How We Got Here
Chris Apfelstadt started Light Up Columbus in 2006 as a one-truck landscape lighting operation in Dublin, Ohio. He'd spent the previous several years working in landscape design and had become convinced that outdoor lighting was the most undervalued and most poorly-executed part of nearly every project he saw.
His theory was simple: in Central Ohio, there was almost no one doing outdoor lighting as a design specialty. There were lots of landscapers who installed lights as a side service, lots of electricians who would run wire wherever you told them, and a handful of national franchises that treated installation as a commodity. But there wasn't anyone treating it as a craft.
That's what Light Up Columbus was built to be.
Two decades later, we've completed over 1,500 installations across Central Ohio. Won AOLP Best of Show twice — in 2024 and 2025. Trained dozens of designers and installers. Built a maintenance program that now keeps installations from a decade ago looking like the day they finished.
Chris currently serves as Vice President of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals — the national industry body — and our team is the only outdoor lighting company in Central Ohio with multiple ILLI-certified designers, multiple CLVLT-certified technicians, and a manufacturer-authorized dealership with Gemstone Lights.
We've grown. The work hasn't changed.
Light is Architecture, Not Decoration
The mistake most outdoor lighting makes is treating itself as decoration — as a thing you add on top of a finished property. The result is the lighting equivalent of stuck-on shutters: visible, obvious, and not actually doing anything.
Real outdoor lighting design treats light as architectural. It's another structural element of the property, like landscaping or hardscape, that has to be planned, scaled, and executed with the same care as everything else.
Done well, it's invisible as a thing and obvious as an effect. You don't see the fixtures. You see the home it's lighting.
That's the philosophy behind every Light Up Columbus install.
There's a Difference Between the Lighting Industry and the Lighting Craft
The industry is enormous. Big-box stores, manufacturer reps, franchise operators, drop-shippers selling fixtures that fail in three years. Most of it operates at the speed and scale of construction — quick installs, thin margins, no follow-up.
The craft is small. A few hundred people in North America, maybe, who treat outdoor lighting as a design discipline that takes a decade to learn and a career to master. People who know which fixtures fail in which conditions. Who understand how light renders different materials at different temperatures. Who can walk a property in daylight and tell you what it'll feel like at 9pm in October.
Light Up Columbus is built around the craft, not the industry. That's why our designers are credentialed and our crews are W-2 employees. It's why we maintain installations from 15 years ago. It's why we wrote the Lighting Book — to share what we know with anyone who needs it, whether they hire us or not.
If you're looking for the cheapest install on the block, we're not it. If you're looking for an install that still looks like an install in 2040, we're the right team.
Who You’ll Actually Meet
Chris Apfelstadt
Founded Light Up Columbus in 2006. Current Vice President of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals. International Landscape Lighting Institute certified. Certified Low Voltage Lighting Technician — one of approximately 133 in North America. Featured in Authority Magazine, the Lighting for Profits Podcast, and the Lighting Coach Podcast. Two-time AOLP Best of Show winner (2024, 2025).
Ellen McLauren
Ellen is the glue that holds LUC together. She is our office manager and is often the first voice clients hear on the phone when they call. Ellen has worked with Light Up Columbus since 2022 and continues to help us improve every day. She helps her husband manage his Dublin based company, Edgework Landscaping.
Jacob Robinson
Jake is our longest tenured employee having worked with LUC since 2020. Throughout his career in lighting, Jake has done it all starting as a field lighting technician, advancing to a team leader, and settling in as a lighting designer. Jake is passionate about our mission “We bring joy through light” and loves designing holiday, landscape, and gemstone lighting. Jake and his bride Ashley live in Sunbury with their dog Bandit.
Tommy Faulkner
If Ellen is the glue, then Tommy is the oil that keeps our machine running smoothly. As Director of Field operations, Tommy schedules installations, manages workflow, organizes materials, and oversees the teams working in the field. From his first day on the job, Tommy showed an incredible mechanical aptitude with tremendous problem solving acumen. When no one else can figure out a challenge, Tommy will be able to discern the right solution. He lives in Mt. Gilead with his partner and their 1 year old daughter.
Justin Robinson
Justin (or “red” as his friend call him) has worked at LUC since 2023. He runs a holiday installation crew and is one of our most experienced technicians on the Landscape Lighting side. Just has steadily grown his knowledge base and leadership skills over the years and is proficient at trouble shooting and fixing existing systems as well as installing new ones. LUC is a family affair, Justin and Jacob are brothers.
Brody Matthews
Brody is one of the youngest members on our full time team but immediately proved himself to be incredibly capable. After his first year working with Tommy, Brody was ready to run his own crew and has become the company expert in Gemstone Permanent Lighting. In the winter of 2025, Brody and his team set record for the most revenue generated for a holiday season and the most completed in a single week. He is fast but also extremely careful and has been named in many of our 5-star google reviews. Brody and his fiance live in Sunbury and are expecting their first child in fall of 2026.
Scott
Scott is our newest full time employee but is not to be underestimated. He picks up technical skills faster than anyone we have employed and never has to be told how to do something twice. He was the key member of Bordy’s record breaking team in 2025 and looks to run his own holiday team for the 2026 season.
Recognized Work
Awards and credentials don't make the work better. But they tell you that other professionals — peers, jurors, industry bodies — have looked at this team's work and decided it's worth recognizing.
Industry awards
- AOLP Best of Show 2024
- AOLP Best of Show 2025
- Multiple AOLP Award of Excellence honors across categories and years
Professional credentials
- Chris Apfelstadt — Vice President, Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP)
- International Landscape Lighting Institute (ILLI) — Certified designers on staff
- Certified Low Voltage Lighting Technicians (CLVLT) — On staff
- Authorized Gemstone Lights Dealer
- AOLP Member Firm in good standing since 2009
Featured in
- Landscape Management Magazine
- Pro Landscaper USA
- Landscape Architect Magazine
- Authority Magazine
- Lighting for Profits Podcast
- Lighting Coach Podcast
- OPE+ Magazine
As Featured In
Local Roots
Light Up Columbus was founded by a Dublin native and resident in 2007. We employ 20+ Central Ohio residents. We work with local suppliers, partner with local landscapers and contractors, and have lit some of the public spaces that define this region's identity — from the Short North to municipal parks across the region.
We're also active in industry mentorship. Chris regularly speaks at AOLP conferences, is featured on industry podcasts, hosts apprentices through ILLI's certification program, and writes for industry publications on lighting design and business operations.
