ROBE Lighting
Robe stepped up the energy in the room for the 24th edition of the TPi Awards, supplying nearly 250 of its latest moving LED lights to help create a stunning production lighting design – imagined by Robe’s own creative team – for the high-profile industry event produced by TPi Magazine, part of Mondiale Technology Media.
The TPi Awards was staged at the Evolution London venue in Battersea and was hosted – for the second consecutive year – by Emmanuel Sonubi who raised the roof with smiles and laughter from over 1,850 industry professionals representing all disciplines.
The annual event honours some of the best creative and technical achievements from the world of entertainment production, and following last year’s changes to the voting process we once again saw a broadening of the diversity among those winning individuals and companies.
A total of 32 awards covered numerous production aspects from set design to catering and sustainability.
Latest Robe Tech
The very latest Robe technology was showcased by Robe’s creative tour-de-force, led by lighting director Nathan Wan, associate LD Andy Webb, lead programmer Jordan Tinniswood, programmer Kyle Evans and Robe International’s exhibition and production manager, Tomas Kohout who co-ordinated all the logistics needed to amass this large amount of kit at Evolution.
They collaborated closely with TPi’s production team including Mondiale Technology Media’s Commercial Director Fran Begaj and their event production manager Ryan Esson from GoTo Live, to ensure guests were impressed by the extravaganza of colour and visuality that supported the bespoke jungle style theming, video content and infographics produced by Lewis Kyle White and his team at Pixels & Noise.
Robe’s team also compiled the special Awards show intro soundtrack under the direction of TPi, and on site worked closely with PRG’s crew who supplied and rigged the LED screens.
New NRG
Nathan & Andy were supported by a crew of seven NRG (Next Robe Generation) students from five different colleges around the UK.
Ant Ioannou who is studying Event Production at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in Nottingham was assistant lighting designer in the main room, with Abigail Skelton, also studying the same course, overseeing lighting for the main bar area.
James Levy, a Theatre Technology student from Guildhall, tech’d an exterior iBOLT installation, which was inaugurated last year and proved hugely popular.
There were then four RoboSpot operators, Mason Dilworth and Sebastian Ollivierre, both studying Creative Lighting Control at Rose Bruford; Andrew Whewell from Leeds City College studying Theatre Design & Production Technology and Harry Mooring from Derby University who is studying Sound, Light & Live Event Engineering.
All four of these NRG RoboSpot operators were also involved with helping design lighting in the Robe VIP Bar upstairs at Evolution, creating a buzzing ambiance for their annual afterparty.
Jane Monk, Robe UK’s NRG Initiative Manager, commented, “The TPi Awards provides a platform for selected NRG UK students to shine and a unique opportunity to join Robe’s creative team and experience first-hand how to deliver a prestigious event in a room full of industry professionals. While definitely not for the faint-hearted, the many big smiles after the show make us proud to be able to help these hugely talented students on their lighting journey!”
Main Room
The high-impact 90-second opening sequence comprised of video content and lightshow kicked off the Awards presentations, followed by a series of intricate and near-static lighting looks – illustrating that all these Robe products can also be used to produce subtleties and nuance for the dinner, as guests enjoyed catching up with industry colleagues and friends.
The looks for the Awards presentation were all based around this year’s tropical jungle theme. Set against a waterfall back drop that transitioned from day to night through the evening, the show looks incorporated a series of foliage and tiki styled facades with colourful combinations and multi-layered texturing.
Robe technology in the main room included the recently launched LedPOINTE luminaire, which Nathan put through its paces creating exciting effects and multiple bold mesmeric eye-popping looks.
However, the real art of the evening was in creating those big wide-stage high-impact scenes that enveloped the whole room in light and atmosphere, drawing everyone irrevocably into the action, which followed on from a series of elegant and balanced scenes that were comfortable for eating and drinking. These assisted everyone in morphing seamlessly into the all-important awards presentations complete with perfect key lighting … and lighting matching the jungle-style video content.
Also on the rig were Robe’s new SVB1s and SvoPATT luminaires, the flagship FORTE LTX, SpiiderX LED wash beams, the ever popular LEDBeam 350s, TetraXs, iBOLTS and six RoboSpot systems each running with FORTE LTXs.
