On July 16th, Wipliance partnered with Lutron to host Native by Design, a full-day educational program for architects and interior designers at The Lodge at St. Edward Park. The day opened with coffee and conversation, moved through four educational blocks and an integrative lunch, and closed with a moderated panel and a Summer Soiree on the chef's garden patio.
The Lodge itself set the tone. A MICHELIN Key-recognized restoration of a 1930s seminary on Lake Washington, it gave the group an inspirational setting.
Five Brands, One Shared Language
Our Native by Design event paired Lutron with four partners across lighting, shading, audio, window coverings, and decorative fixtures. Each session tackled a different aspect of the specification process, but the throughline stayed the same: how do you integrate technology into a space without it becoming a distraction?
- Light, Layered: Kris Grytten of Hartmann & Forbes opened with natural woven shading materials, covering how to select and integrate window treatments while balancing aesthetics, performance, and technology.
- Designing for Outdoor Living: Peter Sepesi of Coastal Source led an outdoor audio demonstration on the garden patio, then moved the conversation inside to landscape lighting and biophilic design with Lutron and Ketra lighting control.
- Audio as Art: Gina Colucci walked through how Leon Speakers treats sound as a design element, including moving art screens powered by Lutron's intelligent shade drives that conceal TVs behind custom artwork.
- Specifying for the Pacific Northwest: A panel with Cecilia Ramos of Lutron and Wipliance owner Lee Travis, working through three case studies and audience Q&A on light, climate, materials, and the region's contemporary-craft tradition.
Why the Panel Mattered
The Pacific Northwest panel earned its place as the day's closing session because the region asks something different from a lighting or shading plan. Overcast skies for months at a time change how you think about color temperature. Regional building materials change what a keypad or a shade fabric needs to look like next to them. Ramos and Travis used real case studies to walk through those decisions rather than speak in generalities, which is exactly the kind of detail that's hard to find elsewhere.
A Day Designed Around What Specifiers Don't Have Time For
Principal and director-level designers and architects rarely get an unhurried hour with the people who actually design and build the products they work with. Native by Design was built around giving them that hour, five times over, alongside peers who specify the same way they do.
Want an Invitation to Our Next Event?
Wipliance partners with Lutron and a rotating group of design-forward brands to bring these sessions to architects and interior designers across the region. If you'd like to be included in the next one, reach out to our team.
