Mark Sutton Vane

Mark Sutton Vane is an English architectural lighting designer.

Vane was born in London, England, and studied architecture at the University of Westminster. He then started work at the Laserium in the London Planetarium. Here he used a visual synthesiser to perform laser light shows to music. He created new shows for the public and private shows for musicians such as Kate Bush and Jean Michel Jarre.

In 1989, Vane moved into architectural lighting design. He worked for two lighting design practices before starting Sutton Vane Associates in 1995. Sutton Vane Associates has grown to become a respected lighting design practice. It has lit churches, cathedrals, retail environments, commercial projects, leisure attractions, offices and hotels all over the world. Sutton Vane wrote the initial lighting strategy for the Park and Public Realm Aspects of the 2012 Olympics, and regeneration schemes in Portsmouth and Liverpool. The practice lit HMS Victory; National Museum of Ireland; National Museum of Saudi Arabia; “The First Emperor - China’s terracotta army” at the British Museum; The Roundhouse and Sheffield’s Sheaf Square.

Examples of the practice's emphasis on sustainable lighting include its scheme for the Museum of Country Life in Ireland. Sutton Vane was the lighting consultant for the London Eye and in 2001 lit St Paul's Cathedral in red light for World Aids Day, featured on the front cover of The Lit Environment by Derek Philips.

Light magazine ranked Sutton Vane Associates as one of the top 10 UK architectural lighting consultancies and ranked both Portsmouth and Liverpool in its top 10 best-lit cities. The practice has won many awards including:

Sutton Vane has lectured at ARC 07, Cityscape 2008 Conference, Euroluce and Milan 2007. He also writes articles and gives classes on lighting design all over the world.

Mark Sutton Vane is a grandson of Sutton Vane, the noted playwright.