Mr. Zanolli was inspired by his father’s stories from a very young age. Zack’s father was a navigator, and would describe night flying through the Arctic over a calm sea, surrounded by the northern lights and a starry sky with no horizon to tell up from down. Imagining light became a kind of storytelling for him. Zack also discovered the magic of light in photography darkrooms of the pre-digital, analog era.

Zack studied music and theater at the Universities of Nebraska and Oklahoma; and found freelance lighting work in theater, dance and opera in New York, Washington DC and Santa Fe, with international design experience gained at the Spoleto, Edinburgh, Israel and Melbourne festivals. His introduction to architectural lighting design began over drinks at the Kennedy Center with a young Charles Stone. Charles had just moved to New York for a new job and offered Zack a “little auditorium project” that started a five-year adventure in architectural and art lighting at the original Jules Fisher and Paul Marantz, Inc. From that invaluable experience, Zack moved on to become Lighting Director at the Metropolitan Museum for 13 Years until 2003 when he returned to FMS.

Zack enjoys all things analog, which in recent years includes carpentry, repair of antique clocks, and bowling.

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