| Fashionable
Entec in Challenging Week
Back
to Headlines
Entec Lighting rose to the
challenge of supplying lighting
kit and crew to five separate,
high profile offsite shows
at London Fashion Week.
The shows were for style
gurus Paul Smith, Giles Deacon,
Julien Macdonald, the Fashion
Fringe competition for emerging
talent and Russian fashion
house Kisa.
The venues varied greatly
- from a glass walled debating
chamber in City Hall (the
Mayor's office) to Rochelle
School in Whitechapel. Some
were not normally used to
stage shows, and all presented
their own unique sets of logistical
and practical idiosyncrasies.
Dealing with such challenges
is an area in which the Entec
team excels. Overall LFW lighting
co-ordination and project
management was by Adam Stevenson,
and the two site teams were
led by Andy Keightley (Smith,
Deacon, Macdonald) and Simon
Honnor and Tony Austin.
Entec worked for Inca Productions
on the Macdonald, Deacon and
Fashion Fringe events, for
DSA Production Services on
Paul Smith and for My Beautiful
City on the Kisa show which
was staged at the Orangery,
Kensington Palace.
Additionally, Entec Sound
supplied rigs to the Giles
Deacon and Julien Macdonald
events.
|
|
 |
Paul
Smith, Royal Horticultural
Halls.
This show kicked off
the week for Entec in
the newly refurbished
Royal Horticultural
Halls in Victoria.
LD Simon Tutchener
filled the vast void
of the hall with thirty-six
2.5K HMIs, rigged in
three rows of 6 onto
two trussing structures
built by Outback - one
at each end of the catwalk.
One end had heavy ND
filters applied to the
lights, whilst at the
other, the fixtures
were run as bright as
possible. This was to
achieve the even light
balance for photographers
that Tutchener required
along the full length
the catwalk.
|
|
Giles Deacon, Rochelle
School, Whitechapel
Staged in this an old
Victorian schoolhouse
close to Deacon’s
studio, this extremely
tight-for-space venue
entailed some superlative
lateral thinking from
Tutchener and the Entec
team!
With absolutely no
room for lights inside
the building, Entec
built a trussing structure
outside along the lengthways
wall, onto which were
rigged 21 2.5Kw HMIs.
These were pointed
through 7 large arched
windows onto a mirrored
surface on the far side
of the catwalk which
was also mirrored. Light
from the top row of
fixtures was focused
onto the mirror wall
and bounced back onto
the models lighting
their far side, while
light from the bottom
row of HMIs lit their
near side (directly
in front of the audience
who sat along one side
between the wall and
the catwalk).
|
|
 |
|
To cover the
front of the catwalk, rigger
Al Beechey created a stunningly
subtle structure – painted
white to match the theme of
the show - from scaff pipe and
acro props, which accommodated
eight 1.2K HMIs.
Entec also supplied the 200
KV generator to power all of
this plus some ancillary lighting,
and some bad weather contingencies
which luckily weren’t
needed!
Audio-wise, Entec Sound delivered
a DJ set up - a Pioneer DJM600
mixer and a pair of DJ1000 CD
dex - for Steve Mackie, who
mixed he show live giving it
a special extra Deaconesque
edge. Speakers were 8 white
d&b E3s and three Q-SUBs,
powered by d&b D12amps.
|
|
|
|
Julien
Macdonald, The Grand
Ballroom, Hilton Hotel
Park Lane
The glamour, glitz
and celebrities were
out in force for this
one, again with lighting
designed by the ubiquitous
Simon Tutchener.
It was a dramatic spotlight
show, and closed 2006
London Fashion Week
with a flourish, with
the principal runway
lighting sources being
six Pani 1200 spotlights.
Two were positioned
at the rear end of the
catwalk and four at
the front, on two 4-legged
ground supported platforms
also supplied by Entec.
Two flown mini-beam
trusses flanked both
sides of the 20 metre
catwalk, loaded up with
fresnels for audience
lighting and some ETC
Source Four Zooms for
various logo projections.
Twelve floor-mounted
VL2000 Spots, 6 a side
were used for ceiling
washes and patterns,
and to light a series
of ostentatious glass
chandeliers in the roof.
|
|
Entec also supplied
10 carbon dioxide powered
truss-mounted confetti
cannons for the final
walk up.
Lighting was controlled
by an Avolites Pearl,
operated by Tutchener
who also called the
spots, which produced
some interesting effects
reflected off the black
glass catwalk.
Entec Sound supplied
a playback sound system
of six d&b Q7s with
6 Q-SUBs, all driven
by D12 amps, with a
Crest XR desk for control.
This was looked after
and run by Owen McAuley
and co-ordinated back
at base by Entec’s
Head of Sound, Dick
Hayes.
Time was tight on this,
with a morning get in
for a 7 p.m. show.
|
Fashion
Fringe, City Hall (the
Mayor's Office)
With a stunning river
fronted views through
floor to ceiling glass
windows along one side
of the room, lighting
for this show was designed
by Thierry Dreyfus –
another Fashion Week
veteran.
He lit the show for
daylight to match the
natural light streaming
in through the windows,
with five 6Kw MSR PARs
and 5 4Kw MSR PARs,
all on floor stands.
Tony Austin babysat
Dreyfus, while Alan
King looked after the
practicalities and logistics
of rigging and set up.
The competition was
judged by American designer
Tom Ford and won by
Gavin Douglas
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Kisa,
The Orangery, Kensington
Palace
Time-wise this was the
tightest event of the
week for Entec –
with a completely mental
schedule getting in at
5 p.m for am 8 p.m. show!
They supplied a crew
of 8 who worked like greased-lighting
along with the stage crew
to make the deadline.
Simon Honnor crew chiefed
and ran the desk to a
specification by Chris
Chesney, artistic director
for Entec's client and
production company, My
Beautiful City.
The ornate room yielded
a decent amount of headroom
(approx. 6 metres) which
Entec filled with a 6-legged
ground support system
measuring 15 metres by
6 metres at 6 metres high.
Lighting consisted of
20 bars of 6 PARs and
four VL2000 Spots with
custom gobos and an Avo
Pearl for control.
|
|
| Entec’s
Adam Stevenson concludes, “It
was certainly one of the most
interesting and varied LFW’s
for us. Apart from utilising
a whole variety of our technical,
logistical and communication
skills, it demonstrated that
tight teamwork, good planning
and positive attitude are keys
to a smooth operation”
Photos are of the Julien Macdonald
show
|
|
