An Oscars Appearance Catapulted This Dutch Lighting Brand Into the U.S. Market

With glamorous red carpets and exciting backstage moments, award shows create the perfect setting for breakout moments—and not just for the stars. Following an appearance in the greenroom at the Academy Awards in 2004, Netherlands-based lighting atelier Brand van Egmond quickly developed a new fan base and, in return, a client list that reads like the cast of a box-office hit. As requests continued to come in for projects stateside, from creating custom pieces for several Louis Vuitton boutiques to completing hospitality assignments for the Gansevoort Hotel in New York and the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, atelier founder and designer William Brand began the search for a North American outpost.