Richard Kelly

Who was Richard Kelly?

Richard Kelly was an American lighting designer and considered one of the pioneers of architectural lighting design. Kelly had already established his own New York-based lighting practice in 1935 before enrolling at the Yale School of Architecture where he graduated in 1944. Kelly characterized the difficulty in selling lighting consultancy, then a new discipline, when he reflected "There weren't lighting consultants then. Nobody would pay for my ideas, but they would buy fixtures."

By the 1950s, his work in lighting design led him to coin the terms 'focal glow', 'ambient luminescence' and 'play of brilliants' to describe particular effects in lighting design. His later career also saw him lecture at, among others, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard Universities.

After his death, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America established the Richard Kelly Grant in his name to encourage creativity in lighting among young people.