All the lights were rigged on a series of trusses flown above the audience and the long shallow stage area, and on vertical ladders filling in gaps between the onstage screens, all adding to the cool organic nature of video imagery and motion graphics, with some lights even blended in to the set design, hidden amongst the digital foliage.
The RoboSpot count was increased from four to six this year to cover the room very comprehensively and crucially, to enable super-quick winner pickups from tables wherever they happened to be seated around the room.
As always, the expectations were high and the pressure was on for Nathan and the team to produce something memorable for a large room full of industry peers, all of whom are involved with creative and spectacular shows every day!
The main room show was programmed and controlled via two Avolites D9 consoles. Beforehand, the creative team had spent time pre-programming in Capture, allowing Nathan to arrive on site well prepped, and spend the one night of on-site programming refining a complex show in a very short timeframe after bumping in on the Sunday ahead of the Monday night.
Bar, iBOLTS & Afterparty
In the bar area, Abigail used an Avolites Diamond 7-215 for control with lights including LedPOINTES and LEDBeam 350s, a room also important to light correctly as it is the gathering point for guests amassing for boisterous ebullient pre-dinner drinks and conversations.
James used an Avo Tiger Touch II console for the iBOLT installation which comprised a circle of 8 x iBOLTS surrounding one fixture in the middle, a geometric pattern that was cool, precise, and illustrated the fixture’s powerful beam-work. It was set up so the lights could spin round and colour / texture the front of the building, catching arriving guests up in the glamour, and thrill of the occasion!
New this year, Robe brought a truly ‘Rock ‘n’ Robe’ vibe to their mezzanine level VIP area, complete with a green wall, bar area and one of Robe’s famous neon-look Rock ‘n’ Robe signs, which was ideal for photos, Insta-moments and as a general chilling zone.
This was lit by the Robe team using LEDBeam 350s and Robe MolyPATT scenic lights – with another Avo D7 for control – to bring a loungey atmos, with Robe’s brand new iESPRITE LTL and iSTROBE products on show for everyone to see close up while they enjoyed the space and the afterparty action!
Winners
The 2025 TPi Award for ‘Lighting Designer of the Year’ was again sponsored by Robe and this year presented by Robe UK sales director Ian W Brown to Sam Tozer of Vision Factory. Known as a multidisciplinary creative designer, his recent work includes Parkway Drive’s 20th anniversary tour, Sam Fender’s “People Watching” tours and the 2024 MDLBEAST ‘Soundstorm’ Festival in Riyadh.
Favourite Lighting Rental Company of the Year was Colour Sound Experiment, and other notables included Olly Martin (Lighting Operator of the Year) and FRAY Studio, who won the content Creator of the Year, while Carol Scott received the TPi Industry Recognition Award.
Event Evolution for Robe
While the TPi Awards has always been a great showcase to get Robe’s newest products in front of the industry, over time it has grown into an incredible opportunity for those within the Robe UK NRG programme to get high intensity, real-world hands-on experience where they can understand the demands and stresses of the workplace together with the importance of working as a team to deliver outstanding results that address multiple objectives.
Some students who have worked on previous TPi Awards have gone on to work for Robe UK full time – Jordan Tinniswood and Kyle Evans are great examples – so it is also a chance for future professionals to network and make themselves visible to the industry.
Robe UK’s managing director Mick Hannaford concludes, “Robe was proud to support the TPi Awards 2025, celebrating the massive talents and achievements of our industry. It is always a pleasure to see our fixtures light up Battersea Evolution for the evening, facilitated by our excellent in-house creative team who diligently design and programme the show from start to finish.”
Princess Cruises, a leader in worldwide cruising, has taken a major step toward sustainability and delivering outstanding live performances by upgrading the lighting rig in their 1000-seat Princess Theatre on the Crown, Emerald, and Ruby Princess ships. In a project completed in 2023, Princess Cruises Fleet Lighting Supervisor Matt DeJong and the Princess Entertainment Technical team selected Robe Lighting TE (TRANSFERABLE ENGINE) fixtures, ushering in a new era of LED lighting technology to enhance the cruise line's entertainment offerings.
Key Highlights:
Eco-Friendly Lighting: The Crown Class lighting revitalization project included 69 ESPRITE Profile, 87 Spiider, 78 PAINTE Profile, 98 LEDBeam 150, and 48 ParFect 150 wash luminaires, which has reduced the Crown Class’ overall electrical consumption by an impressive 50%. This not only benefits the environment but also leads to reduced HVAC draw and overall fuel costs. Additionally, it significantly reduces operational and maintenance expenses. Princess Entertainment continues to invest in engaging and eco-conscious technologies to enhance guest offerings and sustainability goals.
