Chris Medvitz has dedicated 30 years to visual design, with the last 20 years as Principal at Lightswitch's renowned design group. Fascinated with lighting from a young age, he knew by high school graduation that he wanted to design lighting professionally. For this passionate designer, hobbies and jobs are the same. His extensive body of work is impressive, to say the least, encompassing live music, broadcast, immersive experiences, corporate events, Las Vegas residences, and more.
What have your highlights been so far in 2024? What are you working on at the moment?
So far, 2024 has seen a few large corporate events as well as some auto show experiences in Chicago and New York. I designed lighting for a new exhibit for Infiniti and our teams at Lightswitch also designed the Nissan exhibit as well as the immersive Subaru National Parks Experience, more of a themed-entertainment approach to the auto shows. We just opened “Dimensions,” a new art installation by Hybycozo at Sensorio in Paso Robles, CA. We’ve worked with Hybycozo for years, and it was exciting to collaborate with them to create their largest installation to date. We’re also deep into the planning for end-of-the-year experiences for Descanso Gardens in Southern California as well as for the City of Beverly Hills.
Where did you grow up? What was your youth like, and what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was born in California but spent my younger years in Houston, Texas. I was a theater brat as my father worked for the Houston Symphony, so I grew up around the symphony, opera, ballet, and theater. As a kid, however, I wanted to be Walt Disney and spent many hours designing my own theme parks. In my teenage years, I trended more towards theater and music. My family moved back to Southern California, and my high school had a robust theater program but essentially no technical or design training, so it was a great opportunity to experiment. By the time I graduated high school, I was pretty sure I wanted to design lighting professionally.
Do you remember when you first became enamored with lighting? What fascinated you about it?
According to my parents, I was always fascinated with lighting, even before my earliest childhood memories. Although I couldn’t articulate it back then, I think it was just the transformative capability of lighting that I was drawn to. The ability to completely change our perception of our physical surroundings and to do so with such a range of emotional results is powerful. Experiencing this profound effect is really exciting for me, and I want to contribute to others hopefully having like experiences.
You have a degree in Theater Design from UCSD. What advantages do you see a formal design education gives vs learning the trade ‘on the job’? What path would you suggest for an aspiring designer?
My experience at UCSD was very good in that I was exposed to a lot of accumulated knowledge in the art of lighting design as well as the technical side of things. We had incredible shops at USCD because of the affiliation with the La Jolla Playhouse since the two shared facilities. I immersed myself in this and I think an attention to detail and to the left-brained side of design really fell into place for me. Part of the reason I went to UCSD though was that the instructors there had a very “no rules” approach to things. It was like, “These are all the established ways to do design, but it’s up to you to decide which, if any, apply to each project.” I really liked that.
I think UCSD prepared me as well as any university could at the time, and I use what I learned there constantly, but probably half of what I do on a daily basis I learned on the job. Clearly, you don’t need a design degree to design professionally, and I think for younger people who want to do this, it’s about willingness to learn and to put in the work. If you do that in an educational environment, there’s a lot to benefit from, but you can also learn all that stuff in the workplace.
When you think back on how you learned your craft, what do you see as the most important factor?
I think attitude and the willingness to put in the work are key. The people that I see in my generation and younger that truly excel at this put in so much time into honing the craft. A common thread, one that I share, is that for a lot of these people, their craft is both a job and a hobby. They spend their own hours getting better at what they do so they can work at a higher level, and ultimately, hopefully, that investment pays off with higher compensation.
Personally, I want to do this regardless. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to make a living and support my family doing it, but the experience and the gratification it brings me is a big part of what I define as “success.”
What was your early career like?
I spent a couple of years assisting lighting designers in theater and opera before I was hired as a draftsperson at The Obie Company. I quickly ended up being a staff designer there, and the in-house studio did a lot of corporate events, and auto shows at a time when that slice of the industry was really blowing up. I ended up heading a lighting design department inside George P Johnson, a big experiential marketing agency and then ended up joining Lightswitch back in 2004.
Lightswitch is an immensely successful design firm, and you’ve been a Principal for nearly 20 years. What is it that has made the company so uniquely successful?
