LONDON, UK –The Who’s Who of kitchen appliance designers congregated at Camden’s Roundhouse for the seventh annual rendition of the prestigious Neff Master Partner Awards. Hosted this year by the much-revered Great British Bake Off TV chef Paul Hollywood, the event serves as a showcase that highlights the best Neff showrooms and designers across the whole of the UK.
Taking place at the iconic Grade II listed Victorian Railway Station, which has been transformed into a performing arts venue, the evening ceremony dazzled 450 invited guests with a lavish dinner and elegant vintage-themed surrounds that highlighted the eight award categories. Tasked with creating an equally striking stage design to complement the evening’s proceedings, Derby-based Presentation Design Services enlisted the support of their recently acquired CHAUVET Professional Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to provide the necessary lighting backdrop for the ceremony.
“All in all, we employed six Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to uplight the custom-covered set panels as part of the main awards set,” said James Johnson, Project Manager, Presentation Design Services. “The uplighters on the stage needed to be low profile, have a warm white glow and also have a high light output due to the size of the panel. The Nexus panels were the best fixtures for the job. They looked great.”
As PDS regularly takes care of lighting design for entire shows and ceremonies such as the Neff Master Partner Awards, for Johnson and his crew it became necessary to invest in their own inventory of lighting fixtures to support their lighting designs. “We try to keep all lighting design in-house so we can tailor our shows to kit we have on the shelf,” he said. “This means that, ultimately, we're having to purchase lighting fixtures rather than having to sub hire the latest kit to keep a designer happy.”
After studying a range of products for his in-house lighting inventory, Johnson selected CHAUVET Professional. “Prior to investing in the Nexus panels, we completed a couple of jobs with other similar, and more costly brands, but due to the messy rigging and limited capabilities involved with these fixtures, we were open to suggestions.” said Johnson. “Comparing the other brands to the CHAUVET Professional fixtures, in most cases the CHAUVET Professional units outperformed the other fixtures.”
Given that the entire technical production for the Neff Master Partner Awards had to be in and out of the Roundhouse within a tight 24-hour window, the CHAUVET Nexus panels not only had to perform flawlessly, but also provide maximum efficiency for the strict load in-out times at the venue.
“As soon as we had a demo of the Nexus panels, we were instantly drawn to them, especially because they are so simple to rig and address, making them a perfect companion for a show like the Neff Master Partner Awards, where time is of the essence.”
After the success of the 2015 Neff Master Partner Awards, the Chauvet Nexus Aw 7x7 panels proved yet again their ability to shine in all manner of contexts. Johnson concluded: “We can’t wait to see them more widely used in the UK!”
For more information on Presentation Design Services visit: www.designservices.co.uk
CHAUVET Professional offers innovative professional lighting fixtures for the production and touring market as well as permanent installation in theaters, hospitality venues, cruise ships, clubs, television and architainment applications. For more information, please visit www.chauvetprofessional.com
Chauvet, headquartered in the USA, is a leading global manufacturer of professional luminaires, truss and related equipment, fulfilling the needs of various industry sectors. Chauvet has four main brands: CHAUVET® DJ, CHAUVET® Professional, ILUMINARC® and TRUSST®. They share Chauvet’s unified strategy to pursue every market segment where it has a competitive advantage in terms of value, innovation and performance, with an emphasis on LED technology. For more information, please visit www.chauvetlighting.com