Biography
Vogue International editor Suzy Menkes described lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus as “the man who is making the City of Light live up to its name. The designer is the master of the soft glow, bright beams and laser lines. Dreyfus may be an artist with light, but he is too modest to give himself that title."
Dreyfus’ impressive runway CV includes lighting shows for Dior Homme, Helmut Lang, Calvin Klein , Sonia Rykiel, Chloé, Marni and Jil Sander to Saint Laurent’s retrospective “Haute couture” show. He has worked consistently with Ann Demeulemeester from 1989 onwards.
In 2002, Dreyfus founded his own company, Eyesight, which in 2019 raised about €5 million in investment from BNP Paribas in return for a 29 percent stake in the business, valuing it at around €18 million. As of 2019, the company has a team of 14 in Paris, 7 in New York and 2 in Milan. However, Dreyfus still refuses to do more than two shows per day in order to focus intensely on each job.
Dreyfus’ commissions are not limited to shows; for example, in 2005 he was tasked with lighting the reopening of the Grand Palais in Paris. To do so he believed he had to “make people dream.” In 2006 made lights of fire in the fountains of the Château de Versailles, as well as creating an 80m high ladder for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France for La Nuit Blanche. He was commissioned by Starwood to imagine specific and contextual light installations for the façades of Le Méridien in Shanghai and San Francisco.
Dreyfus has developed his work for the social media age, telling BoF that “Instagram makes up 60 to 65 percent of a fashion show’s raison d’être."