CLAY PAKY OPENS U.S. OFFICE
Clay Paky S.p.A., the Italian company who is a world leader in the field of professional entertainment lighting, announces the formation of Clay Paky America, Inc.
Clay Paky America, Inc. will open its offices in Valencia, CA, a northern suburb of Los Angeles. Clay Paky also announces that Paul J. (P.J.) Turpin has been hired as CEO of the new corporation. P.J. comes to the company with a successful history of sales and management experience in the lighting industry.
“The idea was in the air for some time,” Pasquale Quadri, president of the parent corporation, says. “We carried out a detailed study of the American market, knowing that it is the driving force of a large part of the world economy. We carefully analyzed the market conditions, the type and quality of products being specified, the types of distribution channels needed, and the technical support expectations of the market. On the basis of this survey we moved on to the realization stage, which resulted in the formation of an operational office in the United States.”
Turpin discusses the current situation of the American economy, with particular reference to the professional lighting sector: “In the United States, Clay Paky has always been known for excellent quality and reliability. This is evidenced by the use of its products in large productions throughout the world. After several slow years the American market is showing strong signs of recovery, and now is the perfect time to launch a project as ambitious as Clay Paky America. This move sends a clear signal to the market that Clay Paky is committed to doing what is necessary to guarantee the success of its products in the U.S. Our mission is two-fold. The first is to offer top-quality products backed by first-class service and support. The second is to ensure that the current product line and product development both meet the needs and expectations of the market. The creation of a direct link between the US market and the factory in Italy assures this.”
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky's business manager for North and Latin America and joint creator of the Clay Paky America project, says: “The professional lighting sector is a driving force in America; there are so many important and prestigious international productions in the theatrical, musical, cinema and television spheres. Clay Paky has created Stage Profile Plus SV, the most sophisticated moving-body beam-shaper present on the market, with an exclusive and patented profiling system. The ‘Plus,’ together with the Stage Zoom 1200 SV effects projector and the Stage Color 1200 SV washlight, make up the triad of the ‘Silent Version’ family, the most silent line of moving body projectors in the world. These fixtures, together with the standard ‘non-silent’ versions, other moving-yoke projectors, and scanners, are the best investment for lighting companies for concerts, television, sporting events, corporate events and live events thanks to their superior optics and superb reliability.”
Architectural lighting is another large market sector that Clay Paky addresses quite well. “Clay Paky now has a very extensive range of products able to compete on every front in the architectural lighting sector. Clay Paky products for architectural lighting have been welcomed with great enthusiasm by American designers and end-users, both for the extent of the line; which includes spotlights from 50W to 1200W; and for the traditional optical quality of the fixture. The CP Color range of color-changers, the Display Line projectors for visual communications, the Point micro-projector line, and the Rain Spot 575, the first outdoor spot effects projector with an IP65 rating — are innovative offers of outstanding interest that open new horizons both for outdoor use and for the sectors of leisure, display and retailing or, as it is now called, archi-tainment.”
Clay Paky realizes that the United States market drives the world economy. Indeed, some of the most important world tours and concerts, most of the worlds largest theatrical and cinema productions, and the most advanced theme parks get their start in the U.S. The founding of Clay Paky America is not only intended to increase the market share in the USA, but also to give greater visibility to the brand at an international level.
Clay Paky America has been founded in the wake of other projects targeted to bring Clay Paky directly into international markets. Other offices currently in operation include Clay Paky France and Clay Paky UAE, both of which opened in the first half of 2002.
CLAY PAKY'S WORLDWIDE PRESENCE
Imagine a company whose cutting-edge products make regular appearances in theatres, clubs, concerts, ice rinks, television studios, and architectural installations. Now think of Clay Paky, whose automated luminaires are used in each and every one of these applications, from the Cirque du Soleil to the Bolshoi Ballet, from Le Petit Prince in Paris to Emporio Armani in Milan. Lighting designers around the globe turn to Clay Paky's extensive range of luminaires as they create memorable experiences with light!
