WORKTECHT&Co. is hiring Lighting Designers!

JOB | Special Interview

WORKTECHT&Co. has designed the facade and interior lighting of ‘WAKO Ginza’ in Tokyo.

JP

WORKTECHT, a lighting design firm that handles a wide range of design work from Architectural and Interior lighting to media facades all around the world, is looking for Architectural Lighting Designers. Founded in 1996 by Atsushi Kaneda under the motto “Create Light that Lingers in Memory,” the company is active globally, with offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tanzania, in addition to its Tokyo Headquarters.

Atsushi Kaneda, a director of lighting design firm WORKTECHT&Co.

When we asked Kaneda, the company president, about the content of WORKTECHT's endeavors, he said, "We design lighting primarily for Hotels and commercial buildings, as well as Media Facades, in which Video and Light are part of the architecture.

Since the popularisation of LEDs, the boundaries between interior design and architecture, lighting and video have become blurred, as seen in Mercedes-Benz Connection (design: Kubota Architects & Associates), and that trend is accelerating. In this situation, we deal with all the things that Electric Light Passes through, and work with Designers and Artists to create beautiful spaces through light, including the production of lighting products."

Mercedes-Benz Connection in Roppongi, Tokyo. photography: Nacasa&Partners

Asked what his Best-known work is, he said, “For The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto (architectural design: Nikken Sekkei), I employed a state-of-the-art system to create an optical environment that meets the strict standards of a five-star hotel using only LEDs. To respond to top International Designer Peter Remedios’ desire ‘To express Japan not in Japanese style but in an international style,’ we held discussions with him every day on everything from the details to Japanese culture while doing the design. After that, the project LED to me working with hotels rated higher than five stars.”

The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto photography: Nacasa&Partners

Kaneda and his team also are responsible for the lighting of Ginza WAKO(design: Jin Watanabe), a Tokyo landmark. “In the Ginza WAKO renewal project, where the exterior and interior were illuminated, we installed on the exterior walls high-performance German-made lighting fixtures that would be as inconspicuous as possible, in order to bring out the appeal of the famous building completed in 1932. Some of the existing lighting fixtures were brought to the manufacturers, who repaired and reinstalled them, as is done in the restoration of cultural assets,” he said. Recently, he said, he has received increasing requests for media facades in major cities in Asia, as well as for building exterior lighting, and he has created an in-house team to work on expression using new technology, separate from the architectural lighting team.

When we asked the team, who are active in areas not limited to so-called Lighting Design, such as collaborations with Artists, what kind of person they would like to hire, Office Administrator Tatsuro Ozaki said, “Communication is very important because our lighting design is done in cooperation with many people, including owners, designers and construction teams. Also, we would definitely like applicants who like design as a whole and say they want to do not only lighting but also interior design and product design, and those who are obsessed with making beautiful things.”

At the end of the interview, Kaneda described the office's personality as follows. “WORKTECHT is a lighting design firm based on a scientific way of thinking, in which we verify the effects of light one by one with logic and numerical values rather than relying on our sensibilities. We look forward to applications from Experienced Lighting Designers and people who can change and grow with the company.” This job listing is recommended for those who want to work globally as a professional in Architectural Lighting and as a member of a team with top Designers from Japan and other countries.