For Amplified Lifestyles’ principal Casey Webster his eighteen-year career in the home electronics industry has made him committed to the client experience. It is a philosophy that Casey shares with the other managing partners. While Amplified is always searching for the latest integrated system technologies and solutions, the team and their dedication to customer service make the company unique.

AL: What drew you into the world of home technology?

CW: I wouldn’t say I was drawn to the world of home technology. Honestly, I fell into the industry without any knowledge or expectations, just a need to put myself through college. My roommate worked at Starbucks next to an electronics store, and one day while waiting for her to get off, I filled out an application to pass the time. The funny thing is when they called to offer me a job; I initially turned it down. It was summertime, and I was too busy being a “College Student” enjoying the San Diego weather. Later in the year, I got another call requesting I reconsider their employment offer, and this time the timing was right.

AL: Since you have experience in many facets of the industry, which do you enjoy most and why? Systems design, installation, or operations management?

CW: Customer service. I enjoy working with our customers and building partners to establish lasting relationships, solve problems, and create unique experiences.

AL: Can you elaborate on your mantra, “Flash and flare are fun, but at the end of the day, all that matters is if it works?“

CW: Many A/V companies get caught up wanting to say “Yes, we can do that” to win their clients. They jeopardize the reliability of aspects of home technology used 99% of the time for the one-off use case. Often less is more. 

AL: What have been the challenges and opportunities that you have found as a partner at Amplified Lifestyles?  

CW: The biggest challenge is also our greatest opportunity. Before starting Amplified, I founded another home technology company still operating in Southern California today. That experience opened my eyes to the biggest problem in our industry, and I was one of them, “The AV Guy”.

My second time around, I wanted to ensure I built a Team for our clients to outlast any individual. Everyone experiences life changes; your home technology’s serviceability shouldn’t hinge on whether your “AV Guy” decides to move out of state or retire.

Intending to build a Team, I was fortunate to meet incredibly talented people early on with Jeremy McKenzie, Kevin Cook, and Tim Johnson. It was clear that restructuring Amplified with this Team as equal partners was the best way to put an end to “The AV Guy,”

AL: Who is your ideal client?

CW: My ideal client is someone who values our time and expertise. As the industry has evolved, the products we provide become more commonplace, and our true offering is our people.

AL: How would you define your work in three words?

CW: Creative, Controlled, Chaos

AL: How do you maintain a work/life balance?

CW: I think most people would say my work-life balance is out of balance, but I genuinely enjoy working. It’s not the work that is always enjoyable but seeing the results of your hard work is the reward. That being said, my family is my pastime, and having a flexible schedule to be a part of my children’s lives and experiences makes it all worth it.

AL: A skill you’re working on mastering?

CW: Parenting.

AL: What are three things you can’t live without?

CW: Friends, Family, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

AL: Who would it be if you could switch lives with someone for a day?

CW: I don’t have a particular person I would switch lives with, but I would love to experience the world in a different period in time. Time travel would be my superpower if I could have one; switching lives with someone from the distant past would be awesome.

Amplified Lifestyles is excited about the return of The San Francisco Fall Show after its absence during the Pandemic. What does electronics integration have to do with art and antiques? Amplified’s Senior Technology Advisor, Robert Gilligan, worked on the 2014 show, “The Rush of Gold: Precious Metals in Art & Antiques.” For the Opening Night Gala, the Grand Entry Hall at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavillon deftly juxtaposed the city’s past Gold Fever with its current digital gold rush.

Tom Klingerman of the New York and San Francisco Bay Area architectural firm Ike Kligerman Barkley designed a larger-than-life immersive spectacle. Six monumental 20-foot-high projection screens splashing videos of gold nuggets, gold watches, giant goldfish, and champagne bubbles greeted gala attendees. The architects and general contractors utilized existing metal towers combined with black drapes suspended from battens. The wood frame and shiplap panels were painted high gloss black with International Orange metal frames to match the Golden Gate Bridge. Robert was the man behind the curtain, or in this case, up in the rafters supervising the projectors. The event, which attracted 60 plus world-class antique dealers, sold various gilded art, antiques, and objects, including a six-pound gold nugget for $400,000.

This year marks the show’s 40th year and it runs October 13-16, 2022. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is the new beneficiary for the opening night gala on October 12th. While we do not know the design of the Ruby Red themed Grand Entry yet we have the names of the four designers selected for Designer Vignettes: David Oldroyd,ODADA; Emma Burns and Philip Hooper – Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler; Cathy Kincaid – Cathy Kincaid Interiors; Alex Papachristidis – Alex Papachristidis Interiors. We look forward to seeing the visions they create incorporating unique pieces from the show floor and elsewhere.

Amplified is always searching for the latest technological innovations for our clients and their homes. One of these is Ketra. The Austen-based firm, founded in 2009, delivers high-quality light that is flexible and adjustable, allowing for bespoke settings that gradually shift in color, temperature, and intensity to mimic the sun, making interiors feel seamlessly bathed in natural light. Lutron acquired the company in 2018, combining cutting-edge technology with painterly lighting. Ketra’s infinite High Def Palette of 16.7 million colors includes pastels, saturated hues, and high CRI whites spanning from 1,400K to 10,000K.

When Palm Desert’s historic mid-century Wave House needed restoration, Ketra provided the perfect lighting solutions. Designed by iconic Modernist architect Walter S. White, the residence showcases a futuristic undulating roof. The home suffered water damage and unfortunate past remodels, but Stayner Architects reinstated its 1950’s ambiance. They replicated the quality of light in the space through archival research discovering White’s vision of an internal glow for the house. Ketra technology was vital in matching the color temperature of the tungsten-based incandescent bulbs and the much cooler fluorescents available in 1955.

In addition to Ketra’s aesthetic attributes, because it can mimic sunshine, firelight, and moonbeams, it also has health benefits. Technology that emulates natural light helps regulate our body’s internal clock and circadian rhythm, boosting our immune system and sense of well-being. As we have spent more time indoors, especially during Lockdown, Ketra provides the full range of sunlight—crisp and bright during the day for working and soft and warm at night for relaxing.

Are you looking to improve your life quality or perhaps blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, day and night? Amplified Lifestyles has two Ketra experts on staff: Jessie Brady, Lighting Specialist, and Robert Gilligan, Senior Technology Advisor. For more information please contact Robert at robert.gilligan@amplifiedlifestyles.com.