Strand Lighting is an international theatre and television lighting company founded in 1914 in

London's London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

that supplies lighting fixtures and controls for the entertainment industry. Strand's products have been used on countless theatre productions and TV shows worldwide.

History

Strand Electric and Engineering Company, as it was originally named, was created in 1914. Arthur Earnshaw and Phillip Sheridan were both London theatre electricians when they set up their company. In 1932,

Frederick Bentham Frederick Bentham FABTT FIES (23 October 191110 May 2001) was a British theatre lighting designer and engineer who created the Light Console in 1932 and continued to influence lighting in theatres into the 1970s, firstly as the chief engineer b ...

joined Strand. He would go onto revolutionise theatre lighting with his designs. The Light Console was the first remote control theatre lighting console, while Pattern 23 (the first mass-produced spotlight) and Pattern 264 spotlights were further creations. The company incorporated as Strand Electric Holdings in 1936. In 1968, Strand Lighting was purchased by

The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

and thus became Rank Strand. In 1969, Rank took over Century Lighting (Started in New York in 1929) which became Strand Century in the US. In 1976, Rank acquired Stagesound Ltd from Theatre Projects and created Rank Strand Sound. In 1986, Rank Strand bought Quartzcolor, an Italian-based manufacturer of TV & film lighting. In 1990, Strand Lighting became the first company (and only North American company) to achieve ISO9000 Quality certification. Strand was bought from Rank by a venture capitalist group called Schroder Ventures in 1996. On 11 July 2006, the

Genlyte Group The Genlyte Group was a company that manufactured and sold lighting fixtures and controls. Products designed by the Genlyte Group include indoor and outdoor fixtures for the commercial, residential, theater, and industrial markets. Genlyte was boug ...

, a US company, announced its acquisition of Strand Lighting. Genlyte was acquired by Royal Philips Lighting in 2008. The lighting division of Philips was spun off from the parent company in 2016, and in 2018, Philips Lighting became Signify. Strand Lighting is run as an independent brand within Signify, along with

Vari-Lite Vari-Lite is a brand of automated, variable-colour stage lighting systems. Their intelligent lighting fixtures are commonly used in theatre, concerts, television, film and corporate events. History Pre-history The origins of Vari-Lite date t ...

, and continues as a leading name in stage, television, motion picture, and architectural lighting and services. Following the shift from Philips to Signify,

and Strand regained their standalone brand status in 2019, with a renewed commitment from the business to innovate and support the visions of creative artists worldwide.

References

External links

Official site

Philips/Genlyte official site

The Strand Archive
Complete history of the company

Collection of restored Strand Lighting consoles and followspots by Regal Group, UK.
dimmer.com
Technical information for various Strand Lighting products Stage lighting British companies established in 1914 Entertainment companies established in 1914 Theatre in the United Kingdom {{Stagecraft-stub

History

See also

References

External links