Lighting design that transforms a house into a home
Good lighting allows the personality of the owner to shine through.
Without good lighting, the impact of all the other well-thought-out details – artwork, sumptuous furnishings, opulent flooring, luxurious wall coverings – will be lost. For these ‘finishing touches’ you need to plan the lighting early.
To see how we work visit our Residential Process page.
Independent Lighting
Using an independent lighting designer gives you a greater range of products to choose, you literally have the world of products at your doorstep!
Dark Arts specify both architectural and decorative lighting, so you only need to talk to one lighting expert.
Our independence also allows for unbiased reviews on all costs and products. We never accept a margin on any product sales, our focus is on the best design on budget.
Automation & Controls
Your home is a busy environment with lots of activities. We design around your busy lifestyle to provide flexible lighting scenes that enable relaxation, work and play.
We work closely with electricians and lighting controls specialists to ensure the design is correctly circuited, allowing for dimming between lighting layers with automated timing and scenes using intelligent controls.
Decorative Lighting
If you’re looking for the perfect piece, we can provide you a range of options based on your personal style and tie the design across to pendants, wall lights, floor, or table lamps.
Our review process ensures the decorative lighting is dimmable or bright enough for the area and whether we need to back it up with architectural lighting.
Other Services
Artwork Lighting
Our clients have some beautiful artwork, but without good lighting who would even know! With experience in art galleries and museums Dark Arts can bring a sense of wonder into your home.
We can work out the perfect brightness, placement and beam angle to illuminate your art for increased perception and reduced glare.
Daylight Design
Unsure if a space is receiving sufficient natural light?
We can model and calculate lighting levels for your house or a particular room.
Dark Arts can recommend appropriate screening, blinds or curtains to reduce glare and maximise daylight and remedy low daylight levels with good lighting design.
Lighting Commissioning
Our on-site commissioning process ensures all the lighting is adjusted, focussed appropriately and set to the right level.
We set scenes that enable you to effortlessly shift your spaces from a working zone to an inviting ambience for that night-time event with friends and family.
Conceptual Lighting
Early lighting design concepts are too often presented to clients as dots on a 2 dimensional floor plan. This process does nothing to convey the mood or vibe that lighting can provide.
Our conceptual process allows our clients to quickly see how the lighting will interact with spaces in a 3 dimensional setting by way of application images, renders and sketches.
"You went above and beyond, and I am touched and grateful! Thank you for your hard work. The lighting looks amazing!"
Annique
"Sam’s enthusiasm for his work was immediately apparent and engaging. His team crafted helpful presentations to illustrate initial design concepts that came from a place of intelligent beautiful design – this was what I wished I’d received from other lighting designers on other projects.
Sam easily met agreed-upon deadlines and presented meticulous detail. His awareness of costs and choosing quality, aesthetically pleasing options at every pricing tier persisted throughout the project.
Sam’s work has undoubtedly improved the elegance, functionality and pleasure of being in our home. We are looking forward to working with Sam when we start our next building project later this year."
Lilly – Private Client
"On behalf of World Vision I just want to say thank you so much - all of you have gone above and beyond to create something that we couldn't have envisaged when we first had the pop up shop idea. I honestly can't express how grateful we are and so excited to see this come to life!"
Siobhan McPherson – World Vision
"Our house is slowly beginning to feel like home. We have received many, many compliments on the lighting. It is plain to everyone that a professional was involved in the design. Thank you."
Kim – Private Client
"Sam has an incredible eye for detail, when an issue arises, he is quick to come up with a new method and solution exceeding our expectations. Very easy to work with, great communication from start to finish and fantastic work ethic. We would highly recommend Sam for any lighting design projects and will be continuing to take advantage of his skill set for many years to come."
Ardy Philips – Targetti Lighting
"Thanks, Sam, for creating such an ambient experience for us and our guests. I was initially worried one of the lights wouldn't create enough light over our dining area but it’s perfect. We are so pleased with the entire result. Great to work with a lighting designer we can trust and with so much experience and knowledge."
Daniel – Private Client
"I found Sam to be professional and efficient to work with. He was honest and open about his availability, pricing and turnarounds which ensured my project ran on time and to budget.
I would not hesitate to work with Sam in the future and will recommend him should anyone need his services. Thanks again Sam!"Charlotte – Interior Designer
"Sam’s creativity and willingness to meet customer expectations makes him a lighting designer that I would recommend for any high end architectural or interior design project."
Julie Coutts – Tailor Inc
"We have used Sam to assist us with lighting calculations and modelling for some of our projects. Sam is extremely professional and always delivers on the timeframes set."
Richard Thorburn – ECC - ECC