And just like that, we somehow find ourselves in December with less than two weeks to go until Christmas! It’s a slight cliché but we genuinely don’t know where this year has gone. That said, a large part of this is due to the fact that, as a company, we’ve been so busy, it feels like we haven’t had chance to stop. Though that’s exactly what we thought would be a good idea to do now – by reflecting back on just exactly what we’ve been up to this year, as well as look ahead to what 2025 has in store.
Client Relationships
As a company that is proudly about its people and the relationships we form with our clients, perhaps the biggest highlight for me is how we’ve continued to nurture partnerships with long-term collaborators as well as create brand-new ones. We’ve been delighted to continue in our role as ETC’s exclusive representative for its architectural product line in the UK and Ireland. As a team, we all absolutely loved heading out to the States back in June to take part in the annual ETC workshop in Wisconsin. The facilities there are second-to-none and it was great to not only learn about their latest products, but also catch up with other UK dealers, chat with integrators and celebrate the company’s thriving innovation. Speaking of which, we were thrilled to see the ETC team over here officially move into their new state-of-the-art eco-building in London. This new base has over 35,000 square feet of floor space, larger demonstration spaces, a visualization suite and increased capacity for training, logistics, conferencing and more. We’ve been lucky enough to see it ourselves and can’t wait to show it to our clients.
Strengthening Our Team
I’m delighted to report that 2024 has seen us strengthen our already exceptional team. Earlier in the year, we announced the appointment of Simon Needle as Director of Special Projects. A prominent figure in the world of theatre lighting for over thirty years (indeed, I met him decades ago when I was working at Stage Electrics), he brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and connections and his strategic vision and leadership is allowing us to work in several exciting new markets. Similarly, we recently announced the appointment of Karoliina Helin as our In-House Architectural Lighting Designer. Having worked with Karoliina for many years now, it was a natural progression for her to join us full-time and her impact has been immediate – with our clients benefitting from her creative and technical skills.
Personal Highlights
Speaking to our team, their highlights from this year truly reflect the diverse nature of the buildings and markets that we work on. For Simon, he’s been busy working with performance venues up and down the country, ranging from the Royal Albert Hall to Theatre Royal Bath to the National Opera House in Wexford. Most of these venues he worked in for many years as a Production Electrician and is now returning to help provide them with intricate lighting solutions. For Karoliina, she’s particularly enjoyed working closely with the Birmingham ICC, as well as moving back to the UK to be part of the 3LR team. For our Business Development Manager Stuart, he’s proud to have worked with Vivedia to create a world-first in immersive crematorium services. This unique project saw him develop a lighting system to work in collaboration with video and audio, to create a ground-breaking immersive and bespoke environment; all of which is customer-defined to best celebrate their loved ones. For our Project Manager Sandra, she’s been supporting the team with all of their projects, in particular Shamley Farm which is one of a growing number of residential spaces we’re working on. What’s been so encouraging and inspiring across all the projects we’ve worked on is how more people than ever are truly realising the power and impact lighting can have and are embracing our own mantra of ‘lighting by emotion’. Moving into the new year, we will be continuing our work with the Royal Festival Hall as well as the National Theatre, Royal & Derngate Theatre, BP, Abbey Theatre Dublin and the Elvis Evolution – a brand-new immersive experience that’s set to open in May 2025.
Tradeshow Galore!
It’s also been a busy year for us on the tradeshow circuit, given we’ve attended PLASA London, PLASA Focus Leeds, ABTT, LiGHT Expo London as well as last week’s CSI Design Expo Europe. We had a brilliant time at each and every one, as these shows not only allow us to get to meet and know our dealers and integrators better but we’re also able to share our knowledge and expertise with those who may not be aware of our full breadth of service. We will also be returning to ISE in February next year and will be spending all four days out in Barcelona – hopefully see you there?
And Finally…
As you can tell, it’s been our busiest year yet and we feel incredibly fortunate to be working on such brilliant projects with such amazing people! What’s particularly important to us though is how, as we continue to grow as a company, we’re still driven by the power of the third light receptor and the importance of our emotional response to lighting. This point couldn’t be proved more vividly than at this time of year – one associated with happiness and good tidings – where we see an abundance of lights on display; all of which create that warm, joyful sensation that the festive season brings… With that in mind, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas to all those who celebrate and we look forward to what will be a very exciting twelve months ahead.
