Robe takes the runway at 2020 NYFW
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As a featured participant in the event, the Australian clothing brand Zimmermann, led by designer Nicky Zimmermann, enlisted the assistance of fashion event agency Shades of Grey to create a guest experience that would leave a lasting impression.
Held at SIR Stage37, the event production team worked with the multi-discipline design firm Enlumen who created a lighting design using Robe Lighting PATT 2013 and picklePATT luminaires supplied by 4Wall.
“The original design brief was to create a hanging sculpture of light in a gold room that enhanced and warmed the tones of the treated walls and custom carpet,” began Shawn Kaufman, Enlumen. “Over the years, Zimmermann has really looked to evolve their show and create dynamic thoughtful designs that are cohesive environments, so we didn’t want to create something that was derivative of what had been done in the past.
“We’ve often thought of using the PATT 2013 and picklePATT fixtures for other projects and we realized they would be perfect for this design due to the warmth of the light and their form-factor that would create a unique visual experience to enhance the show.”
Moving forward to realize the experiential lighting design for the February 2020 fashion showcase, Kaufman and the Enlumen team began by visualising the layout of the space and where the fixtures might work best. Needing a hanging structure that would give them the impact desired, they worked with the scenic and fabrication team at New York-based SBI to execute a configurable rigging system.
“We first looked at hanging the fixtures above the audience as traditional house lights, but we felt that wouldn’t give us a strong enough statement,” continued Kaufman. “We ultimately decided to hang the fixtures on the back wall, so we worked with SBI to develop a Unistrut system that would allow us to adjust or remove fixtures if needed once onsite. The PATT Series worked great in this system due to the large size of their yoke, which meant the lights would be perfectly perpendicular to the wall, and their light weight so we didn’t need a tremendous amount of ballasting to physically support the design.
“We have a long-standing relationship with many of the suppliers in New York, but we chose 4Wall Entertainment specifically because of these fixtures,” admitted Kaufman. “We knew they had them in stock and having offices in many cities meant they could get us the 44 needed without having to source them from various different suppliers.”
(Jim Evans)
