In a new light

Light Wheels (above) and Wishes (below), light art designs by Ding Ping. Besides architecture lighting designs, Ding is involved in art lighting shows. Photos provided to China Daily

Gan Tian finds out there is a bright future in lighting design.

The construction of a hotel or shopping mall obviously requires architects, interior designers and landscape artists, but not many would include lighting designers in the list.

So, Ding Ping describes her job as one "few people know".

The 40-year-old is behind the LED of Beijing's Raffles City Shopping Mall and the cozy illumination of Shangri-La Hotel's lobby.

"Raffles City is young, powerful and modern, but Ritz-Carlton Hotel is traditional, quiet and elegant," Ding says.

"Consumers get their first impression from these buildings' lights."

Ding earned a degree in design management from the United Kingdom's Staffordshire University in the late 1990s. After that, she interned at professional lighting design consultancy group Lighting Design Partnership International (LDPi) in Edinburgh.

"It was a comparatively new industry then," she says.

"I could only study under a mentor or on my own."