Gary
Thornton
Gary is an Associate Lighting Designer at Nulty with over ten years of experience enhancing architecture and interiors through light.
After graduating with a degree in product design from Brunel University, he spent the next decade developing his creative design skills and technical expertise on projects of all sizes across the globe. This included the delivery of a number of notable masterplan and urban design projects in Dubai and the wider MENA region.
His role at Nulty sees him manage a large team of designers within the practice, where he is responsible for overseeing every stage of a client project, from conceptualisation through to implementation. He is passionate about communicating light’s capacity to bring life to internal and external spaces to students, and is keen to promote the career of architectural lighting design to the next generation of designers.
Why Did You Want To Be A Silhouette Awards Mentor?
I have previously had an informal mentor/mentee approach with a couple of members of staff, both in my previous role at Neolight and currently at Nulty. I am keen to be able to build on these and formalise such a relationship so that it can be even more established and of beneficial support which I think the framework of the Silhouette programme offers.
The benefits of being able to pass on knowledge, support new designers in the industry and be a person to listen and advise is extremely rewarding to me. It is also of mutual benefit as fresh eyes and fresh thinking often give me a different point of view or a new approach to design that I can then carry forward either myself or as part of a wider project team.
Without a Director who was focussed on sharing knowledge when I first started in the industry I wouldn’t have taken the career development to where I am today.
Over the last 12 years I have built up knowledge and experience in a range of projects, primarily between the UK and the Middle East and now feel at a point where I would like to be able to develop my own skills as a mentor and give back. The goal is to impart this knowledge so that this becomes the first of many relationships I am able to support new designers and the younger generation of lighting with.