Named after the speed of light, 299 was built from the bootstraps up by husband and wife team, James and Marcela.
Late nights around the kitchen table, fuelled by curry, beer and gritted determination, saw them begin to shape their promise of a company that would channel every ounce of their passion and expertise into delivering their clients’ vision. The promise of beautiful lighting design and products, delivered with progressive thinking. Inspirational, fresh, bold.
At this time, James had worked in the lighting industry for 10 years, and Marcela had spent 7 years working across Europe, driving high-growth for a performance cycling brand. With their combined experience, they knew they could offer something different, something better.
So, with no business plan (and no hotel room in sight), off they went to the Light & Building Show, Frankfurt, 2008 — hitting the ground running. The event opened their eyes to some of the most exciting lighting products and design they had ever seen. And they could see their vision of bringing dynamic, innovative commercial lighting systems to the UK becoming a reality.
Their journey from start-up to scale-up has been littered with challenges — stock kept on the top floor of their house; endless nights and early starts to safeguard tight project timescales. But their hard graft has paid off and now, over 15 years later, their founding spirit is seen in everything they do. Pouring passion into every project, big or small. Delivering the vision, and more.
