Philip Rafael is a lighting designer with 15 years experience in interior, exterior and façade lighting design, daylight design and lighting master planning in a wide range of projects across Europe and Asia. He is also an advocate in the development of the lighting design profession through article publications, lectures, teaching engagements and various international seminars.
Philip was always fascinated by light. It was an inherent part of his creative character and this led him to complete a degree in product design at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design, focusing most of his attention on lighting products. At the end of his degree, he received the Portuguese ‘Young Designer of the Year’ award in 2003 for the design of a table lamp. The award was his entryway into lighting design and from then onwards he begins to foster his lighting design career.
In 2008, in his pursuit to develop in-depth lighting skills, he moved to the UK to work with BDP Lighting where for over 4 years he gained vital technical lighting design knowledge – knowledge that continues to prove itself crucial to his abilities as a lighting designer today.
2012 offered Philip the prospects to continue his career in Shanghai where he took on the role of associate director at Studio Illumine. China offered Philip valuable insight into the unique Chinese culture and proved to be a fundamental professional experience. Fast paced high-end projects allowed him to experiment and mature his design practice.
In 2016 Philip moves to Berlin to begin his own studio but ends up joining forces with The Flaming Beacon as associate at their Berlin studio. Together they worked on a range of high-end hospitality projects across the globe.
2018 saw Philip receive the ‘40 under 40’ award by the Lighting Magazine.
In 2021, Philip launches In’Sight Lighting Design with the ethos of Lighting Designed, Experienced, and Remembered. Based in Berlin, the studio aims to positive contribute to the experience of spaces and lighting, with the purpose of making them memorable.
Philip is also co-founder of The Dark Art, a global design movement that nurtures lighting theoretical discussion on the importance of shadow in lighting design. This initiative led to his shortlist of the PLDR awards in the category of ‘newcomer’ at PLDC Madrid in 2011.