CLAY PAKY ON STAGE
Clay Paky has enjoyed a long-term relationship with Cirque du Soleil and LD Luc Lafortune. Clay Paky products are found in the rigs for Cirque du Soleil's permanent shows, Mystère (24 Stage Scans), O (48 Stage Scans), La Nouba (24 Stage Scans) and Zumanity where ten Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus SV projectors add sparkle to the scenic design by Stephane Roy and evocative costumes by French fashion designer Thierry Mugler.
Clay Paky also tours with Cirque du Soleil, with six Super Scans in Saltimbanco and eight Super Scan Zooms in Quidam. The tour of Dralion, sponsored in-kind by Clay Paky, uses eight Stage Zoom 1200s and eight Super Scan Zooms to help create a mystical atmosphere where each color has its own meaning: blue for air, green for water, red for fire, and ochre for earth.
“Clay Paky lights have always given me the best results: perfect projection, great creative effects, and pure colors allow me to interpret the story according to the ideas I have in my head,” says Lafortune. “The effects formed by the background colors and gobos criss-crossing over the various elements of the set create an atmosphere that generates strong emotions in the spectator.”
For the World Music Awards at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo, sponsored by Prince Albert of Monaco, LD Simon Miles used 18 Clay Paky Super Scan Zooms and six Clay Paky Shadow QS-LTs to light a roster of stars including Celine Dion, the Spice Girls, U2, Backstreet Boys, Andrea Bocelli, Monica Naranjo, DJ Bobo, Aqua, and Mariah Carey) who performed either live or by a video link for 900 million television viewers in over 100 countries.
Miles mounted the Super Scan Zooms on two trusses to highlight the artists against the stage lighting. “During evenings like these in front of audiences of VIPs and tens of millions of spectators, it is fundamental that everything goes off perfectly. Clay Paky products have always offered high performance and, above all, the maximum in reliability,” says Miles. “I created a warm and seductive background for Mariah Carey, Monica Naranjo and Luis Miguel, while for Aqua, Tic Tac Toe, and DJ Bobo I concentrated more on discotheque effects.”
Six Shadow QS Long Throw followspot also helped, says Miles: “During the awards, I released all the power of the Shadows — and the other lights I had available — onto the stage, so that every single centimeter was lit. I wanted the artists' faces to be perfectly lit, so the close-ups captured their emotions.”
LD Jean Kalman used 100 Clay Paky CP Color 400s to light Le Petit Prince in Paris, France. Kalman aligned the 100 CP Color 400 units in five rows of 20 each on the stage's back wall. The colors are rear-projected on vast semi-transparent printed screens, which serve as backgrounds for different scenes. Among them, a languid desert sunset surrenders to the night; then dawn breaks through and the desert becomes a meadow, only to be transformed into an ice slide.
“The projection screens consist of five large 8.50m × 12.00m transparent screens, some of which are partially colored and overprinted with photographs,” says assistant LD Yves Caizergues. These screens descend parallel to each other on different levels, at a distance varying from one to five meters from the wall of 100 CP Color 400's. They absorb the rear-projected color, blend it with the surrounding light, throwing back the exceptional “paintings of light.”
Clay Paky is also on stage with Celine Dion in her new show, A New Day, at the 4,000-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where LD Yves Aucoin used 60 Stage Profile Plus SV fixtures in his rig. Aucoin saw this show as a new challenge: “We needed a more theatrical approach, unlike lighting designs used for Celine's concerts in the past,” he says. “This is an extremely varied design, full of special effects and movement: I took time to study Celine's tracks and gave my own interpretation. I wanted to give the light a ‘personality,’ making it an integral part of the theatrical performance.”
London's Royal Albert Hall recently chose 10 Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus SV fixtures as part of an update to its lighting system (these were added to the already-installed 10 Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200s). As Mark Jones, the Hall's senior technical show manager, explains: “We did extensive research into all the lighting companies. We chose Clay Paky's Stage Profile Plus SV because, to start with, it is incredibly silent.”
CLAY PAKY ON TELEVISION
The new edition of the Italian television series Ciao Darwin stretched the imagination to the limit: Mediaset's Studio 20 in Cologno Monzese reflects the program's fantastical character, where everything — protagonists, games and “journeys through time” — is over the top. The studio consists of a central stage for contestants; behind the proscenium, a double staircase emerges from a surreal landscape.
