094 COMPANY
LIVE AND LOVE THE AVOLIFE
LONDON, UK EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
Over the past 35 years, Avolites has established itself as a front-runner in the world of lighting control. Its roots are in the UK, but the brand is known worldwide thanks to its extensive distribution network, which spans across 65 countries. Avolites has a firm grip on the concert touring market, however, it soon plans to unveil what will launch the next chapter for the company. The anticipation is building. Avolites began in 1976, when the founders were tour- ing with Barclay James Harvest and Sky. They came from electronic and mechanical design backgrounds, so when the modified install theatre equipment they were using on tour began to falter, the founders de- cided to take on the challenge of building something themselves. Their first project produced a compact, touring, high density, patchable dimming rack. It was an instant hit with the concert touring community. “The dimmers were so popular that the founders de-
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cided to cease touring and concentrate on producing products for other lighting hire companies. The first Rock Memory console soon followed and was used in the rapidly growing tour market by leading artists of the day, such as The Stones, Tina Turner and Aeros- mith,” said Avolites’ Sales Director Steve Warren. In 1991, Avolites was purchased by the four current Directors: Steve Warren - Sales Director, Richard Sal- zedo - Managing Director, Shahid Anwar - Director of Software, and Meena Varatharajan - Finance Director. Between them, the management board offers skills and experience within the disciplines of electron- ics, mechanical design, software development and financial control. And this varied and balanced input has played a vital role in leading Avolites from strength to strength. “The Diamond 1, 2 and 3, the Sapphire, the Art Touring dimmers and the world’s ‘favourite console’ - the Pearl - are all successful products of the collaboration of this team,” commented Steve. Sustaining a strong reputation within the industry is no easy task, however, there have been moments in the company’s history which have helped to continu- ally reinforce the strength of the brand. Steve thought
of two pivotal moments: “The first when we sketched out the design of the Pearl. Originally the Pearl was to control dimmers and scrollers, but due to our close contact with industry trends, we decided to produce a moving light controller ‘that made controlling auto- mated fixtures as easy as controlling dimmers’. This clear brief led to Avolites production of the fastest and easiest console to programme, the world-renowned Pearl.
“Our second key moment came once again from a customer request. That led to the development of the Art T4 dimming rack. The resulting design matched the remit perfectly, and now with thousands of Art dimmers in use we know it was the right decision. Art dimmers have been used for all Harry Potter movies, with systems of over 100 racks deployed, as well as filling the criteria for large scale touring concerts like U2 and The Rolling Stones.” Avolites has a real sense of family about it. On many occasions, the words Avolife and Avolove are used to describe the Avolites way of life, and to demonstrate how the team works well together. In fact, Steve goes as far as to say that these are the qualities that make
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