Rogier van der Heide to Join Zumtobel Group as Chief Design & Marketing Officer

Courtesy the Zumtobel Group Rogier van der Heide

In a press release issued today, Sept. 15, the Zumtobel Group has announced that lighting designer Rogier van der Heide has been appointed Chief Design and Marketing Officer for the Zumtobel Group and its three brands– Thorn, Tridonic, and Zumtobel.

Ulrich Schumacher, CEO of the Zumtobel Group said, “Design is vital to all brands of the Zumtobel Group, and we have decided to embed design more than ever before in the Group's product creation processes. Consequently, we focus on solutions that take lighting much beyond illumination in every market segment. Rogier’s work demonstrates the fusion of technology, design and emotion to create lighting solutions with unique value for customers and end-users. We are very happy to win Rogier for this exciting position within the Zumtobel Group, and are very much looking forward to him joining our company soon."

Van der Heide has been a figure on the international lighting design scene for the past two decades working on a number of high-profile projects such as the Galleria West Shopping Center in Seoul, for which he received the International Association of Lighting Designer’s 2005 Radiance Award, the recently completed renovation of The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi. Prior to this move to the Zumtobel Group, for the past 4-1/2 years, van der Heide was vice president and chief design officer at Philips Lighting. Before that he served as Arup’s global leader of lighting. Throughout his lighting career, no matter the sector of the industry he has worked in, he has continued independent project work in entertainment and architectural lighting.

Van der Heide alluded to an upcoming change in an Aug. 3 blogpost -- “Thank you, Philips!” -- on his website. He wrote:

“After 4,5 years as the design leader of Philips Lighting it’s time for a change so I have resigned. Philips Lighting is a wonderful company where I learned a great deal, but I now believe the future of light is in a different direction…

It’s been a fantastic time, with big improvement in Philips Lighting’s product design, their approach to architects, a huge organizational change, many design awards but first of all an incredible team that was a privilege to lead. Henny, Oscar, Laura, Guillaume, Heleen, Dénis, Ellen, Bram and everyone in the core teams in Shanghai and Eindhoven such as Tomas, Long, Matt, Marko, Ramon and so many others: big big thanks for choosing to be in my team and for your huge contribution. Also, thanks to everyone else in Design in Philips Lighting: the lighting designers, the product designers, the graphic designers… The hundreds of creatives all across the company that made my time as your leader unforgettable. And last but not least, thanks to my ex colleagues in the Philips leadership: you believed in the change and in the way I shaped Design in Philips Lighting, and that was a daring choice for which I sincerely thank you very much.

What’s next? December 2014 I will start elsewhere… In lighting, of course… I will probably surprise you all again! Keep an eye on this page and soon you’ll be the first to know! And until then: a couple of very creative projects that I’d love to share with you over here as well. So, keep checking back every once in a while. In the meantime by all means feel free to contact me… I respond to the contact form on this website within a day or so.”

Van der Heide will start his new position at the Zumtobel Group on Dec. 1, 2014.