The rig for Ciao Darwin includes 16 Stage Profile Plus SVs fitted on an 8m diameter batten overhead. These units give the show a sense of movement with multi-shaped graphic projections. The proscenium has 15 Stage Zoom 1200s (on the inside) and 14 Mini Scan HPEs (on the outside). In addition, 27 Stage Zoom 1200s and six Stage Color 1200s are fitted on the circular batten which is 4m in diameter, and 16 Stage Light 300s are on the opposite proscenium, with another six Stage Zooms for back lighting.
CLAY PAKY ON ICE
The St. Petersburg Times Forum, home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, has installed four Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 moving-yoke fixtures, positioned on a yoke truss over center ice, for use in sports events and music concerts, including a recent performance by Aerosmith. In every application, the Clay Paky equipment has performed flawlessly.
“The Forum demo'd every piece of equipment imaginable through us,” explains Adam Vidaurri, branch manager for Stage Equipment and Lighting's Tampa Bay office. “It was apparent Clay Paky simply outshined the competition.” Head electrician and lighting designer at St. Pete Times Forum, Andy Lalewicz, adds, “It truly is a very bright spotlight. I'm also astounded with the accuracy and punch of these fixtures — they really enhance the ‘in-game’ experience.”
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus utilized the venue over the summer. “It gives them a very flexible lighting system that can be used for every type of event they do, from sports to music and other performances,” says Vidaurri.
Clay Paky fixtures are also installed at the Ice Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the rig over the ice includes 24 Golden Color 1200s, 14 Golden Spot 1200s, and four Shadow QS-LTs. Events here range from rock stars on tour to ice shows organized by the champion ice-dancing couple Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas who now have a great venue right in their home town.
CLAY PAKY ADDS ALLURE TO ARCHITECTURE
At Luminale, a special lighting event in Frankfurt, Germany, a “path of light” ran through the city streets, enhancing more than 50 urban settings. Clay Paky CP Color 400 units added color to Frankfurt's Palmengarten. Combined with music, the colors formed a spectacular setting for hundreds of tropical plants.
The lighting design, by LDs Mick O'Callaghan and Thorsten Zank (from the company Enjoy), together with Lights & Color by Paderborn (distributor of Clay Paky architectural products for Germany), also included Chroma Panel, Chroma Dome, Chroma Bank and Chroma Strip by Pulsar. At the entrance, two V.I.P. 300 DIA projectors from Clay Paky's Display Line, specially designed for visual communication, projected luminous “posters” with information on the project.
Outdoor CP Color 150-E projectors (with an IP65 protection rating) were used for lighting the facade of the historic Palmengarten, while the CP Color 250 illuminated the interior. The result, from the combination of Clay Paky and Pulsar products, was one of Luminale's most evocative lighting compositions.
Saint Catherine's Church, in Frankfurt's famous pedestrian shopping area, was the setting for another Luminale project. This prestigious building was surrounded by a multitude of highly colorful, bright shop windows, drawing the attention of passers-by. To reverse this effect, LD Antonious Quodt decided to illuminate the church from the inside: this was the first stop in the “Lichtspende” (gifts of light) campaign, designed to give this purely commercial area a new lighting design, enhancing historical and artistic monuments. The lighting inside the church tower, was achieved using eight Clay Paky CP Color 400 fixtures.
In Milan, Italy, fashion takes center stage and this is certainly true at Emporio Armani, a space which covers about 8000 sq m on three floors. Designed by Michael Gibellini, known as the “stylists' architect,” under the supervision of Giorgio Armani himself, the building hosts various commercial areas divided into departments.
V.I.P. projectors from Clay Paky's Display Line play a leading role in lighting for visual communication and create spectacularly enchanting and innovative effects. In Emporio Armani, each V.I.P. 300 projects six slides in sequence, showing pictures of the spring-summer fashion collection. The images are shown directly onto shop windows coated with semi-transparent film. This allows them to be perfectly visible both from inside and outside the shop.
