Illuminating the Future: Sustainability, Innovation, and Design with LightArt’s Adam Reeder

In this episode of I Hear Design, host Robert Nieminen welcomes Carrie Meadows, Editor-in-Chief of interiors+sources, for her podcast debut and an enlightening conversation with Adam Reeder, President of LightArt. Together, they delve into the fascinating relationship between LightArt and its materials partner, 3form, and explore how these industry leaders are merging biophilic design with innovations in recycled materials. Adam shares insights into LightArt’s groundbreaking approaches to sustainability, from pioneering molecular recycling processes to creating striking 3D-printed luminaires like Clear Coil. Tune in to discover how custom lighting design is shaping a more sustainable and socially responsible future.

Transcript

**Robert Nieminen:** 
Hello and welcome back to the I Hear Design podcast, your source for interior design and architecture news, interviews, and opinions. I'm your host, Robert Nieminen, and with me today is a very special guest, Carrie Meadows, our new editor-in-chief of Interiors+Sources magazine. Hey, Carrie, it's great to have you on the podcast. Thanks for being here.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
Thanks, Rob. I'm excited to be on my first episode of I Hear Design.

**Robert Nieminen:** 
Yeah, we're excited to have you. For our listeners who may not know, Carrie joined i+s magazine this past July and has been doing a deep dive into the interior design industry, putting out some great content during the past several months with an exciting editorial plan for 2020. Carrie, what did you do prior to coming to i+s?

**Carrie Meadows:** 
I've been in business-to-business media for more than 20 years now, having worked up to senior-level positions on teams that spanned a variety of tech fields. Most recently, I served as editor-in-chief of LED's magazine, which evolved from covering global market opportunities to the engineering of LEDs for use as light sources, and then to a more application-driven direction, mainly focusing on how LEDs serve in architectural lighting, products, and design.

**Robert Nieminen:** 
Right. I understand you recently had a conversation with the folks at LightArt, which is going to be the focus of this episode. But before we listen to that conversation, can you set it up for us? How did you discover LightArt, and what did you discuss?

**Carrie Meadows:** 
In the lighting industry, sustainability has been a bit behind compared to other design sectors. I was looking into the impact of sustainability demands on materials and assembly initiatives just starting to emerge. LightArt and its materials partner, 3form, caught my attention. I spoke with LightArt's president, Adam Reeder, who provided insights into the relationship between 3form and LightArt and how they merge biophilic design with innovations in recycled materials. Speaking with Adam, I learned that his main goal with LightArt is to keep pushing for designs that combine creativity and functionality with environmental and social awareness in an economically viable way.

**Robert Nieminen:** 
Great, and I'm excited to share this conversation with our listeners. I know you covered a lot of ground in your interview. So let's get right to it. Here is Carrie Meadows' conversation with LightArt's Adam Reeder.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
In today's episode, we're speaking with Adam Reeder, president of custom lighting firm LightArt. Since 2005, LightArt has leveraged the architectural backgrounds of founders Ryan Smith and Ona Holder to deliver light fixtures assembled by hand with locally sourced parts. From acoustic to artisanal styles, LightArt's fixtures offer geometric, sculptural, and modular form factors in various configurations to each customer's specifications. Adam joined LightArt in 2016 from materials partner 3form. He continues to help grow the firm's reputation for merging biophilic design with innovative recycled materials. Today we'll be discussing how LightArt approaches the design, sourcing, and manufacture of fixtures with an eye towards sustainability and social responsibility. Welcome, Adam. We're delighted to have you join us.

**Adam Reeder:** 
Wonderful. Thank you. I'm excited to be here with you today.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
Excellent. To start, could you brief our listeners on the relationship between 3form and LightArt?

**Adam Reeder:** 
Absolutely. From a clear and simple perspective, 3form is the owner of LightArt. LightArt is a subsidiary of 3form. 3form is a materials manufacturer that was introduced to LightArt back in 2008. Since then, 3form has been supporting LightArt with material innovation, design, manufacturing, and other essential items. It's a great relationship with synergies coming from both 3form and LightArt.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
That sounds very unique in the marketplace. How do materials influence or inform the process and designs at LightArt?

**Adam Reeder:** 
That's where LightArt is unique. My background is in materials, specifically from the architectural material world at 3form. LightArt has operated as a non-traditional commercial lighting manufacturer. We started with our core competency in materials—understanding how materials behave and looking at sustainable materials with unique color or translucency. 

