Live Design: Your company, Paragon Lighting and Sound in Los Angeles, provides both design and equipment services, and you designed lighting for Le Cercle in LA last year. What sort of projects are your bread-and-butter?
Kintu Patel: Most of our projects consist of installing lights and other equipment for lounges and nightclubs, though we are receiving more projects involving architectural lighting for office buildings, retail shops, and private residences, as more of these aforementioned places are switching to LED lighting.
LD: Do you work primarily in the Los Angeles area?
KP: We work primarily in the Los Angeles area, but we are fairly flexible and can accommodate to work in various places. We have had projects in Orange County, Palm Springs, Northern California, Colorado, Nevada, and New York.
LD: Tell us about another recent project of which you’re particularly proud.
KP: We recently installed exterior lighting for one of our client's private residence in Hollywood. As of then, we had only worked with lounges, nightclubs, etc, and this was our first time diving into the residential market, so it was a little challenging. The client's home was significantly different from what we are used to, however, the exterior LED lighting we installed came out well, and the client is ecstatic about it. Because we were successful on our first project in someone's home, it was definitely more rewarding.
LD: What new gear out there catches your eye?
KP: The Elation Professional EVLED 1024 SMDF floor—it is a high resolution LED floor and though it has been out in the market for a while now. The Elation Impression is still an amazing product.
LD: What would you like people to know about Paragon that they might not already know?
KP: For clients that have not worked with us before, our company is competitive yet reasonable, and we can guarantee that all our products and services will be reliable. If a customer is unhappy about anything, we will do everything possible to make them happy. We like to provide the needs our clients demand, and we strive to meet that goal.
LD: What piece of equipment (doesn’t have to be lighting or production related) can you absolutely not live without?
KP: I cannot live without the Acclaim Lighting X-Stick. This product probably ends up in 95% of our projects.