Alnwick Winter Light Trail 2020
Location Alnwick, Northumberland, UK Client The Alnwick Garden / Alnwick Chamber of Trade
For the third year running, Axiom supplied full design, management and production provision for the Alnwick Garden Winter Light Trail, with the new addition of several installs across Alnwick Town Centre. Building on the success of previous years’ events, a collective of the Garden venue and numerous business owners from the town commissioned a number of unique pieces to tie in with and complement the existing event.
Long time client Andy Jennings stepped into a dedicated role with Axiom and invited Director Pete Shorten to assist with management of the Town Centre install, while continuing to work intensively on the Garden Trail. The growing relationship between the parties allowed a fluid and cohesive build, with a cohort of the Axiom team on site providing support and augmenting the strong technical team already established. The interactive elements of both sides of the install were provided by close friends Iris Digital, who worked closely with the Axiom team to realise their collective creative visions.
The Garden install featured a variety of SGM products, with Q7’s, G1 Beams and 6 Packs making up a large part of the vibrant colour design – in addition to Chauvet Colorado Quadzoom washes, Colordash Accents, Clay Paky Mythos and existing stock of IP PAR64s. ETC Source 4’s were used to provide warm profile looks, in conjunction with customised waterproofing solutions which were manufactured in house at Axiom. Lighting control came from a Chamsys MQ50, in conjunction with a host of Swisson XRC-200 replay units, which were synced to video using a combination of custom built Raspberry Pi and Arduino units. Axiom also provided a number of bespoke audio solutions using Martin F12 speakers, in addition to a varied combination of rigging equipment.
"Andy and the Axiom team have contributed enormously to the success of The Alnwick Garden over the last three years. As our key partner and service provider for our Christmas Events, Axiom have delivered an immersive, relevant and commercially viable experience that has received rave reviews. The team are beyond professional and provide outstanding support to my team. Axiom have an excellent blend of technical expertise coupled with seemingly limitless creative flair. I would not hesitate in recommending Axiom to other organisations"
Inside the Town Centre, a variety of custom installations featured a Panasonic 20k projector, SGM Q7’s, G1 Beams, ProLights SmartBatts and a number of ETC Source 4 Juniors. This part of the project proved particularly challenging given the short turnaround time, forced by changing restrictions and several contributing organisational factors. With the concept to delivery time spanning only 5 weeks, the team worked night and day to realise the client expectations with the end result being a bespoke, innovative way to continue the long standing tradition of winter lighting displays in the town.
In addition to equipment provision, both teams featured members of the Axiom team on site for the first time, with LX programming by John Tasker and technical support from Craig Ramsay. Despite challenging conditions and a new consideration of Covid restrictions, the show was up and running a day early for a VIP preview, before being maintained until the New Year.