The lost history of Kempthorne’s pioneering lighting design in Australia
Kempthorne were an Australian lighting and design icon. In the early 1970s Kempthorne had a lighting design office in Clayton, Victoria where they designed classic domestic & commercial luminaires and for architectural lighting design projects including ANZ Towers, Museum Station, the High Court of Australia and Collins Place.
8 June 2016
| Lacey Glave
|
via
Ambience
Kempthorne were an Australian lighting and design icon. In the early 1970s Kempthorne had a lighting design office in Clayton, Victoria where they designed classic domestic & commercial luminaires and for architectural lighting design projects including ANZ Towers, Museum Station, the High Court of Australia and Collins Place.
But behind the fancy output, flamboyant moustaches, Winfield Reds and prawn cocktails for lunch was also hard work at pioneering architectural lighting design.
This process was forged under the direction of visionary and stalwart of lighting – Les Oberman. Members of the Kempthorne team then included Tom McNair – chief industrial designer for domestic, Winston Justice (who went on to found ambience in 1987) – designer for architectural & commercial and Malcolm Webster – domestic lighting design & industrial designer.
But behind the fancy output, flamboyant moustaches, Winfield Reds and prawn cocktails for lunch was also hard work at pioneering architectural lighting design.
This process was forged under the direction of visionary and stalwart of lighting – Les Oberman. Members of the Kempthorne team then included Tom McNair – chief industrial designer for domestic, Winston Justice (who went on to found ambience in 1987) – designer for architectural & commercial and Malcolm Webster – domestic lighting design & industrial designer.
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