HelenBilt

Known for her imagination and ability to look at a project from many angles, Helen Gifford brings a creative diligence to her work as a custom lighting designer. With each project, she aims to expand the core of the design sensibility and stretch the creative process. Motivated by fulfilling the needs of her clients, it's a process that followed upon her studies at Parson's School of Design and into the founding of her company, HelenBilt.

Gifford's captivating light sculptures grace such interiors as the Ritz Carlton, Beijing, the penthouse duplex in New York City's Hilton Hotel, San Diego's W Hotel, and the new W Fort Lauderdale, opening in March of 2009. Discerning clients Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz, and Darren Starr have commissioned her delicate work for their homes. Gifford's signature light sculptures—the Urchin and Concord—have been exhibited in the Hamptons on the East End of Long Island, where Gifford makes her home. The designer'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.

When asked to encapsulate her aesthetic, Gifford describes it as Industrial Beach™, a moniker she trademarked to describe the place where both raw and natural elements reign. The designer counts Gerhard Richter, DaDa, Marcel Duchamp, Charles Sheeler, Charles Demouth, and Georgia O'Keefe (pre-lilies and skulls) as influential, as well as the inimitable work of Alexander Calder and the life-changing work of Richard Serra. Gifford's plans for the next wave of her product designs include couture surfboards, a line of luxe nesting tables, and a collection of sumptuous textiles. She is completing her first book, which is slated for publication late next year.


T: 917.449.9677 E: helen@helenbilt.com	Site by: ThirdPerspective