Robe ROBIN moving lights and CitySkape Xtremes from Robe’s LED range were at the heart of a glamorous lighting scheme created by LD Nick Jevons of Electric Fly Productions for leading cosmetics brand Rimmel in London’s iconic Battersea Power Station.
Staged on the eve of London Fashion Week, it celebrated 10 years of collaboration between supermodel Kate Moss and Rimmel, together with the launch of Rimmel’s new ‘London Lipstick Collection by Kate’.
Electric Fly was working for production company Iris Experience, for whom they regularly provide visual design and technical production services. All the lighting equipment was supplied by Blackburn based HSL.
Kate Moss arrived – in true rock ‘n’ roll style – by helicopter.
The lighting scheme encompassed both internal and external elements. Explains Jevons, “As one of London’s greatest and most famous historical landmarks, it was a real honour to be asked to light Battersea Power Station. I immediately thought of using Robe’s CitySkapes because I needed very powerful fixtures to produce a complete blanket coverage across the dark brown brick surface of the building, and also I wanted to use energy efficient sources …. so the Xtremes ticked all the boxes”.
The north east side of the building – prominent to all guests as they arrived, shimmered in deep, luscious lipstick red for the evening, courtesy of twelve Robe CitySkape Xtremes. The Xtreme’s colour range was “excellent for the job” comments Jevons, “They really produced the near textured ‘coating of light’ effect that I wanted”.
Guest’s limos and taxis pulled up at the front entrance to the event space (a self contained covered structure within the carcass of the Power Station closed in 1983 and now Grade II listed by English Heritage) and entered through a long corridor lit first in red and then in blue.
A foyer area featured a series of giant printed stand up graphic panels showing a retrospective of Kate Moss Rimmel images spanning the last decade, and from there guests passed into the main event space, complete with stage, bar, lounge and VIP areas.
The eye-catching set was designed by Iris, and took some key aesthetic starting points from Rimmel’s current London Lipstick Collection ad campaign, resulting in a fragmented, deconstructed Union Jack with white and grey tone finishes. This was lit by Jevons in red, white and blue ….. “It was screaming for it,” he explains.
UK indie darlings The Noisettes played a fabulous, high energy live set as the party got rocking, and Jevons used Robes for all his moving light requirements in the space. Set back from the stage by about a metre were three 5 metre high upright trusses, each one loaded up with three Robe ROBIN 300 Beams, two 2-lite Moles and two strobes.
The ROBIN 300 Beams proved perfect for blasting through the set pieces which further diffracted their tight, pokey beams, the strong back light effect streaming through at varying angles adding drama and edginess to all the looks. Having these trusses and fixtures set back from the edge of the stage also enhanced the whole perception of depth and 3D.
Flown above the audience were two 20 metre trusses, along with a front truss for the stage, which was rigged with four Robe ROBIN 600 LEDWashes, which easily filled the whole stage area with masses of headroom.
These are among Jevons’ favourite fixtures right now. “They give a brilliant tungsten which was great for subtle highlighting of the band’s faces, plus all the real sumptuous and gorgeous reds and blues I needed for the show and a whole range of other deep saturates … and then there were the colder whites of course, which complimented the blue and reds just perfectly”.
The audience trusses were each rigged with seven Robe LEDWash 600s and six Robe ROBIN 600 Spots, all used to create an ambience and a nice cosy but exciting vibe around the venue. Three of the ROBIN 600 Spots were fitted with two different Rimmel logo variations which were beamed around the room for additional visual interest.
All these lights were programmed and operated by Jevons using a Martin M1 console.
Jevons’ lighting pièce de résistance in the room was an amazing chandelier feature above the bar, constructed from 108 LED battens hung from a circular truss.
Out the back of the event structure is an open air deck, right in the middle of the huge battered internal space, the shell of the once majestic former turbine hall of Battersea in its heyday.
Here Jevons placed another eight Robe CitySkape Xtremes – creating a massive decaying, highly charismatic, industrial visual-scape and backdrop to the tented structure, all highly visible through its transparent roof and back skins.
These CitySkape Xtremes alternated between red, white & blue variation chases and a red static look to echo the strong red theme-ing of the evening.
The front two chimneys of the Power Station were illuminated by stunning large format slide projections.
The event was a massive success, and everyone was delighted with the results, the mood and the aesthetics. Says Jevons, “Using Robe fixtures in this environment gave me the flexibility I needed to create exactly the right setting for a very high profile event and clients who are acutely aware of visuals, looks and style”.
For more press info. on Robe Lighting, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679/+44 (0)7831 329888 or Email ‘[email protected]’. For more product and general info, check www.robe.cz or call + 420 571 751 510.
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