Selin Ergeneli
With an extensive design education and a warm personality, Selin Ergeneli is a force. She has worked on some iconic design projects and remains one of the most humble, curious, and approachable people we know. Selin split her undergrad experience between Bilkent University in her native country of Turkey (Interior Architecture) and at Carnegie Mellon University (Architecture). She went on to grad school in NYC at Parsons School of Design for Architectural Lighting Design and has been in the lighting design industry for a decade as a lighting designer.
We picked her brain on what inspires her, what advice she has for upcoming creatives, and her sources of inspiration.
DS: Selin! We are so excited to interview you. Let’s get started. What city do you call home?
Selin: I am from Turkey, but I currently live in Miami but I am in between NYC and Miami. NYC will always be my home. I moved there at a very young age and basically found my “chosen family” which are my closest friends, learned to overcome difficulties, and had an incredible amount of fun.
DS: Lighting is a field that is very technical with a lot of room to have fun. What do you love most about your job?
Selin: Where do I start? Definitely the creative aspect is the highlight, but lighting design in general is such an intangible field and is quite hard for people to grasp. I often feel like a magician, creating an ambiance that people can’t quite point out exactly what they love but they always feel something about it. What we do definitely affects people’s psychology directly and it’s very interesting to hear what people think or how they feel in spaces we create for them, and if it matches our design intention. I also love the creative collaboration between different design teams (and the client of course!) to make a project happen, along with the excitement, and sometimes frustration, to find solutions for some last minute on site crisis and trying to be extra creative to come up with ideas to resolve those issues. It is like a very dynamic orchestra between different groups of people.
DS: You have worked on some exciting projects in major cities. What project are you most proud of?
Selin: The first one that comes to mind is Kith on Lafayette Street in NYC. It was a collaboration with Snarkitecture and we got to do some light art installations with sneakers and they turned out super cool and were very fun to design. A bonus point, everybody has been to that store!
Selin collaborated with Snarkitecture at Kith, Lafeyette St., NYC
DS: What advice would you give to aspiring lighting designers?
Selin: Definitely one piece of advice would be what the Head of Parsons Lighting Design at the time, Glenn Shrum, told me while I was trying to find the perfect firm right off grad school: “finding the right firm is like dating, you might have to kiss a couple of frogs before you find the one.” I later found out was very true. It is a very small industry, but there are many firms out there that do many different types of work. If someone is unsure of which direction to go, either a firm that does many types of projects, or just to try out one firm that does more specific types of projects, could be a great option.
Another piece of advice would be the importance of educating people about lighting design. In many places (except for some very big cities where this field is already well regarded) people might think that they might be capable of doing the lighting design scope. It’s important to be prepared to educate people on how technical and at the same time creative/ artistic this job is and requires very specific knowledge to create very successful and unique projects.
Lighting installations by Selin at La Martola, Miami, FL
DS: Your work requires fresh vision and innovative thinking. Where do you find inspiration?
Selin: I definitely find a lot of inspiration during my daily research on design magazines like Architectural Digest, Wallpaper, Dezeen, and more. A lot on Pinterest for when I am looking to do some conceptual design presentations and actually a lot on Instagram, I find a lot of designers from all creative industries on Instagram. Other than these design specific platforms, when I am in New York, or just traveling in general, is when I also find great inspiration. I think it is very important to expand your knowledge by seeing what other designers have done and resolved some design problems.
DS: Speaking of travel, what are your favorite 3 cities in the world?
Selin: Istanbul, although I am probably biased. I think Istanbul is the most incredible city ever, it is a mixture of both Eastern and Western cultures along with very old and very modern. It also has incredible energy, amazing food, and definitely never sleeps!
Rome would be a second one. I spent a summer in Rome interning and it was one of the best times of my life. Of course being an architecture student at the time, it was also an incredible resource of inspiration and a constant visual feast.
I would have to say NYC as the third, surprise! Haha.
DS: What is your favorite design style?
Selin: I think what interests me the most is exploring interesting ways to solve problems, regardless of the design style. With that said, I like designs that have personalities and are not boring, Thomas Heatherwick has a whole manifesto on this subject that I would recommend everyone interested to look into.
DS: Who are some creative people you find interesting?
Selin: Tadao Ando as he wasn’t even an architect at base but has become one of the most important architects in the world. I would suggest people interested to look into his life story.
Toulouse Lautrec because that era of late 19th century Paris has always been a great interest to me and I love to “live” that era through his paintings and illustrations.
James Turrell, his light art installations have always fascinated me and after reading he was a psychologist at base. It is even more interesting as I think all his installations are strongly tied to the human perception of light and how light and spaces make one feel certain emotions.
DS: Thanks for your insights and tips, Selin. Anything else you want to add?
Selin: One, thing, and its very important: always stay curious!
Lighting installations by Selin in the PatBo Miami boutique