Robe TE Technology: Robe's revolutionary Transferable LED Engine technology allows for easy replacement of light engines, extending the fixture's lifetime and avoiding costly and time-consuming full light engine replacements. This technology provides the flexibility to choose engines, including HP (High Performance), HCF (High Colour Fidelity), TGW (Tungsten White), or the MSL-TE™ (Multi-Spectral) engine. This ensures optimal color rendition for every performance.
Spectacular Performances: The new lighting system enhances Princess Cruises' award-winning in-house entertainment offerings, including major original productions created in partnership with Stephen Schwartz, an Oscar, Tony, and Grammy award-winning composer.
Project Details:
The lighting rig upgrade for Crown, Emerald, and Ruby Princess was a significant undertaking in 2023. Robe Lighting delivered all fixtures on time for immediate installation, leading to reduced power consumption and maintenance, making the rigs more efficient for use. Working with EMF Lighting, the lighting design team was impressed with the innovative features and impressive output of the small form-factor, feature-rich fixtures. The enhanced color rendering across the TE Engines and Osram engines of the Spiider and LEDBeam fixtures has revitalized the shows, providing vibrant and saturated visuals. Onboard lighting technicians have praised the new lighting rig for its ease of use, ease of service, and its ability to enhance their designs and operational needs. Notably, the new Robe lighting system has reduced the operating noise by 53db, improving audio fidelity for guests and on-stage monitoring systems.
Matt DeJong, Fleet Lighting Supervisor for the Princess Entertainment Project team, chose Robe Lighting due to the impressive range of fixtures and Robe's global support system, ensuring on-demand assistance no matter where in the world any Princess cruise ship might be. Princess is always grateful for the quality engineering and QA provided by Robe as all equipment worked straight out of the box, which allowed the project team to complete these time sensitive, in-service installs, with minimal disruption to onboard operations.
In addition to the all-Robe automated lighting rig, the Crown Class lighting setup was complemented with additional conventional fixtures, strobes, and UV effect units.
About Princess Cruises:
Princess Cruises, established in 1965, is renowned for its innovative ships, exceptional customer service, and worldwide cruising. With 15 modern vessels and more than 170 different itineraries, Princess Cruises offers travelers the opportunity to explore destinations across seven continents. Part of Carnival Corporation, Princess Cruises is dedicated to creating lasting memories and authentic connections for guests, crew, and local destination experts.
About Crown, Emerald, and Ruby Princess:
Crown, Emerald, and Ruby Princess are grand-class cruise ships accommodating 3,114 guests and 1,200 crew members. They are the largest of the seven grand-class vessels in the Princess worldwide fleet.
All eyes were on the new Avolites Diamond 7 (D7) lighting console at the recent Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt – a powerful, flexible, and highly portable control solution for lighting at shows, concerts, and live events.
The much-anticipated D7 was shown publicly for the first time with two variants on the stand – the D7-215 and the D7-330 – both running on Avolites latest Titan v17 software.
This initial product launch has enabled the Avolites team to gauge reactions and glean valuable feedback ahead of the full launch, planned for later in the summer.
The reactions were “overwhelmingly positive,” stated Avolites MD Paul Wong, delighted with the comments and enthusiasm he’d received from Avo users who rocked up from all over Europe as well as further afield like Asia, Australia, South Africa, and Latin America.
Avolites benefitted from additional footfall of people visiting the Robe stand, especially to catch the live “Power of Imagination” performance show which was also programmed and run from an AVO D9-215 console.
“The customers were genuinely amazed by the D7 range, they loved the portability, flexibility and touch and feel of the interface, especially the integrated illumination of the rear connection panel!
Furthermore, they think it’s great value and that we are hitting the right price point!”
In addition to all the interest and excellent feedback, the Avo sales team took multiple pre-orders on the stand which was “mind-blowing and completely exceeded our expectations!” stated Paul, such was the buzz and excitement generated by the product.
