Katia Kolovea is an award-winning lighting designer, communication strategist, and passionate advocate for the lighting profession. Founder of London-based Archifos—a boutique agency blending immersive light experiences, storytelling, and experiential marketing—she has earned prestigious international accolades. A judge for the Prize Design Award Furniture and Lighting 2025, she leads The Lighting Police awareness platform, co-founded the Silhouette Awards and the VLD.community, and is a core team member of the global Women in Lighting movement. We’re thrilled to feature her in Global Design News’ inspiring Women in Design series!

GDN: What early experience first ignited your passion for light as a design medium?

Katia Kolovea: My relationship with light began long before I understood it as a profession. I was always deeply drawn to the power of the sun, especially sunsets. I could spend endless time observing how sunlight moves through the sky, how it hits clouds, water, walls, and surfaces, and how the same sunset can appear entirely different depending on the color, texture, or material it touches. That sensitivity to natural light shaped my awareness early on. I intuitively understood that light affects my mood, my energy, and the way I experience a place. Coming from a background in interior and product design, I was trained to understand materials, surfaces, and textures. What fascinated me was how these elements only truly come to life through light.

During my bachelor studies in Greece, at a time when lighting was not yet widely recognized as a standalone profession, one of my professors, Aris, planted a crucial seed: the idea that light itself could be the primary design medium. That realization changed everything. I became increasingly fascinated by how the same room could feel calm, tense, intimate, or distant depending entirely on light. Shadows could soften edges, glare could create discomfort, and subtle contrasts could guide movement and attention, without adding a single physical element. That invisible influence stayed with me. Light was never just an addition; it was what completed the narrative of space. This curiosity eventually led me north, to Sweden. There, studying my master’s degree and experiencing both extreme light and the absence of it, profoundly shaped my understanding. I truly learned to feel light. I began to see it as an emotional and psychological force. A force that defines atmosphere, influences behavior, and creates connection. Light became a language that speaks directly to our senses, and like sunlight itself, it is something we feel long before we understand it.

GDN: What is your philosophy on light as a “non-verbal language” in design?

Katia Kolovea: I see light as one of the most powerful forms of non-verbal communication in design. It constantly sends messages into space. It brings emotion, raises awareness, and creates alertness. Long before we consciously analyze a place, light has already shaped how we feel within it. It can signal safety or vulnerability, intimacy or exposure, openness or exclusion, without a single word being spoken. That silent dialogue is what makes light such a profound design tool. In many ways, light operates as a universal language. We instinctively understand it. When the lights suddenly turn on in a bar, we know it is time to leave. Traffic lights guide our behavior without explanation. These everyday examples reveal how deeply embedded light is in our social codes. My philosophy is rooted in the idea that light shapes human behavior subconsciously. It influences how we move, where we pause, how we interact, and how long we choose to stay. A softly lit environment can invite connection and reflection, while harsh lighting can create tension or detachment. Sometimes that discomfort is intentional; sometimes it results from lighting being treated as an afterthought. And this is where responsibility comes in. Because light is everywhere, it is often taken for granted. Yet poorly considered lighting can exclude, overstimulate, or even manipulate behavior. As designers, we are not neutral. We are shaping perception and influencing human experience. That demands awareness, empathy, and ethical intention. Light also communicates differently across cultures and contexts, through color, intensity, and contrast. This reinforces the importance of sensitivity. We are not simply specifying products; we are translating emotion and meaning into space. We work with technology, but our true medium is human perception. Ultimately, successful lighting is not about being noticed, it is about being felt. Light speaks most clearly when it doesn’t need to speak at all.

GDN: How does Archifos create cohesive projects considering environment, emotion, and community?

Katia Kolovea: At Archifos, cohesion begins with understanding the bigger picture. We work at the intersection of lighting design, communication strategy, and community-building, which means every project is approached as part of a wider ecosystem rather than as an isolated outcome. The environment, for us, is both physical and cultural. It includes architecture, geography, and material context, but also the environmental responsibility of light itself. Questions around light pollution, sustainability, and long-term impact are integral to how we think and how we collaborate with our clients. Light does not exist in isolation. It affects cities, night skies, people, and ultimately our collective wellbeing. Emotion is the connective thread.

Whether we are creating an immersive lighting experience, shaping the narrative around a new lighting innovation, curating a launch event, or activating a public dialogue, we always begin with a simple but essential question: how should this make people feel? Inspired? Empowered? Curious? Lighting is not only something to be installed, it is something to be experienced, felt, and understood. Community is where cohesion becomes meaningful. Much of our work operates through dialogue. Through events, educational platforms, collaborations, and storytelling. We believe lighting gains depth when it moves beyond the professional bubble and becomes accessible. Our intention is to help people become more aware of how light affects them and to see it from a new perspective. We do not treat light purely as a technical solution. We treat it as a cultural and emotional medium. Whether through experiential installations, strategic campaigns, or global initiatives, our goal remains the same: to align environment, emotion, and community so that light becomes part of a larger, ongoing conversation.