In addition, two V.I.P. 300s project the famous “A” of the Armani logo onto the wall of the two entrances. The “text” is made to climb along the whole wall thanks to a special “oscillating mirror” accessory, which allow a soft, linear movement of the image over the desired surface.
Finally, an enormous clock projected by a DIA V.I.P. 300 dominates the counter above the bar area. Time, measured by silent but clearly visible hands, reminds us that Emporio Armani is in step with the times.
CLAY PAKY AT SPECIAL EVENTS
Chartres Cathedral is one of France's architectural treasures: a Gothic building dating back to the 13th century, it was built on the ashes of the Romanesque cathedral of the 11th century destroyed by fire. It is a magnificent building of outstanding artistic value, characterized by large stained-glass windows, a central rose-window, and a long succession of arches which ensure the stability of the whole structure.
The Lyrical Days of Chartres is an annual event held in this magnificent setting to celebrate beautiful voices. Besides the concerts, the event includes conferences aimed at showing off the city of Chartres to the international public, uniting music, history, art, and culture.
One of the major challenges facing LD François Fleury was to illuminate, and give prominence, to the building without spoiling its historical authenticity. He selected eight Stage Color 1200s and six Stage Zoom 1200s, each of which features a 1200W discharge lamp and optical unit of exceptional luminous efficiency to enrich the tall arches and nave walls with a rare beauty. As Fleury confirms: “Stage Color 1200s and Stage Zoom 1200s proved to be first-class products: the Stage Colors supplied any color shade necessary, thanks to the countless colors available and the GTC color temperature correction system. The Stage Zooms embellished the building's architecture, owing to their rich gobos and colors, which blended in perfectly with the stained-glass windows.”
The Chartres event once again proved to be an outstanding success this year, and represents an important example of architectural lighting, displaying how history and technology can coexist in great harmony.
Festivalbar is a television extravaganza celebrating music, summer, and the outdoors. Launched 30 years ago to merge music, fashion and trends, it stops off every summer in the main squares of Italy's cities, ending its adventure in Verona's amphitheatre in September.
To combine the needs of both a live show and a TV broadcast, Clay Paky Super Scan Zoom 1200s were used for overhead stage lighting and backlighting, while Clay Paky CP Color 150-E outdoor color changers flooded backdrops and scenery with a kaleidoscope of color.
“Every square has its characteristic corners, details and monuments that can be enhanced,” explains Renato Neri, of Xenon, supplier of the lighting. “In Pistoia, for example, we projected a colored slide onto the building opposite the stage, while other CP Colors backlit the courtroom windows overlooking the square.”
CLAY PAKY GOES CLUBBING
Qi, a new club in Franciacorta, Italy, has quickly become a hot spot on the Italian entertainment scene. The shape of the two letters forms the club's ground plan, with simple, clean lines, and accentuated theatricals combined with technology, lights, video projections in an impressive architectural setting for seeing and being seen.
Designed by Beppe Ribolli, the club is divided into two man areas: “Q,” a large, mechanical/dynamic cylinder, and “i” a motionless and crystallized container and an observation point for eating, observing, and talking.
The dance floor is lit with Stage Light 300s, placed on a large circular truss in the center of the room. The most astounding effect is created with Golden Spot 1200s and CP Color 400s: They color the cylinder's walls with an endless combination of backgrounds, colors, and moving as well as still images. The layout of the interiors was studied to match the lighting design using the whiteness of the walls as a perfect backdrop for the lighting effects. Four Mini Scan HPEs in the refreshment area complete the lighting scheme.
Barbazul, a discotheque in Cuernavaca, Mexico, also has Clay Paky lighting on the dance floor, with a rig that includes three Astroraggi Power fixtures, six Mini Scan HPEs, two Astroscan HMI 1200 units, and an Elektralite CP20 console. The Mini Scan HPEs are installed in the bar area, while the rest of the equipment is installed on the dance floor area. Barbazul's LDs, Ricardo Carrillo and Salvador Mata, note, “We like Clay Paky lighting equipment because of reliability and high quality, different from all the other products.”
