December 21, 2018
SOURCE Awards Winner: Michelle Rosenboom
Michelle Rosenboom was a student recipient of Cooper Lighting’s 24th annual SOURCE Awards lighting design competition in 2000. A graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor of fine arts in interior design, Rosenboom began her career with Cannon Moss Brygger Architects in Sioux City, Iowa and is still with the firm. She is also founder of Michelle Rosenboom Design, a side venture focused on the world of surface design.
During the first 14 years of her career, Rosenboom obtained her NCIDQ certification, LEED ID+C accreditation and a graduate degree in graphic design from Iowa State University.
“Design is about people first and foremost, and that’s what gets me excited about what I do,” said Rosenboom. “The longer I’ve been designing, the more evident it has become that good design is a group effort that is built upon collective ideas and carefully considered solutions.”
As an interior designer at Cannon Moss Brygger Architects, Rosenboom works closely with engineering consultants to specify the right lighting for various projects. She said lighting increasingly leans toward LED-based fixtures as energy reduction becomes a more prominent goal for many projects.
One product Rosenboom hopes to use in an upcoming project is Eaton’s Tile G2. The LED-based, luminous tile is clean and finely detailed. “(It) provides many opportunities to create variety and customization, such as lens colors and custom graphics,” she said. “I also like the flexibility within the product line for use as ambient lighting on the ceiling and as coordinating, decorative wall lighting.”
The Straight and Narrow Wall Wash Fixture by Cooper is Rosenboom’s favorite. “This fixture is a wonderful way to highlight all the three-dimensional material options we have available today in the world of interiors,” Rosenboom said. “And it accomplishes that in a width just over four inches, which is beautifully minimal.”
The SOURCE Awards competition, established in 1977, focuses on furthering the understanding, knowledge and function of lighting as a primary element in design. Designed to recognize and honor the bright future of the lighting design industry, the awards are part of Eaton’s commitment to building the pipeline of lighting design talent.
The SOURCE Awards are open to students who use Cooper Lighting’s lighting fixtures and controls products in a conceptual interior or exterior lighting design. University students studying architecture, design, engineering or related disciplines are invited to enter.
For more information about how to enter, please visit our SOURCE Lighting Education Center.