Meet Helen

British born, Brunei and Montreal raised, and a US resident, Helen founded her company HelenBilt after graduating from Parson’s School of design in 2000.

Known for her imagination and ability to look at a project from many angles, she brings a creative diligence to her work as a custom lighting designer. With each project, Helen aims to expand the core of the design sensibility and stretch the creative process to encompass both the European and American design culture, while expressing her global travel and living experience.

When asked to encapsulate her aesthetic, she describes it as the place where raw + natural elements and luxe modernity reign. 

The designer counts art as most galvanizing, as Helen is well known for designing lighting that lives with venerable and revered collections. Influential for her have been the DaDa movement and Marcel Duchamp, as well as the life-changing work of Richard Serra. 

Gifford's signature light sculptures—the Urchin, Concord, and Vidro Series—are designed, built, and curated in Sag Harbor on the East End of Long Island, where Helen makes her home. 

HelenBilt’s work has also been featured in national publications, such as Interior Design, Metropolitan Home, House and Garden, and The New York Times, and internationally with Architectural Digest (France), MAP Magazine (Australia), in addition to shelter magazines in Germany, Greece, and Holland.