Lighting Designer Nathan Orsman's Debut Monograph 'Light' Arrives in September

Nathan Orsman, a leading lighting designer, is set to release his debut monograph, 'Light', published by Rizzoli, in September. The book features projects by influential architects and interior designers, including Kelly Behun, Steven Gambrel, and Jean-Louis Deniot, and includes personal reflections on his work. Orsman, who leads the 50-person team at Orsman Design, with studios in New York, the Hamptons, and Miami, is known for his philosophy that darkness is as important as light. He states, 'Anyone can light something up, but darkness is what creates interest.' His approach involves imagining a room in complete darkness and then selectively adding light. Reinaldo Leandro, cofounder of Ashe Leandro, praises Orsman's alignment with their sensibility of not overlighting, using ambient and indirect illumination to enhance art and mood. For a New York townhouse designed by Ashe Leandro for an art-world couple, Orsman created a lighting scheme for a collection featuring works by Simone Leigh and Adolph Gottlieb, using a warm, restrained wash of amber-toned illumination. Orsman's team studies glare, contrast, color temperature, and sight lines to achieve balance. He credits his mother's advice about the three essentials for a successful dinner party—background music, interesting people, and thoughtful lighting—as a guiding principle. The article originally appeared in the 2026 Fall Issue of Galerie Magazine under the headline 'Guiding Light.'