:: URBAN lighting ::

Ron Rezek is a design entrepreneur. For over four decades, he has designed, manufactured and marketed cutting-edge products as varied as contemporary ceiling fans, lighting and lifeguard equipment. “Most designers don’t have the luxury of seeing their own projects through to the market,” says Ron. “I do.”

Ron is the founder of The Modern Fan Company, a manufacturer of contemporary ceiling fans. He designed the world’s first contemporary-styled ceiling fan in 1986. The Stratos continues to define 21st-century ceiling fan design. He was granted patents for the fan’s design and mechanics. Over the next several years Ron created a number of additional innovative fans. In 1997, Ron started The Modern Fan Company in Ashland, Oregon. The company develops and sells only contemporary ceiling fans. In 2005, Ron introduced six new ceiling fan designs, bringing The Modern Fan Co.’s collection to a total of 18.

Before his success with ceiling fans, Ron earned a reputation as a successful lighting designer. He started Ron Rezek Lighting in 1978 to modernize the decorative lighting industry. He maintained showrooms in Los Angeles and New York and produced the lighting in Culver City. In 2004, he sold the company to long-time partner, Artemide, and continues to design lighting for the collection.

In 1990, he established Highlights, a group of high-end lighting showrooms in Santa Monica, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami and Seattle. He designed each showroom to be a unique “gallery of lights” featuring the best in modern design.

As a graduate student at UCLA in 1970, he conceived of a new lifeguard rescue device using rotational molded polypropylene. He launched Surf-Saving International, a company to manufacture and distribute his float. The orange buoy is still the worldwide standard and became best known to viewers of “Baywatch” as the necessary accessory under the actors’ arms.

Ron’s designs reflect his philosophy of “simplicity in form and economy in production.” They attract a large following of precision-minded architects, interior designers, set designers and the design-conscious public. Ron learned directly from progressive designers, he had the good fortune of having Henry Dreyfuss, Charles Eames, Neils Different and Don Chadwick as teachers and mentors. As a student, he worked in the offices of Deborah Sussman and Frank Gehry. He has created designs for Bega lighting, Artemide, Herman Miller, Design Within Reach, Monarch Mirror, Del Rey Lighting, Halsey Lighting, Lavi Industries and others.

Ron received a B.A. and an M.F.A from UCLA. In his early career, he taught at UCLA’s art and architecture departments, the Art Center College of Design and Southern California Institute of Architecture. While continuing to teach, Ron participated in design exhibits where he translated his passion for simple design into modern light fixtures. In the 1980s, Ron’s leadership in lighting design earned him respect as a contemporary designer and he was invited to present his point of view to design communities across the U.S. and Europe.