This is the third year that Christmas at Kew has taken place and the third year in which WL has provided the lighting. Zoe Bottrell, creative producer at Culture Creative, comments, "Christmas at Kew is a really exciting event for us and we worked closely with Kew Gardens and Raymond Gubbay Ltd to create a breathtaking design within the landscape garden."
She adds, "This year's theme was, rather fittingly, Christmas trees. As this needed to be established by the lighting set-up, it was vital that the equipment supplied by WL helped bring this to life."
Part of the trail included the lighting of the Palm House Pond which was designed by Simon Hayes who comments, "Being tasked to design the lighting for the Palm House, I was aware of the theme of Christmas at Kew yet I was also keen to retain the aesthetic of the building. Similarly, as the audience was so varied, I wanted to create something that would appeal to everyone, aged five to 95."
As a result, both Culture Creative and Simon worked with WL's hire director Dave Isherwood to decide the perfect lighting set-up for their requirements. Amongst the various equipment provided, which included over 750 lighting fixtures and more than 27km of power cabling, the SGM G-Spots and P-5 LED Washlights played a vital role.
Peter Johansen, SGM's CEO, comments, "Both SGM products were ideal for this occasion. The G-Spot is a moving head spot with numerous functions and is a maintenance free fixture, whereas the P-5 is a low-profile fixed, rectangular, full-colour LED washlight with an extremely low power consumption of just 420W. Ultimately both work fantastically within an outdoor setting and it was great seeing them used in this capacity."
Christmas at Kew runs until 2 January and this year's illuminations have proven to be the most popular yet. Zoe comments, "It's been another fantastic year where the boundaries have been pushed yet again. We have worked with WL for over 11 years now on various projects and their equipment, recommendations and overall support always makes it an enjoyable experience."
Dave adds, "Projects such as Christmas at Kew always provide a great opportunity for us to not only work on a very unique project but also delve into our extensive lighting range, whether it is SGM or the many other manufacturers we stock. It's about working with the client and making sure their creative needs are met - something we were able to do again on this occasion."
(Jim Evans)
