byINTERVIEW
Jill Entwistle 37
MARK HENSMAN
THE RIGHT EQUATION
JILL ENTWISTLE TALKS TO MARK HENSMAN OF GIA EQUATION ABOUT HIS
PASSIONS AND HIS PET HATES
Mark Hensman is the first to admit that he hasn’t alwaysbeen easy this space to work?’.”
to work with. “It would be fair to sayIhave afairlyspikynature. The Erco had quadrupled in sizetomore than 40staff and significantly
problem is what drives me, ultimately,isthat Ihave areal passion for increased its turnover bythe time Hensman left. When he joined Bull-
lighting and apassion for the detail. Certainlythat will push me in cer- ock at Equation, lighting design was still viewed as some arcane art by
tain cases and I’m aware that can be difficult for people. I’m also not manypotential clients. “You’d go into an architect and sayyou were an
good at someone who’s just doing ajob, just earning money.Towork independent lighting designer and they’d say‘what’s one of those?’.
with me theymust have passion.” The first hurdle we all had to get over was getting people to understand
He reckons he has mellowed abit though, especiallysince Equation’s exactlywhat it was we did and that it could be of value to them.
merger with multi-disciplinarysurveying and design consultancyGIA “It was reallyhard work. But Ienjoyed it alot because Iliked the feeling
last year.“Ithink the GIA thing helps because I’m just doing design, I’m that we were on the edge of this thing that was developing.Maybe it
not dealing with the nuts and bolts that Idon’t want to do. Ithink I’m saysmore about me, but you rarelyget something that gets the blood
also more confident.” going that doesn’t require agood effort.”
Equation, which was founded byJohn Bullock in 1986 and which Ask Hensman what characterises his approach to lighting design or
Hensman joined as aco-director in 1987, is one of the UK’s longest what his influences are and he initiallystruggles to answer.What is in-
established independent lighting design consultancies. Hensman ar- disputablycentral to his style is aconstant analysis of what the lighting
rived there via an electrical course –which he quicklyrealised was a is trying to achieve.
bad move –and asix-year stint at Erco. “Everything we do is alwaysquestioned. Whyare we doing this, what’s
“When Istarted the electrical
training Irealised I’d made abit
of amistake and reallycouldn’t
do that for the rest of mylife. For-
tunately,inthe middle of it, there
was asection on illumination
engineering and Iwas fascinated
byit.”
He completed the design in the
built environment course, includ-
ing the lighting section, at what
was then South Bank Polytechnic
and ended up at Erco through a
combination of afamilycontact
and afluke.
Hensman moved from the techni-
cal side to selling and became
involved with architectural prac-
tices. “Erco was small enough at
that point to be about selling a
whole concept. There’s awhole
load of stuff Ilearnt there that’s
still with me today.Itwasn’t about
The BMW plant in Leipzig, Hensman’s toughest project.going in and saying ‘isn’t this
“Zaha Hadid meeting BMW middle management. It tooklight fitting fantastic?’, but going
creative tension to a new level.”in and saying ‘how do you want
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