four cities and four time zones. Aram remarks that EXP has incredible people, saying, “As much as we like to give engineers grief, they are some of the most amazing human beings – they think differently. I learn from them all because that’s really invaluable – to put yourself in the position of constantly being challenged, constantly learning. They let us be designers, let us be emotion-based artists.”

One of the key lessons learned early in his career that Aram tells his young designers, and the student he teaches (in a Masters course at UCF on Themed Experience Design), is that “design is not precious. As artists, we give birth to these designs, putting a lot of heart and soul into what we are creating. But, in architecture, it’s not nearly as safe as theater! It’s a hard lesson to learn as a young designer – what they draw is not necessarily what gets built. A lot of things change over the year or more between design and construction, and for theme parks, it may be three to five years between design and construction!” He gives the example of landscape lighting, explaining, “We’re in after the trees go in, and yet they have to put in conduit and pull all the wire for the landscape lighting before the trees go in. You need to learn to adapt, think on your feet, be willing to compromise – because as lighting designers, we are one of the last ones in. It’s an active process with the constant conflict of how you can still make your design work.”

Reflecting on issues facing the lighting community, Aram cites the ongoing lack of transparency in the path to market on pricing – mostly in the U.S. market. “More and more of our owners are frustrated they cannot predict lighting fixture costs – they say, ‘I know how much every other piece on this project will cost, except the lighting!’” He sees more owners looking to go owner-supplied, especially in tertiary markets like Orlando. With an owner’s rep process, there are no surprises – at the design stage all the fixture costs and counts are plugged into Revit; the design can be managed to the budget, keeping the owner looped-in.

Asked to reflect on his success, Aram offers, “I don’t measure my success on my achievements – I really measure my success on the achievements of those I’m able to help, mentor along the way. That’s my own personal mantra.” He adds, “Design is so much better as a collaborative process – so I listen to people, guide, help them achieve their goals.” Aram is effusive about colleagues he has long worked with – Michael for 17 years, who came with Aram from Gallegos, and Kate for 15 years. “I owe so much of my success to the people I get to work with...” He shares a favorite Steve Jobs quote: "You don’t hire smart people and then tell them what to do…you hire smart people and you have them tell you what to do!" Aram ruefully notes that he doesn’t get to do as much design now, “but I can still provide guidance, opportunities, let the team know why it’s important, why they should care and be passionate. I’m lucky to have them – they are all amazing folks.”

As for advice to new people coming into the lighting community, Aram says, “Keep an open mind, be authentic. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake - and make sure that you share that knowledge and experience with those coming up, telling them don’t do what I did – you make your own mistakes, just don’t make that one!” Aram feels concern over today’s Instagram/influencer culture, especially for the age 13-30 cohort, with so many getting caught up in their view of themselves through the phone: “My wife has a sayingComparison is the thief of joy – people need to put the phone down and give themselves permission to live their authentic life.”

And does Aram still love lighting design after 28 years in the business? He reflects that design was actually his third-ranked career choice. His first choice? Airforce pilot (at 6-foot, 6-inches Aram is the shortest male of all of his cousins, and is still way too tall to fly jets). Second choice? A chef (the chef he worked for during high school convinced him to instead keep cooking as a beloved hobby and save himself from spinal problems. Aram still loves to cook and does the cooking at home for his wife and two teenaged daughters). “Yes, I still love lighting – I love everything about it. You don’t get to be passionate about something until you hone your skills, work and work at it until you realize there’s nothing else you can do – and you bleed light.” ■