Murray Ward B Sc MSLL

MATT BLACK is an industrial design consultancy for the lighting industry located near Frankfurt, Germany, however our reach is global. Find out more about the services offered at Matt-Black.de

Schmitz and Wila joined forces in 2017 after The Nordeon Group had acquired both companies in 2016. This opened up the possibility to design products for new market segments. Achievements include: Designing new luminaires for the 'Rotonda' family of decorative pendants. Designing and project managing the product family 'Siro': pendant and surface mounted Luminaires available in a plethora of colours, wattages and beam angles. Liaising with the engineer responsible for the product family 'Great' to finalise the finer aesthetic details to ensure that the products resemble a family and not individual stand alone products.

Wila is a predominant player in the professional lighting industry, focusing primarily on office solutions with their extensive range of down-lights and linear lighting solutions. Responsibilities included: Working closely with the managing directors and product management to envision new product concepts and then to lead these visions through the product development process to the final design review and product release. Managing the project to maintain the original vision, initial product specifications, time scales and target costs. This entailed liaising closely with all internal departments (laboratory, purchasing, product management and sales) and external suppliers both domestic and foreign. Managing and executing product development, prototyping, engineering drawings, supplier relations and preparing product visuals for marketing purposes. Achievements Include: Project managing and designing ‘Transparency’: an intelligent biodynamic luminaire that is transparent when not in use. Designed using the ‘less is more’ theory for better design, only the aesthetic is simplistic. Engineered for the workplace and for well-being, this luminaire has options for tuneable white to support your circadian rhythm, Dali and daylight/presence detection. Designing and engineering the 'Alphabet Focus' product family: a range of down-lights incorporating a precision lens system to give dynamic illumination from 9° to 60°. Designed from the ground up utilising an entirely new modular construction which enabled the family to grow over time with minimal investment. This modular system also enables a quick response to special requests. The distinctive heat-sink form provides an efficient way to cool LEDs with a power of up to 50 Watts.

Achievements Include: Project managing and designing the 'Musketeer' product family: an adjustable down-light for retrofit LED lamps that opened new sales channels and markets. The innovative levelling system allows many different LED retrofit lamps with different lamp heights to be installed within the one housing.

Havells Sylvania is a leading full spectrum provider of professional lighting solutions. Being part of the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) for the Lumiance brand, responsibilities included: Looking after the Lumiance brand with regards to product design and creating concepts for retail, office and outdoor lighting solutions that are in line with product briefs set by the SBU managers. Engineering concepts and evaluating prototypes. Managing concepts through into production and product release. Researching industry and fashion trends to ensure that brand direction is maintained. Visiting suppliers and trade fairs in China and Taiwan to ensure that the correct suppliers are chosen as partners. Achievements include designing and project managing a family of Lumiance branded LED downlighters and helping to set up the Asian Excellence Centre R&D department in Guangzhou, China, to enable European in-house design concepts to either be engineered inhouse in Guangzhou or engineered and manufactured by carefully selected Chinese suppliers.

Snell & Wilcox design and manufacture professional electronic equipment for use in the broadcasting industry. Main responsibilities as the principal industrial designer include looking after the company’s style guide and designing all product hardware where an aesthetic and mechanical appreciation is required, liaising closely with other designers, marketing, compliance engineers and vendors to ensure complete product integration.

Plysu (Nampak) design and manufacture custom designed products for the automotive, food, drink and personal care markets. In the design office I was responsible for the design and development of blow moulded containers for companies including Castrol, Asda and The British Athletic Association. Other duties included model making and creating engineering drawings.

As part of the ‘Specials’ product design team, I was involved in the design and development of bespoke lighting for clients including the National Westminster Bank and Warwick University. Responsibilities ranged from creating initial concepts, liasing with clients, creating prototypes, producing engineering drawings and ensuring the products ran smoothly through production.