Unlike traditional manufacturers who start with lighting technology and build around it, we built lighting around a material. It's a unique position to have an architectural material manufacturer supporting us. We spend a lot of time investigating how materials will behave and their form factor. When you introduce sustainability, you open up a range of material options—opaque, translucent, or combinations—leading to unique applications.

We leverage our material knowledge for design inspiration, supported by internal research and development, marketing, sales, and operations teams.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
It sounds like an exciting and uncommon model. I recently heard about molecular recycling in the production of your latest 3D-printed luminaires. What does molecular recycling mean, and how does this type of material impact sustainability efforts?

**Adam Reeder:** 
It's an exciting development in materials. We challenged ourselves to turn our own waste into something beautiful. We started by looking at our waste streams—off-cuts and products bound for landfills. We wanted to divert this waste and make sustainability tangible for everyone involved in manufacturing, assembly, and design.

Our first additive manufactured or 3D-printed product, Coil, incorporated our own waste streams in partnership with 3form. We used mechanical recycling—separating waste, grinding it up, and producing a product. This was our first approach, but it had limitations on the types of materials we could introduce.

We then raised the bar by working with Ocean Works to develop our Ocean Coil line. This expanded to post-consumer and industrial waste, collecting near-shore and ocean-bound plastics. Mechanical recycling can only be done so many times before degrading the resin's properties.

Molecular recycling is a breakthrough. It's no longer limited to specific polymer types like PET or HDPE. Now, we can break down various polymers—from single-use containers to athletic wear to carpet—through depolymerization. This process creates an optically clear product without extracting fossil fuels.

Our Clear Coil is a 100% recycled, additive manufactured product in clear material. We've tackled two challenging initiatives: creating a 100% post-consumer recycled product that is completely clear.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
The photos of the product are striking. It's exciting to see materials that would typically end up in the waste stream being repurposed. Speaking of environmental challenges, the industry is seeing initiatives to support manufacturers in evolving their supply chain, logistics, and manufacturing approaches for decarbonization. Beyond recycled materials, what is LightArt doing or planning to pursue for increasing sustainability?

**Adam Reeder:** 
We're pursuing sustainable practices in how we produce and source materials. We've achieved recognition through the Declare Label certification, which helps manufacturers identify what's in their products. We've also adopted the Just Label—essentially a "nutrition facts" for corporate entities—which stands for social and equitable organizational practices.

The Just Label looks at equitable practices, safe and sustainable material sourcing, and other organizational practices. It's an arduous process, but it's our direction for raising the bar for manufacturers in being sustainably and socially minded.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
It's an exciting time with increasing attention to environmental product declarations, product and materials transparency, and understanding the carbon emissions impact of company operations. How is the marketplace responding to sustainability-first products?

**Adam Reeder:** 
From both micro and macro economic perspectives, we're seeing a positive response. In the Pacific Northwest, there's a long-standing narrative of supporting manufacturers with sustainable practices. Designers are helping clients understand the benefits and impact.

The market is increasingly accepting sustainability when we make it tangible. When we showed how we incorporated our own waste or created clear products with Ocean Works, it became more relatable. Many sustainable efforts can feel abstract, but when we demonstrate concrete steps, adoption increases.

We're seeing the design and specification communities paying more attention to labels and sustainable sourcing. Manufacturers are becoming more transparent about their ingredient lists, looking at every component from shade materials to housing, lights, and power cords.

The price gap between sustainably sourced and traditional products is also closing. While there's still room for improvement, we're finding a balance that makes sustainable products more accessible.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
It's thrilling to see these advances. When I started covering the lighting industry, the focus was on energy efficiency and component performance. Now we're exploring innovation in materials, design, and end-of-life considerations for fixtures.

**Adam Reeder:** 
We love being challenged. We're inspired by lighting designers, interior designers, architects, engineers, and end users. We're comfortable with both custom and large-scale projects, so keep the ideas coming!

**Carrie Meadows:** 
That's what we like to hear. Thank you, Adam, for joining us today. We'll have more information and links to LightArt's website, 3form, and other resources in our episode notes.

**Adam Reeder:** 
Wonderful. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

**Carrie Meadows:** 
Thank you.