People in Lighting: Molly Hermans
Companies are defined by the people who work for them: for over a century, Schréder has been at the forefront of lighting thanks to its employees worldwide. Throughout 2021 we’ll be focusing on the people who make Schréder what it is, including their career path, landmark projects and their thoughts on where lighting is headed next.
While Schréder is a global company with a presence in 70 countries, our roots are in Liège and we have a strong history of recruiting local talent. Molly Hermans works in Application Development, using her 3D design skills to help clients create their ideal lighting solution. Lighting is a fascinating industry and at Schréder we welcome recent graduates like Molly, providing them with full training and mentoring to get the most out of their career. She joined Schréder BE in October 2019 and is currently working on projects across Belgium.
I’ve always been hand-on when it comes to renovation…
My parents built their own house, so I grew up around restoration, renovation and working with my hands. When it came to my studies, I did Interior Architecture at the ESA Saint-Luc Liège, which enabled me to continue doing the things I loved, like bringing new life to old furniture and buildings. At the same time, my studies opened a lot of doors, we learnt about lighting and got training in all the latest technologies, such as Dialux.
Now I work in the photometry department...
We work on everything related to roadways, lighting public spaces, and so on. We survey the space, work out what the customer wants, choose the best luminaire from our product range and execute their vision! We work out what needs to happen: for road lighting, the survey is about working out where to put lights for safe, uniform lighting that complies with current standards. For monuments, we can be more creative, it’s a case of working out what to highlight, and how to help cities make public spaces attractive and secure.
I’m honoured to have worked on Belgium’s Pavilion for Dubai Expo Universal 2020...
Like a lot of things, this was meant to have happened last year but it’s happening now. We needed to put the accent on how it looks at night, to create something splendid and grandiose. It’s a really spectacular building, made of wooden blades, so we had to integrate the luminaires in the structure, for indirect lighting, which was very challenging technically. I drew up a lighting plan based on the 3D image we created in Dialux to create a uniform rendering and underline the pavilion’s character - it’s a project that’s close to my heart.
Lighting can also give new life to historical monuments...
The Menin Gate in the Belgian city of Ypres is a memorial to those who died in the First World War, and known worldwide for the deeply moving ceremony hosted there every evening. We are part of a project to refurbish it along with urbanism agency Radiance35, and it’s a real team effort for me and my colleague, Tom Heymans. Lighting this type of monument is very complicated. We followed the agency’s guidelines to avoid projected shadows, while making it as impressive as possible. There are thousands of names of fallen soldiers inscribed on the arch, and we have to create a level of visual comfort so these are easy to read, but also do something creative to showcase this extraordinary structure. It’s monumental, in every sense, and fascinating to work on!
I really enjoy the process recreating and manipulating buildings in 3D on the computer…
With the Menin Gate project, for example, you can get a result which is almost real. There’s an incredible level of detail, of the gate and the road around it, so you can move it around and see how different lights will look instantaneously. We have the original plans, we have Google Maps, and it’s a case of drawing the whole thing over to have an impeccable 3D rendering so we can show it to the customer. I start in SketchUp, a 3D program, then for the illumination we import it into Dialux, then it’s a collaborative process where we try things out.
That process has been affected by the pandemic...
I’d heard about Schréder during my studies, when we did a project involving lighting. I joined in October 2019 and soon noticed the company has a strong family ethos. Then six months in, we all switched to work from home! I think remote working has gone really well, especially in terms of contact with my manager, Boris Gayet. It has possibly been even easier, because of screen sharing; sometimes concepts can be hard to explain, but once you’re sharing a screen you’re looking at the same aspects of the problem. So home working hasn’t been a problem in that sense, and communications have been excellent throughout.
But there’s no substitute for actually seeing things on the ground, especially when it comes to illumination projects…
Together with the sales team we can show the customer the incredible range of colours, effects, architectural highlights and so on we can use. Once we get the briefing, we do a lighting design based on warm, cool and neutral white light for example, or wide vs narrow optics. We can then demonstrate this on-site, so they can understand what we offer, and the options they have. It’s very satisfying to see the fruits of our work!
And now I’m looking forward to seeing more!
I’m from the region, I went to ESA Saint-Luc Liège, and I’m very proud to be working for a local, Belgian company. This said, due to remote working, I haven’t got to meet any of my colleagues from R-Tech, the Belgian R&D centre, even though they are just down the road. Also, we usually have an annual meeting for everyone working on photometry worldwide, where we gather in Liège for training and to discuss best practices... I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal, so I can see more of what the company does and meet my international colleagues to share ideas.
I’m most proud of the everyday work we do…
Not everything we do is a prestige project like lighting the Menin Gate. When we light a road, we bring the same pride to that, because it means a safer, more comfortable experience for the people who use it. Whether it’s lighting a road, a roundabout, or just a building, it’s something to be proud of because it improves people's daily lives. It’s a real privilege to work in lighting, it’s an industry that’s been in the shadows too long!
Connect with Molly on LinkedIn