Bill Gruen / Gruen Lighting
1952 Gruen Lighting Ad Gruen Lighting was founded in 1946 by Bill and Elaine Gruen. Bill's cousin was architect and shopping mall developer Victor Gruen. Here's a little about Bill Gruen from an article in a SCI Arc newsletter: Gruen spent his career working closely with architects and designers. After studying electrical engineering at New York University, he got his start at General Lighting Company in New York, where he worked with designers including Louis Danziger and Ladislav Sutnar. He was charged with overseeing the design of new architectural lighting fixtures. His cousin Victor Gruen—widely recognized as the inventor of the modern shopping mall—inspired him to move west in 1941, with the plan to expand his practice and engage with the growing modern design community of Southern California. In 1946, he and his wife Elaine founded Gruen Lighting in Encino, wh...
