Bowens International was founded as Bowens Camera Service Company, a
London based
camera repair company, in 1923 which by the 1950s had grown to be one of the largest in
Europe. In 1963, the name ''Bowens International LTD.'' was registered. In June 2016 a German investment firm AURELIUS, bought Bowens and the following year in July 2017, AURELIUS closed down the company, discontinuing all further operations.
Company history
Bowens
manufacture
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...
d lighting equipment for
photographers. The first
flash bulb units were produced in 1947 and in 1950 the company started to produce its first
electronic studio
flash systems.
Until the 1960s, studio flash systems were large and cumbersome, requiring bulky power
generator
Generator may refer to:
* Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals
* Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.
* Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...
s to power the flash heads, connected by large cables. In 1963, Bowens invented the first electronic studio flash unit with its power source built into it. This became known as a
monobloc (sometimes Monolite) which is now an industry standard tool.
Following this invention the company dedicated itself to the design and production of studio flash equipment, Bowens Sales & Service grew out of the Bowens Camera service company and in 1966 they made their first appearance at
photokina showing their products to the worldwide photography community and taking their first steps towards global distribution.
In 1968 they produced an update to the Monobloc, The Monolite 400 and later products such as Quad, Prolite and Esprit have also proved popular amongst photographic professionals.
The company produced studio flash systems and photographic accessories, designed in
Colchester,
England and manufactured at its
factory in
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
from 2010. The main
competitors of Bowens International included
Broncolor,
Profoto,
Elinchrom
Elinchrom LTD is a Swiss company manufacturing flash equipment and light shaping tools for professional photographers. The company was founded in 1962 in Renens, Switzerland.
Range
Elinchrom produces compact flash heads, battery packs, contin ...
,
Multiblitz,
Visatec and
White Lightning.
The company was acquired together with
Calumet
Calumet may refer to:
Places United States
*Calumet Region, in northern Illinois and Indiana
**Calumet River
**Calumet Trail, Indiana
** Calumet (East Chicago)
* Calumet, Colorado
*Calumet, Iowa
* Calumet, Michigan
*Calumet, Minnesota
* Calumet ...
in June 2016 by the German based venture capitalists
Aurelius
The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the third century BC to the latest period of the Empire. The first of the Aurelian gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 252 BC. From then to ...
in June 2016 and then entered liquidation in July 2017 citing competitive pressures. RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP were appointed liquidators of the company on 16 August 2017. 26 staff lost their job in the UK and the factory in China was closed.
Products
Bowens offered many products, ranging from their compact flash units, to their softboxes and accessories.
The Bowens S fitting remains a widely used standard for attaching modifiers to flash heads.
Litebook
In July 2008 Bowens published the first issue of ''litebook'',
First issue of litebook magazine
/ref> a quarterly magazine devoted to profiling photographers and photographic studios working with Bowens lighting products.
Bowens TV
Bowens YouTube channel showed the latest news regarding the company and its products. A series of five-minute tutorials called "Hough To" (A pun on the surname of the presenter Christian Hough) show a variety of creative lighting techniques using Bowens products. A series of short videos entitled "Behind the Picture" (the company's strapline) follow photographers as they set up and work on shots.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.bowensdirect.com/
Manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
Photography companies of the United Kingdom
Electronics companies established in 1923
Photography in the United Kingdom
Photographic lighting
Camera maintenance