Gregory Kay

With a career of over thirty years and counting, Gregory L. Kay is a force in the world of contemporary lighting. Equally talented as a designer, engineer, and entrepreneur, he is due much of the credit for the popularity of sleek, low-voltage technologies used in homes and offices across America.

In 1983, he opened Tech Lighting, Chicago's first all-contemporary lighting showroom, and quickly began designing fixtures. He was particularly excited by the European low-voltage systems that were emerging at the time, with their small bulbs and clean lines. The American National Electric Code would not approve such systems, but as a trained master electrician, Kay assembled a case that led to amendments to the Code. The result was the advent of low-voltage contemporary lighting in the U. S., and Tech Lighting was positioned at the forefront. By 2001, Tech Lighting had become a giant in the industry, supplying 800 showrooms nationwide. Although Kay has since sold the company to pursue other projects, Tech Lighting remains one of today's most respected brands.

Greg Kay has won all of the lighting industry's top awards for design. In 1988, he was the first ever Chicago-based designer to win the prestigious Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award for Interior Lighting Design for his AT&T Information Services Showcase project. Then in 1999, his Symphony Chandelier was named Best New Product Design at Lightfair International. Sparing no details in the creation process, the Symphony was intricately designed with 13 hand-bendable rods, each tipped with a frosted glass stems, and the ability to create any desired shape.

With so many successful fixture designs to his name, Kay retains a few as personal favorites. The Aero, a low-voltage MR-16 lamp fixed head that has a very clean line, a glass handle, and is fully adjustable. Over 40 different shade and finish combinations are possible to provide a custom look. The Lyra, a linear suspension piece that combines indirect fluorescent uplighting with the precision of MR16 downlights. This fixture won the Citation Of Excellence at NeoCon World's Trade Fair 2002, and became one of the signature pieces of Lightology's Architectural Collection. The TwinRail Cloud, originally designed to use over his teenage son's pool table, has two levels of custom-bent chrome rail with metal pendants of airplanes, balloons, a sun, and a parachute. "When I first described it to him," Kay recalls, "he didn't like the idea of airplanes and balloons in his 'adult' room. But when it was installed, he thought it was cool." Last, but not least, the Tigris Recessed Mirror, a low-voltage fixture creating a halo of light around a floating disc. This innovative design combines bright light, flattering colors, and a flush installation that is ideal for bathrooms, where space is limited.

In addition to his role at the helm of Lightology, Kay continues to design fixtures for his latest companies, Pure Lighting and Edge Lighting. Kay founded Pure in 2006, and sister company Edge in 2007, developing two lines of architectural-grade lighting to manufacture sustainable lighting solutions, including low voltage LED lighting and specification grade, energy efficient luminaires. Since 2008, Kay has won 40 industry awards for his Edge Lighting and Pure Lighting products, and has since merged the two together to create PureEdge Lighting.