The D7 is designed and priced as a workhorse console that will unlock more creativity for designers, programmers, and operators. It sits above the Avolites Classic Range – the Tiger Touch II, Arena, Sapphire Touch & Quartz – and offers many of the larger D9’s most popular time-saving and handy features.
The compact D7-215 has two touch-sensitive screens, 15 motorised playback faders and 15 encoders. It is super-portable, fitting into a standard Peli Air 1650 case and coming within the checked baggage weight allowance of most airlines.
The slightly larger D7-330 features 3 x 14-inch screens and 30 motorised playback faders / 30 playback encoders, offering more control for even larger shows whilst maintaining portability.
The motorised faders have an RGB LED indicator along each one, and there is a single level RGB halo indicator for each encoder. There is in-built LED light at the top of the screen panel and along the rear of the console.
Rear ports include a 4-port network switch, 4 x DMX, LTC Input & loop, MIDI ports, 2 and 1 x external monitors for the D7-215 & D7-330 respectively, 1 x Secondary Ethernet, Trigger in, GP IO and both variants are showfile compatible with all Titan Avo consoles. The USB port is conveniently concealed from plain sight in the right-hand side handle recess!
Visitors at Frankfurt loved the cool clamshell screen panel / locking mechanism, and the general ergonomics that offer premium styling but are keenly priced so the D7 will be a rental company volume product and a favourite for concerts, music shows, touring productions, live events, and festivals.
“We believe D7 is an excellent investment, that will be an everyday go-to product appearing regularly on touring specs,” underlines Paul.
The latest processors and components give peak performance with inbuilt longevity. “Being future-ready was fundamental to the whole R ‘n’ D philosophy,” noted Paul. “We’ve made it powerful, quick to programme and easy to use which has always been an Avolites USP.
Anyone already able to operate an Avolites product will be able to run a D7 which currently runs on the just released Titan v17 software.”
All the vital programming tools are to hand via a touch screen for speed and efficiency, an enhanced back-lit keyboard located in a retractable drawer is optimised for assisting programming in dim or dark environments. The On / Off button is concealed under the keyboard drawer to reduce the chance of accidental activation!
Motorised faders were another big hit with visitors in Frankfurt, and these have also been well received on the D9.
The D7-215 can control up to 32 DMX universes out-of-the-box with expandable networking via TNPs (Titan Net Processors).
The reception and interest in Frankfurt has “reinforced our belief that D7 is the right product at the right time and that it will be a high-volume hit,” enthused Paul, advising anyone interested to “contact their Avolites distributor, get a demo and place an order!”
Avolites, proudly manufactured in the UK, is also buoyed by new energy generated with its recent acquisition by Czech moving light and LED manufacturer Robe s.r.o. in September last year.
Paul further reveals that several D7s will be in action over the summer on a selection of key and high-profile festivals and events … so watch the Avolites channels for more details!
Robe Lighting s.r.o. has acquired LSC Control Systems PTY in Australia, a move that sees the Czech Republic lighting manufacturer further consolidate its portfolio of leading lighting and control brands.
Having LSC’s power distribution (PD) systems as a core element of the ‘Robe Business’ Team made perfect sense following the purchase of console manufacturer Avolites in September last year, explained Robe’s CEO Josef Valchar.
“We’re delighted that this opportunity arose – it is hugely exciting, and we look forward to a long and positive collaboration. It will allow us to offer the best complete lighting and control turnkey solutions to our customers and their clients and projects across all sectors.”
As well as diversification, it also gives Robe a manufacturing base in Australia in addition to its facilities in central Europe and the UK.
LSC’s founder and managing director Gary Pritchard is equally enthused, “LSC will gain access to greater investment and resources, and working through Robe’s renowned worldwide distribution network we can reach more global and diverse markets in turn stimulating greater opportunities for creativity, expertise, business and action for all of our team!”
LSC’s operation, which started over 40 years ago in Melbourne and has grown into a trusted and respected specialist brand well-known for inventive technology, will continue functioning exactly as it is now.
Gary sees the move as an affirmation of the company’s value. “An organisation of Robe’s stature wanting LSC onboard is a sign of confidence that also tells the world that LSC will continue doing what we do best … both now and well into the future!”
The plan underlines Robe’s commitment to being an industry leader in all areas of lighting technology, further empowering the imagination and choice of lighting professionals and offering an exceptional set of tools to assist in the production of shows, events, and memorable performance experiences for all to enjoy.