In the center of downtown Orlando, FL, Blue Room caters to a diverse, upscale clientele. The club features two levels of VIP room — a standard VIP area on the lower level and an ultra-VIP space upstairs. In addition, a champagne room is available for rent and, if you feel like being the center of attention, the stage can be converted for VIP seating. Mark Merkel, of Orlando-based Creative Light and Sound Source, put together a rig that includes some classic Clay Paky club gear, including 10 Miniscan HPEs, four Atlas units, two Astroraggi Powers, two Tornados, and one Astroscan. The exterior of the club is lit by nine CP Color 150-E units and two Goldenscan HPEs.
CLAY PAKY: MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING
Pasquale Quadri was quick to realize that modern advances in lighting technology could be exploited to the maximum effect in the entertainment and show business world. On August 28, 1976, he founded Clay Paky, thus beginning his quest for innovation and increasingly sophisticated lighting effects. Clay Paky's history is distinguished by a number of original, innovative products successfully imitated by other international manufacturers. Such is the case of the Astrodisco fixture, launched in 1982, using a single lamp to create dozens of luminous rays. In 1987, Clay Paky launched Brilliant, employing intelligent projector technology for the first time.
In this same field, the Golden Scan became an overnight worldwide success. Indeed, it was defined by one member of the trade press as “the world's most popular and best-selling intelligent projector.” Golden Scan's success was further confirmed by its successor, the Golden Scan HPE. The Super Scan Zoom made its debut in 1994 as the first projector with a CMY system, and equipped with variable focal length for focusing light beams. 1997 marked the appearance of Stage Scan with its countless graphic effects and the Multi Step Zoom. The elegant, powerful and compact Mini Scan HPE was also presented that same year by Clay Paky, as was the Display Line, an innovative projector line for visual communication. The Display Line projectors are versatile, compact, and easy to use: perfect for informational and promotional messages.
Stage Line, a complete range of moving body luminaires in 300W to 1200W, was introduced in 1999. This line featured the Stage Zoom 1200 effects projector and the Stage Color 1200 washlight. The extraordinary power and flawless optics of these fixtures soon made them landmarks for world class musical tours, theatres, television studios, and numerous other professional applications.
In the following years, Clay Paky explored further expansion of the professional sector and development of the architectural market. This first market segment witnessed the onset of the revolutionary Stage Profile Plus SV. It is the first, most complete and sophisticated moving body beam shaper available on the market with an exclusive patented profile system. This product belongs to the Silent Version family, a line of the world's most silent professional moving projectors, also including Stage Profile 1200 SV, Stage Zoom 1200 SV and Stage Color 1200 SV. The smaller Golden Spot 1200 and Golden Color 1200 maintain many of the main features of the original higher output luminaires.
Clay Paky is also heavily involved in the architectural field, advancing innovative solutions for a relatively recent yet growing market. The Display Line is enhanced by the V.I.P. 1200 designed specifically for projecting logos and effects at a distance of over 50m. New color-changer lines include the CP Color in a range from 150W to 575W, including projectors for theatrical and television use (models for 150, 250 and 400W), a moving-body projector (CP Color MH) and two IP65 projectors specially designed for outdoor settings: CP Color 150-E and CP Color 575. Also new is Point, a line of micro-projectors that meets the widest variety of lighting needs for public, private, and commercial settings. It includes a moving-body model (Point MH), a bracket-mounting mode (Point) and a built-in model (Point In). The latest Clay Paky innovation is the Rain Spot 575, the first and only graphic effects projector with a IP65 protection grade, for all outdoor settings.
The history of Clay Paky products is a continual evolution of intuition, as well as an exploration of innovation, progress, and the latest technology. However, it is also an study in quality, the only value that can distinguish a company and give it a competitive edge in an complex and demanding market.
In 2002, Clay Paky moved its headquarters to Seriate (Bergamo) in a strategically located industrial complex. The new building is 10,000 sq. m (with a total surface area of approximately 33,000 sq. m.). It is here at the new headquarters, that the company's dedication to quality is superbly manifested, in keeping with the criteria of UNI EN ISO 9001: 2000 certification that Clay Paky recently obtained.