Happy New Year, 2025

Happy New Year and here's to a great 2025. Last year Melanie and I saw in the new year with fireworks in Edinburgh. The outdoor Hogmany celebrations were cancelled this year because of the weather but back home we were treated to a spectacular display of the Aurora on the North York Moors. What a fantastic way to welcome in 2025.

2024 was a particularly busy year for us and a very special one; 2024 was our twentieth anniversary. In March 2024, we were able to do something we've been working towards for a number of years. We became an entirely employee owned business with the sale of the company to an Employee Ownership Trust. It's a move that we believe establishes long-term security for the ownership of the business for the team. Rebecca marked her 10th year with Brilliant in 2024. Matt and Hayley aren't that far behind and Fran celebrated her fifth Brilliant birthday. We're incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated and talented group of people.

2024 was a busy year for projects

We've worked on some extraordinary projects this year. The run up to Christmas was the usual queue of projects all trying to finish at the same time but what set this year apart was the size of those projects finishing. We've finished or are finishing four of the largest projects we've worked on. We've been able to photograph some of them, we hope to be able to photograph more in 2025.

Not all our projects are enormous. In March 2024 we shot a lovely boathouse in the Lakes. One of our smallest projects in terms of size but beautifully done by our clients. We also had a real surprise when we received a load of super photos for a pool house for which we'd done the lighting design remotely. We've never been to site, although our client has come to us for design meetings. It was great to see it's turned out so well. You can see the photo case studies for both of these in the Related pages section below

In August most of the team were onsite installing curved electronic curtain tracks for a unique house built around an array of agricultural silos. We're really looking forward to photographing the house when it's finished in 2025.

What's new in 2025?

We'll be exhibiting at the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows at the NEC and Harrogate International Conference Centre. Mel's booked in to deliver a Masterclass sesssion at the NEC Homebuilding & Renovating Show in March.

We've secured our Lutron Diamond Dealer status for another year. Last year we were the only Diamond Dealer in the UK outside the South East. It's something we're very proud of and a special mention for Matt who has done an astonishing job with both Lutron's lighting control systems and their window treatments.

We've got some exciting developments coming down the tracks. That's all under wraps at the moment and we really can't talk about it. No target launch date yet; it'll be ready when it's ready. And finally, we'll have our new website; I know we said it was coming in 2024... It's now scheduled to go live on January 16th (it's slipped a couple of days). It's been a mammoth exercise but we're looking forward to it. Here's to a great 2025 and let's hope we get more displays like this as well.