People in Lighting: Luis Ginga

Luis Ginga - Schréder Iluminaçao
Luis Ginga
Communication Manager - Schréder Iluminação

Companies are defined by the people who work for them: for over a century, Schréder has been at the forefront of lighting thanks to its employees worldwide. Life@Schréder is where we tell the stories of the people who make Schréder what it is, taking in the 70 countries where we do business, diverse career trajectories and our collective dedication to excellence in lighting.


Schréder has a long and illustrious history in Portugal. From neo-Baroque Catholic shrines to smart city lighting that integrates electric vehicle charging points, we have worked with cities and villages all over the country to light their beauty spots. And we have a bright future, there too: we are playing our part in the fourth industrial revolution with Schréder-Hyperion, our smart city hub of excellence in Lisbon. 

Luis Ginga is a lynchpin of Schréder Iluminação in Portugal. For more than four decades, he has worked tirelessly to make the company what it is: from lighting and design studies, to setting up the communications department, he has helped the company go from strength to strength. We will miss his passion when he retires later this year.
 

I am what is currently known as an alfacinha de gema, born and raised in the city of Lisbon…

I started working at 17 and after four years in other sectors, I joined Schréder in 1979. In the beginning, I didn't really know what I was getting into and the main motivation was the salary. However, I quickly realised that I was in a different company to the others I had worked for: in both human and professional aspects, the level of demand was very high, but it encouraged me to want to be and do better.
 

I started in the applications department, and moved to communications in 2000…

I started in the applications department, helping with lighting and design studies, including mechanical drawings of the luminaires. Meanwhile, the importance of Communication was growing and when we created the Communication Service in Portugal, back in 2000, I was challenged to take on this task, which I still do today.
 

The role has changed…

Today, when people ask me what I do, I answer that I supply tools, designed with the customer in mind, to help our sales team fulfill its mission. In Portugal, with the precious help of our Group Communication Services, I do it all myself. Sometimes it’s hard, but after so many years, I should be able to do this fast!


When I started, our main communication was the telex machine; the internet has changed everything…

We used to do everything manually. The internet was a dream! I remember getting our first fax machine. I knew one of the first salesmen offering them in Portugal, and suggested investing in this exciting new technology. It was very exciting to see Mr. Pinheiro Torres, my boss at the time, getting a big surprise when this piece of paper came through with a picture. As an engineer, he was delighted.
 

Our customers have changed too…

There have been huge shifts in culture, with architects and lighting designers playing a bigger and bigger role in urban lighting. In the early 2000s, cities started to understand that it’s not just about lighting a space, it’s about what kind of equipment they use, the aesthetic, and we did a lot of projects responding to this huge demand for decorative luminaires.

Then, in the early 2010s, there was the LED revolution. A lot of companies just used the cheapest possible LED luminaires to reduce costs, which led to bright, cold LED lights, but from the beginning, we understood the importance of using different LED temperatures for health and comfort.
 

And we gave them what they wanted: our product range has transformed… 

When I started working in Portugal our range of luminaires was very small and it was mainly for road lighting. That all changed. In the 90s we worked a lot with our colleagues in the UK, Urbis Schréder, because they have a lot of classic designs for heritage projects. Together with Comatelec Schréder and the French designer Roland Jeol, we designed the Tage luminaire for the Vasco da Gama Bridge. Back in 2005, we worked with Pininfarina on the Francesca... And we've been working with architect Michel Tortel for decades, creating attractive luminaires for urban settings. 
In Portugal, we produced luminaires designed by some of our most important architects, such as Álvaro Siza Vieira, winner of a Pritzker in 1992.

Schréder developed the Tage to light the majestic Vasco da Gama Bridge 25 years ago


Schréder’s identity has evolved, as well…

I have an archive of all the catalogues since 1980, it’s ideal to see how our identity has evolved. At the beginning, each company just did what it wanted - every company in the group had a different design. There was no common layout for the different kinds of documents. For instance, in 1998, I made a brochure to promote all the Schréder projects connected with the Universal Expo in Portugal in 1998, and there were no Corporate rules for this - it was a nightmare from a branding perspective.

When you work in Communication, your first customer is the sales team. They are technicians, they speak to the customers for us, so when we make new communication tools we need to convince them first. Now we have the internet and social media, which is another great tool to showcase our products. I’m 65 but I sometimes have to show my younger colleagues how to set up a LinkedIn page!
 

We have an amazing range of projects…

Portugal was the first company in the Schréder Group to install the first complete LED lighting scheme for an entire town, Arraiolos. We lit Vasco da Gama, the longest bridge in Europe. For decades we’ve lit villages, towns, motorways, industrial and sports venues, saving vast amounts of energy. We also show these projects at their best: have an excellent photographer on retainer: we’ve worked with Vasco Vilhena since 1998 and he knows just how to capture lighting projects.

Schréder delivered the lighting for Arraiolos, the first Portuguese town to be fully lit with LED street lights


I love the buzz of trade fairs…

Although there are fewer and fewer, organising and participating in trade fairs is always a challenge loaded with stress, hustle and bustle and energy expenditure, but very stimulating because it is a very concrete goal. They often test our ability to solve unforeseen situations. We like to light the stand with our own luminaires to show our products, which is always quite a technical challenge.


I’m really proud of our showroom...

In the early 2000s, our building was completely renovated and a whole new floor was built. We reserved a 150m² space upstairs for our show room, so a very generous space. Although an architect was responsible for the renovation, from the beginning we wanted to do the showroom ourselves. I set up the whole showroom. Today, it might not be the most modern space, but after 20 years it’s still an attractive space, where we have most of our product ranges - and we have a lot!
 

And it all comes back to the customer…

In retrospect, many things have changed. Computers, internet and social media have radically changed the way we work and communicate, but one thing has never changed in Schréder's mind: the focus on the customer and the desire to contribute to the well-being of people and society in general. And that is being Schréder, or as we say in Portuguese: E isso é ser Schréder!

Connect with Luis on LinkedIn.