Light Can Help You is a fully distributed team of lighting professionals working in virtual studios to deliver exceptional lighting design across the North American continent and beyond. We leverage cutting-edge digital technologies to accelerate our process while preserving the hand-crafted individuality that reflects our clients’ unique needs. The end results are beautiful, functional spaces delivered to clients across a wide range of budgets and locales.
What does a lighting design team do?
Lighting layouts, characterized by circles on plans in tidy geometric grids, deliver enough light to meet building codes –essentially the lowest level of lighting required to be legal. Lighting designers go beyond layouts to consider client needs, budgets, locations, styles, and add in a deeper understanding of the science, technology, psychology, and physiology of light and the human body.
We use different light fixtures, put them in different places, and ask them to deliver different outcomes. The results help our clients wake gently, move energetically, relax easily, and rest deeply, all in a beautiful and comfortable environment after dark.
What makes Light Can Help You different?
DIGITAL SKETCHING
We are best known for our digital sketches, a uniquely affordable artistic process that allows our clients to see their home illuminated before it is built.
SERVICE RANGE
We offer a range of services starting at our low-cost, fast-paced CORE service with no meetings and climbing to our bespoke, concierge-level Unlimited service.
DATA DRIVEN
We leverage data across hundreds of past projects to accurately recommend budget targets for architectural fixtures.
BUDGET CONSCIOUS
We go beyond lip service: will not finish the drawings until you have confirmed a budget target and we have met it.
ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE
We are a fully remote business bringing exceptional lighting design services to locations previously underserved while hiring the best talent across the continent.
LOCAL PARTNERS
We partner with local custom integration specialists who assist clients with intelligent controls, low voltage distribution, responsive shading treatments, and performance lighting fixtures. These partnerships provide on-site support from start to finish while reducing travel expenses that would drive up our fees.
How did Light Can Help You get started?
Light Can Help You traces its roots back to 2002 when our founding designer opened his first lighting design practice. In 2015, frustrated with the high cost of lighting design services but encouraged by technological and scientific advancements, our company began a 3-year transformation into the Light Can Help You we know today. Finding our unique mix of quality services and streamlined processes allowed us to rapidly expand nationwide with a remote team of talented professionals delivering hundreds of designs per year without sacrificing personal attention, creativity, or craft.
Meet Our Team
David Warfel
Founder and Chief Lighting Evangelist
David Warfel Founder and Chief Lighting Evangelist
David Warfel is Midwestern farm boy turned lighting designer, author, and educator who passionately shares the gift of light. Whether blogging at languageoflight.blog, writing for Houzz.com or designing residential and entertainment experiences from coast to coast, David simply wants to help others live better lives through the scientific and artistic application of light. From the local theatre to Carnegie Hall, from his parent’s kitchen to multi-million-dollar homes, from local pizza joints to the Las Vegas Strip, from school cafeterias to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line projects, David is endlessly fascinated by the power of light to reveal and transform space.
Mark Langston
Partner & Chief Lighting Advisor
Mark Langston Partner & Chief Lighting Advisor
Mark is a lighting geek from way back. He got his start in the industry through the Navy Nuclear Power program as an electrician. He has been blessed with the gifts of good spatial perception and a mechanical tilted mind. As an Electrical Contractor he experienced his first framing projector fixture, and as they say, “That’s all she wrote”! Mark has been in the lighting industry for 30+ years with experience in sales & product development at the manufacturing level for 20+ years and the distribution level for 10+ years. Mark loves that light is the only dynamic element in most spaces and how light can impact both a person’s mood and health. It’s a huge responsibility that draws Mark in to helping clients get what they need and desire in their environment.
Jessica Doyle
Senior Studio Leader
Jessica Doyle Senior Studio Leader
Jessica was the first Senior Lighting Designer on our team and our first to lead her own Studio and has completed incredible residential and commercial projects from coast to coast. Jessica got her start in lighting design in the theatre, designing lighting for plays, concerts, and opera. After almost a decade within the theatre, she went back to school to expand her lighting design knowledge to include architectural lighting.
She graduated with her Master’s in Architectural Lighting Design from the New York School of Interior Design. Jessica has been with Light Can Help You since graduating, and loves being able to help people experience the benefits of lighting design in their homes.