I think the key thing is that when Norm Schwab and John Featherstone founded Lightswitch they set out to create a collective that empowered designers and allowed for a high degree of autonomy. Each Principal has the ability to pursue and perform the kind of work that we want and not feel pressured or restricted into doing work we don’t want, and we’re free to build our studios as large or as nimble as we see fit. I think this freedom is the key thing that’s kept us around for so long.
What is most important to keep in mind when you first enter a room to collaborate with a client?
The way we think about it at Lightswitch is this philosophy we call “Pragmatic Design.” We see it as the designer’s responsibility to balance our clients’ creative, financial, and logistical objectives. Surely there are some clients who want the most incredible amazing never-before-seen creative, but if that’s too expensive or impossible to execute then we’re all failing.
From design day one to the end of a project, what is your favorite part of the process?
I enjoy the design development process a lot, but I think my favorite part is seeing the work come together at the end. I mentioned before that the reason that I got into this is how I felt affected by lighting as an audience member. Seeing the design land at the end and enjoying what we’ve created is the best part. Usually, things are in such a rush at the end that it’s hard to actually take the time or the attention to just enjoy the creation. I don’t do this enough!
When you’re in a creative funk, how do you get the creative juices flowing again? Where do you find inspiration?
I try to expose myself to all sorts of artistic and creative inspiration, but between COVID and having a family, that’s been more virtual than in-person for the last 10 years or so!
I will say, though, that when I hit a creative block on a project, I have learned to just have patience. I’ve heard musicians sometimes say that they feel like a conduit through which the music flows, as though it’s out there in the universe, and they are just the means through which a song gets delivered to the rest of us. When the ideas aren't flowing on something, it just means the show hasn’t fully revealed itself to us yet.
Product development happens quite quickly in this industry. Do you feel a need to be on the cutting edge when it comes to using new technologies?
I like to use new products as much as the next designer, but in the end, they’re all just tools. If a new product provides a new ability creatively or some new functionality, then, of course, there’s a very real benefit from using it, but I’ve found, for the most part, a lot of this stuff goes over the heads of the audience. Ultimately, I think it comes back to the Pragmatic Design philosophy. Does a product do what I need it to do? Is it reliable? Is it cost-efficient?
You were the first to use Elation’s new Proteus Hybrid MAX on “Enchanted Forest of Light” at Descanso Gardens recently. Would you like to try anything else in the new Elation catalog?
I haven’t had a chance to try out the Sol Blinder or the new Pulse series yet, and the new Proteus Radius and Atlas look cool. The one product I’m really looking to try out is the Fuze Wash 500. I’m ready for a single-lens additive color-mixing wash light for theatrical applications, but for whatever reason, I haven’t had the chance to use this fixture yet.
There is a lot of choice when it comes to lighting brands. Why go with Elation?
Ultimately, this again all goes back to the balance of creative, financial & logistical. I almost never send out a bid spec with only one acceptable product for each fixture type. With all the rental companies out there and the variety of manufacturers making touring-quality equipment now, we have to be flexible with the tools in our toolbox. I think Elation has found that balance between creative capabilities and features, reliability and affordability, so they make good investments for equipment owners, and end up being on the gear lists quite often.
Luminaires today are packed with features and can seemingly do everything, often from one light. Are there any features or functionality you feel you are missing?
I think we’re in pretty good shape in terms of “brighter.” I would like to see existing output in smaller and more reliable packages. I would LOVE to see a wider color gamut out of additive color-mixing fixtures. The kind of color range we see in the KL series and the Six+ series, would be great in strobes, and higher output, single-lens fixtures.
Have the advances in lighting technology changed your design style over the years?
Not really. Again, fixtures are just tools. I mean, we certainly have abilities we didn’t use to have, but I can’t really say that’s changed my style.
What do you like to do when you’re not doing lighting?
I like traveling and photography, but I haven’t had much time for either in the past 18 years since my kids were born. Right now, I'm cooking and watching movies and television with my family.
What’s something about Chris Medvitz that people might find surprising?
I used to play trombone in high school and middle school. I stopped after I graduated, but it was a blast. My son actually plays now and is very good! Much better than I ever was.
