Agence 8'18''

What Agence 8'18'' does

Agence 8'18'' is a French architectural and urban lighting design consultancy founded in 2007 in Paris by partners bringing 35 years of combined lighting expertise. The firm operates as a "concepteur lumière," delivering bespoke lighting design services across museums and cultural institutions, scenography and exhibitions, urban master plans, public infrastructure, and select hospitality/retail environments. The agency's core capability is the design of light environments that integrate natural and artificial light with architectural intent — from precise museum color rendering and conservation-grade illumination to programmable urban landmarks and immersive digital scenography (e.g., the Grand Palais dynamic skylight and the Hôtel de la Marine). Its technology stack consists of human design expertise rather than proprietary software or hardware; it competes on artistic sensibility, technical rigor, and a 100-project portfolio including Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Sagrada Familia Passion Facade, Musée d'Orsay, the BNF Richelieu rehabilitation, and Lascaux IV.

The business model is fee-based professional services: revenue is generated from project commissions won through architectural competitions, direct institutional engagements, and framework agreements (notably a long-term "accord cadre" with the Établissement Public des Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie covering both museums' overall lighting strategy). Customer segments span French national and municipal cultural institutions, public infrastructure clients (Société du Grand Paris, transit stations), private hotel/retail groups (Mama Shelter, Samaritaine, Samsung), and religious/heritage non-profits (Sagrada Familia foundation). The go-to-market is direct enterprise sales with no intermediary distribution, supported by a website portfolio, a seasonal newsletter (34 issues since 2017), and earned media coverage in architecture publications.

Agence 8'18'' operates from four offices — Paris (headquarters, 75012), Marseille, Madrid, and Shanghai (managed by Associé Georges Berne) — with active projects recorded across France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, the UK, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, the UAE, Oman, China, South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and the United States. The firm is privately held, with no disclosed external investors, parent company, or funding rounds; ownership and senior leadership rest with five Associés (Claire-Lise Bague, Rémy Cimadevilla, Georges Berne, Emmanuelle Sébie, Sophie Mariaud, Loris Tretout). In 2021, the firm co-developed an Executive Master in Light Engineering at Université Libre de Bruxelles with specialist consultancy Radiance 35, formalizing an academic role in shaping the European lighting-design talent pipeline.

Name

Agence 8'18''

Legal name

Agence 8'18''

Website

https://8-18lumiere.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Agence 8'18'' is a Paris-based lighting design consultancy founded in 2007 that delivers bespoke architectural, museographic, scenographic, and urban lighting projects for cultural institutions, public infrastructure, and select private developers across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Lighting Design Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (54141)

akta.pro primary industry

Lighting Design Services (BPAHAKAJ)

Keywords

• Architectural lighting design
• Museum lighting design
• Scenography lighting
• Urban lighting planning
• Landscape lighting design

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Professional Services – Lighting Design Consultancy: Fees generated from lighting design commissions on architectural, urban, muséographic, and scenographic projects. Projects span cultural institutions, public infrastructure, retail/hospitality, and public space/urbanism. Revenue is project-based, with some long-term framework agreements (e.g., with government cultural institutions).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Agence 8'18'' is a professional lighting design consultancy (concepteur lumière) delivering bespoke lighting design services for architectural, museographic, scenographic, urban, and landscape projects. The agency serves cultural institutions, public infrastructure bodies, hotel groups, retail clients, and property developers from offices in Paris, Marseille, Madrid, and Shanghai, working alongside architects, scenographers, and urban planners from concept through construction oversight.

Product overview

Agence 8'18'' is a professional lighting design agency (concepteur lumière) providing specialized services in architectural, museum, scenography, urban planning, and landscape lighting design. The agency does not offer discrete software or hardware products; instead, it delivers bespoke lighting design services and expertise across diverse project categories including museums and exhibitions, art and cultural spaces, institutions, architectural lighting, urban planning and landscape, commercial and hospitality, and competitive design studies. The agency's offering is organized around the expertise of its team of light designers who collaborate with architects, scenographers, urban planners, and other stakeholders to create lighting solutions for projects ranging from iconic cultural institutions to public urban spaces.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Lighting Design Consultancy Services Bespoke lighting design services covering architectural, museographic, scenographic, urban, and landscape lighting. Delivered for cultural institutions, public infrastructure bodies, hotel groups, retail clients, and property developers, from concept through construction oversight, across offices in Paris, Marseille, Madrid, and Shanghai.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ completed projects across France, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers26 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Radiance 35notableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Co-developed and co-taught an Executive Master in Light Engineering program (400 hours) at the Faculté d'Architecture La Cambre Horta, Université Libre de Bruxelles, with 8'18'' Associé Georges Berne and Radiance 35 founder Isabelle Corten serving as program developers. The program covers light design at all scales from scenography to urbanism, natural and artificial light, and technical and artistic dimensions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Fisher Marantz Stone: New York-based lighting design studio renowned for museum, civic and high-end architectural commissions. Comparable boutique scale and similar reliance on cultural and institutional clientele.
• L'Observatoire International: New York- and Paris-based architectural lighting design firm specializing in museums, high-end retail and cultural institutions. Closest direct competitor to Agence 8'18'' in caliber of clientele, project type and geographic footprint.
• Speirs + Major: UK-based architectural lighting design consultancy with a comparable practice across heritage, cultural, transport and urban masterplans. Similar boutique-with-prestige positioning and project-by-project competition-led GTM.
• Lighting Design Partnership (LDP): London-headquartered specialist lighting design consultancy with comparable work in museums, transport interchanges and urban environments. Direct peer in practice model and client mix.
• Office for Visual Interaction (OVI): International architectural lighting design firm with a parallel niche in cultural, civic and commercial projects. Comparable specialist practice competing for similar high-prestige briefs.
• Licht Kunst Licht: German architectural lighting design practice working across museums, public realm and urbanism. Same niche and competition-led GTM, with strong European institutional client list.
• Bartenbach: Austria-based lighting design and research firm working across architecture, urban and museum scales with strong European government and cultural-institution reference list — directly comparable on practice scope and academic/research overlay.

Emerging players

• Ramboll StudioHive (formerly !ndigo): Specialist lighting design consultancy now part of Ramboll, focused on architectural and urban lighting in the UK/Europe. Comparable practice model but with engineering-firm backing.

Broad incumbents

• Arup Lighting: Lighting design practice within global engineering firm Arup. Overlaps directly with 8'18'' on cultural and infrastructure projects but offers scale, multi-disciplinary engineering and global delivery that a 23-person boutique cannot match.

Regional players

• Light Cibles: France-based architectural lighting design firm. Same domestic market as 8'18'' with overlapping competition-driven bids on French cultural and public infrastructure projects, but no disclosed international footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/agence-8-18
• Instagraminstagram.com/818lumiere

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Agence 8'18''