In Episode 2 of Uplight with Accents Lighting, Dave Sloan sits down with longtime friend Craig Climperance of Dower Manufacturing to share a perspective contractors don’t always hear: the manufacturing side of the landscape lighting industry. Craig shares his 40-year journey from working in an electrical supply warehouse to launching his own company and eventually developing and manufacturing his own line of lighting fixtures.

The conversation covers the shift from halogen to LED, integrated versus drop-in fixtures, how growing landscapes affect lighting design, and what contractors should consider when choosing long-term products. Craig also takes listeners behind the scenes of how a new fixture goes from an idea and an engineering drawing to a custom mold and finished product. Along the way, Dave and Craig talk candidly about entrepreneurship, customer relationships, learning from failure, and why manufacturers need to actually listen to the contractors using their products in the field.

In the first episode of Uplight with Accents Lighting, we sit down with Dave Billick of Twilight Designs in Las Vegas for a candid conversation about more than two decades in the landscape lighting business. From Dave’s early days working with Accents Lighting and moving from Chicago to Las Vegas at just 19, to building his own company and becoming a respected voice in the industry, the two longtime friends look back on how their businesses and the lighting industry itself have evolved.

They talk about the importance of collaboration, getting involved in industry organizations, how professional awards can help push the industry forward, and the dramatic transition from halogen to LED lighting. They also cover the realities of maintaining outdoor lighting systems, why even great installations need attention over time, and why choosing quality fixtures and designing for the long haul matters as much as the latest technology. It’s an inside conversation between two professionals who have spent decades learning the business, challenging each other, and figuring things out along the way.