Suzan Tillotson Receives Global Lifetime Achievement Award at LIT Design Awards in Paris
PARIS — Suzan Tillotson, Founder and President of Tillotson Design Associates, received the 2025 Global Lifetime Achievement Award at the LIT Design Awards in Paris. It was a special honor for your humble editor to present the award in recognition of Suzan’s extraordinary contributions to the lighting profession. Below are her acceptance remarks.
“First of all, thank you to LIT and to the jury for this incredible recognition. I’m truly honored. Receiving a lifetime achievement award is a little surreal for me because in many ways, I still feel like I’m learning about lighting every day.
I’m always looking around. It’s never boring. When I began my career, I was drawn to lighting because it fits in the intersection of so many things I love: architecture, nature, travel, storytelling, and human connection. I’ve learned that lighting is about how things make us feel, how we experience a moment and how we connect to one another and the world around us.
No meaningful work is ever done alone. This recognition belongs as much to the extraordinary architects, designers, and artists that I have the privilege of working with as it does to me.
It also belongs to my incredible team of design associates, whose creativity, dedication, and passion, I have been fortunate to witness, and who I work alongside of every day.
To sustain me throughout this journey is curiosity. Curiosity, and about places I go, people I meet, cultures, and about what light can reveal, what it can transform and what it can influence.
It’s a really powerful profession. As honored as I am to receive this reward, what excites me most is where our profession is headed. Throughout my career, I have seen lighting design evolve into a much-needed discipline that plays an increasingly important role in shaping how we experience architecture, landscapes, and one another.
The opportunities for designers today are broader than ever, and I am inspired by the passion, thoughtfulness and purpose that the next generation is bringing to our field. I’ve spent my entire career working at something intangible. Yet the experiences it helps create, can stay with people for a lifetime, especially with LEDs now.
Knowing that our work can contribute to those moments has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. Thank you also to my friends, my family, my husband, and everyone who has helped me and who has been a part of this remarkable journey. Thank you again to it. I’m so excited to be here in Paris, celebrating with so many talented. members of our global lighting community. Thank you.”
Go Deeper: Suzan Tillotson Receives LIT Lifetime Achievement Award