This Spring Break, Amplified and some of their collaborators made a pilgrimage to Scottsdale and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. Lutron invited them to see their innovative installation of Ketra’s lighting system. Wright, a pivotal 20th-century architect, built Taliesin West as his winter camp in 1937. The Desert Studio educated students through apprenticeship and hands-on learning. Located in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains, Wright blended organic architecture seamlessly with the topography, utilizing desert masonry and geometric forms, giving the structures a prehistoric grandeur. Negative space, natural light, and a reflecting pool further pierce the veil between the interior and exterior worlds. 

Lutron was honored to work on the UNESCO World Heritage site and National Historic landmark. They faced the challenge of replicating “lantern-lit” light, Wright’s vision, which he achieved through natural light, firelight, and low-wattage incandescents that echoed the spectrum of the desert landscape. Ketra was the perfect solution to deliver a consistent quality of color-matched light. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation also required that the installation not damage or alter the existing buildings or wiring infrastructure; they could not drill into the stone walls and the fragile vintage light fixtures needed special handling.  

Ketra’s wireless technology preserved Wright’s masterpiece for future generations to learn from while improving the visitor experience. The system provides 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. As Wright envisioned, Taliesin West’s organic architecture sits easily on the land, and Ketra illuminates its nuances. The Amplified team and their guests enjoyed seeing Lutron’s restoration of the World Heritage site firsthand and the replication of Wright’s “lantern-lit” light.  

We think of Lutron Electronics as a technology-driven company, but its co-founder, Joel Spira, was equally fascinated by aesthetics and how light affected mood. In 1959, the young physicist worked from a spare bedroom in his Manhattan apartment and developed the solid-state dimmer. He called his invention Capri and aimed his marketing efforts toward women, not electricians. Spira repurposed the original elegant gold package displaying the Lutron logo and verbiage from an overrun of perfume boxes. With a turn of the Capri knob, the homeowner could light up, mimicking bright sunlight, or light down to imitate the flicker of romantic candlelight. 

The idea was radical then; residential lighting control didn’t exist. It was limited to theaters and stage lighting because it required expensive, bulky rheostats that wasted energy and were challenging to install. Lutron’s family of offerings grew, and from their Pennsylvania headquarters, Spira developed a litany of lighting controls that integrated into a home’s design, providing functionality while highlighting architectural details.

In 1971, he introduced Nova, the first linear slide dimmer. In 1989, Lutron followed this with RanaX, the first infrared remote control dimmer. The next evolution was the 1990 NeTwork, the first whole-home lighting control system. Later, network-style dimming products ensued, including the customizable GRAFIK Eye in 1993 and the RadioRA in 1997, which operated wirelessly using radio frequencies. In the late ’90s, Lutron added HomeWorks, which became the industry standard for residential lighting control. With the addition of automated shades, the company controlled solar lighting and electricity.

Lutron was always a family business; Sprira co-founded the company with his wife, Ruth Rodale Spira. Mrs. Spira handled Lutron’s marketing efforts, including the “dial-up romance” ad campaigns for the Capri. The company expanded its offerings to encompass window shading systems and energy-conscious devices. But Spira was always remembered for pioneering the dimmer. When he passed away in 2015, his New York Times obituary stated he “changed the ambiance of homes around the world and encouraged romantic seductions of all types.” His wife died in 2019.

Today, Spira’s daughter, Susan Hakkarainen, is Chairman and CEO of Lutron Electronics. She started as an engineer with a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and a PhD in Applied Plasma Physics from MIT. She soon went on to international assignments and more senior roles. Sharing her mother’s aptitude for marketing, she became CMO. As Chairman and CEO, Hakkarainen continues Lutron’s commitment to world-class quality and service standards and promotes its position as the leader in smart lighting and shading control solutions. Her philanthropic endeavors include serving as a Trustee of the Asia Society, on the Advisory Board of The Wolfsonian–FIU, and as a former Trustee of Pratt Institute.