GDN: How has Women in Lighting empowered your voice as a female leader in design?

Katia Kolovea: Being part of Women in Lighting has been one of the most defining chapters of my professional journey. The initiative was founded by two visionary leaders, and I was invited to join at a very early stage to represent and connect with the younger generation of lighting designers. I am deeply grateful that this opportunity came so early in my career. From the beginning, I was involved in shaping how the platform would be communicated and positioned globally, contributing to its brand identity, social media presence, and the consistency that helped it grow into an international movement. Growing alongside it has been both a privilege and a responsibility. What struck me immediately was the clear imbalance in representation. Through the research and visibility initiatives we developed, it became evident how underrepresented women were across global press opportunities, judging panels, and leadership platforms. Seeing this firsthand shifted my perspective and strengthened my sense of purpose. What moved me most, however, was the spirit of solidarity. Women in Lighting created a space where ambition and generosity coexist, where celebrating another woman’s success strengthens your own. That philosophy deeply influenced how I lead and collaborate today. Working within such an international network also expanded my understanding of inclusivity. It reminded me that opportunity and visibility are not evenly distributed across regions. Being part of the team strengthened my commitment to creating platforms and conversations where diverse voices are seen and valued. Women in Lighting did not simply amplify my voice. It shaped it. It taught me that leadership is not about occupying space, but about opening it for others.

GDN: How has the management team of The Lighting Police grown globally?

Katia Kolovea: The Lighting Police began as a spontaneous and playful idea. During a visit to a museum in London, I found myself publicly reflecting on the poor maintenance of lighting on certain sculptures. Half-jokingly, I compared it to “fashion police” and asked: what if we had a Lighting Police? Who’s with me? The overwhelming response that followed transformed a fun social media moment into something much bigger. What started as a light-hearted campaign has evolved over six years into a dynamic international educational platform with a clear mission: to raise awareness about the importance of quality light in our lives. The growth has been organic and collective. Today, The Lighting Police reaches professionals and non-professionals across more than 50 countries, particularly through its interactive Instagram community, where designers, architects, students, and citizens share real-life case studies from their cities. This is where the real dialogue happens.

Over time, the initiative expanded beyond digital interaction. We have collaborated with major organizations, contributed to international panels, and been invited to deliver workshops and night walks. A global advisory board supports the educational direction of the platform, while international delegates represent it within their local networks, allowing the message to travel while maintaining a shared philosophy. The Lighting Police is built on the belief that awareness precedes improvement. Light is everywhere, and everyone experiences it, yet very few people are taught how to truly see it. We aim to shift perception and raise awareness at scale. Because meaningful change in the lighting industry does not begin only with designers; it begins with educated clients, informed decision-makers, and people who understand how light affects their daily lives, and who actively ask for quality light.

Although I founded and curate this initiative, its growth has always been collective. What makes it powerful is the community behind it: the dedicated core team working passionately behind the scenes, the advisory board contributing their expertise, the global delegates representing the platform within their networks, the contributors, and the hundreds of participants who actively engage and share. Their commitment, generosity, and belief in the mission are what allow the platform to evolve. We are not simply highlighting problems; we are cultivating awareness. And I truly believe we are still at the beginning. The vision is to see hundreds of conversations, night walks, workshops, and collaborations happening across cities worldwide, building a culture where quality light is not a luxury, but an expectation.

GDN: What sustainable lighting trends do you foresee shaping the industry in 2026?

Katia Kolovea: In 2026 and beyond, I believe we will see a decisive shift from efficiency to responsibility. For years, sustainability in lighting was largely defined by energy savings and LED performance. While efficiency remains important, the conversation is now expanding toward long-term impact, quality, and accountability. Circular thinking will become central. Designers and manufacturers will be expected to prioritize product longevity, modularity, and the ability to repair, upgrade, and reuse components rather than replace entire systems. Upcycling strategies, material transparency, and local production will increasingly influence specification decisions. Whenever possible, selecting locally manufactured products to reduce transport-related carbon footprint should become standard practice rather than a niche choice. Light pollution and ecological awareness will also move higher on the agenda.

However, meaningful progress in this area will depend not only on individual designers but on updated norms and regulations. If we want darker skies and healthier urban nightscapes, these standards must become mandatory rather than optional. Smart systems and adaptive controls will continue to evolve, offering significant opportunities to reduce energy consumption. Yet their success will depend on simplicity. Sustainable technology must be intuitive and user-friendly. If controls are overly complex, they are often bypassed, and the intended energy savings are lost. Designing systems that people actually use is just as important as designing systems that perform well. Ultimately, sustainability in lighting will become more holistic. It will no longer be about a single metric, but about balancing environmental impact, user experience, longevity, and responsibility. The industry is moving toward a more conscious specification culture, one where quality light, reduced waste, and ecological sensitivity are no longer aspirations, but expectations.