Alessio Urso
Studio Leader
Alessio Urso Studio Leader
Alessio’s deep knowledge in light and health led to a chance meeting with the Light Can Help You team and the discovery of a shared passion for improving lives. Alessio is a seasoned architectural lighting designer with substantial international experience. He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and is passionate about light’s effect on our health.
Kelli Hernandez
Studio Leader
Kelli Hernandez Studio Leader
Kelli has always been fascinated with light. She began her career in theatre, and went to school at the University of California, Irvine to earn a degree in Drama with honors in Lighting Design. Since then she has gathered experience in any lighting she could get her hands on, including hospitality, retail, and commercial. She loves being able to help people’s dreams come to fruition and transform space with light.
Brady King
Lead Lighting Designer
Brady King Lead Lighting Designer
Brady’s eagerness of storytelling through the use of light and the collaborative atmosphere of design has guided him through a career in theatrical and architectural lighting. While earning his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California – Irvine, he illuminated the stage with his designs for dance and theatrical productions. This ultimately sparked his interest to architectural lighting where he has designed for entertainment, residential, retail, and hospitality projects.
Kim Davis
Studio Leader
Kim Davis Studio Leader
Kim has been fascinated with design since she was a kid analyzing the best way to arrange her bedroom furniture. During her tenure working as an interior designer Kim loved creating the lighting design portions of her projects, which led her to seek out more education from our founder, David. Learning how light can benefit our well-being has only grown Kim’s passion for lighting design, and she is grateful for the opportunity to share the gift. Before joining our team Kim served as an interior designer and project manager for 15+ years. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Interior & Environmental Design from Illinois State University.
Sharon Fuentes
Lighting Specialist
Sharon Fuentes Lighting Specialist
Sharon’s excellent software skills are a key component of our process from 3D visualization through to final drawings and her work supports many of our projects.
Sharon is an architect based in Honduras with a growing passion for the lighting industry. She possesses excellent software skills and an eye for detail that serve as a key component to our process. Her expertise guides our 3D visualization through to final drawings in many of our endeavors.
Gabriela Toleda
Lighting Specialist
Gabriela Toleda Lighting Specialist
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Lisa Sowinski
Lighting Advisor
Lisa Sowinski Lighting Advisor
Lisa’s passion for architecture, interior design, and construction led her to her latest role with Light Can Help You. She followed her Architectural Sciences degree with experience as a design associate with a luxury home builder, a project manager with a commercial construction company, and more in real estate and design. Lisa loves helping future clients discover how light can benefit their everyday lives.
Meghan Smith
Lead Lighting Designer
Meghan Smith Lead Lighting Designer
Meghan’s interest in bettering the relationship between human life and the built environment led her to find and join the Light Can Help You team. Informed by degrees in Psychology and Interior Design and a Masters in Architectural Lighting, Meghan’s design solutions focus on how light positively shapes the human experience. Her passion for helping others and the natural world leads her to enjoy projects that are socially responsible and sustainable by design.
Alexis Cassidy
Lighting Designer
Alexis Cassidy Lighting Designer
Alexis fell in love with the glitz and shine and found a divine path the moment she walked into her first lighting showroom. After finishing a business degree, Alexis built a career designing lighting and controls in high-end residential and hospitality projects in the ski towns of Colorado and beyond. Alexis is thrilled to expand on her vision of making architecture and designs famous through lighting with Light Can Help You.
Joanne Glynn
Lighting Specialist
Joanne Glynn Lighting Specialist
Joanne completed her bachelor’s degree in architecture in Argentina before returning home to Honduras. Her passion for lighting began while working on renderings for residential architectural studios and is looking forward to continuous professional growth with Light Can Help You. She is motivated by learning from others and is part of the Light Can Help You team focused on digital model building and documentation.
Samuel Delcid
Lighting Specialist
Samuel Delcid Lighting Specialist
Samuel is an architect based in Honduras with a passion for lighting design and a background in interior design. His previous work experience has allowed him to perfect his abilities with digital software, having high attention to detail and great execution in 3D modeling and AutoCAD drawings. He is currently working in the specialist team, helping us present and document our design ideas in the best way possible.
Cody Carr
Lighting Designer