The term ‘innovation’ is often thrown around in quite a blasé manner along with ‘high-end’ and ‘cutting-edge’ on countless new product releases and at various tradeshows throughout the year. However, to the team at Claypaky, the term is taken very seriously. In fact, behind the walls of the manufacturer’s Bergamo HQ, Claypaky even has an entire team whose sole focus is innovation. To learn more, TPi caught up with Product Portfolio Manager Giovanni Zucchinali.
“My role is all about market intelligence, analysing the market, innovation trends and gathering insights from customer feedback and requests. I’m the connection between R&D and our sales department,” he began, explaining the part he played in the Claypaky machine.
Having an intimate knowledge of the company’s product development, Zucchinali explained how innovation is integrated into the process of bringing new lighting fixtures to market. “For us, innovation is all about finding a solution for the market,” he mused. “Innovation when it comes to just a new technology is meaningless unless it is helping an end user – in our case a lighting designer or rental house.”
To give working examples of implementation of innovation, he looked back to 2010 and the release of the Sharpy – at the time a radical new concept that left a real impression on the industry, with the fixture using just 189W of power to produce an intense, laser-like beam, bright enough to rival far larger, higher-wattage fixtures. “It changed how people began designing shows, with many designs focusing on the ‘beam’ look,” he recalled, noting that much of the innovation came not only from the output and effects of the fixture but the level of control it gave.
“Take the B-EYE release in 2013,” he added. “It was not only the eye-candy effects it produced but the way we were giving control of the lights – a vital innovation due to the number of products that were deployed on show. With so many pixels, lighting designers need to be able to control things very quickly. It was this aspect that showed real innovation.”
Another highlight for Zucchinali which showed innovation in practice was the recent use of liquid cooling with its FLOW Technology. The use of FLOW reduces fixture size, lowers noise levels, and increases efficiency, making it an ideal solution for theatres and TV studios. This technology has already been implemented into the ORKIS CYC.
Although the Claypaky innovation team are continuingly working on new solutions, Zucchinali explained that the real trick was determining which of these innovations should be implemented into any new product. It’s where his personal role of being a middleman between market demand and R&D is so vital. We need to focus more on innovation alongside other services beyond just the production, including support, service and spare parts. It’s these key areas that differentiate Claypaky from other brands.”
It was clear from speaking to Zucchinali that staying ahead of the curve of imitation products is another challenge the company must deal with continually. “The Volero Wave was something special but then six months later there were copies on the market,” he stated. “This raises the other hurdle with the challenge of protecting patent and the huge effort in pursuing any legal means on someone who has infringed on your patent.”
Looking to the future, Zucchinali predicted where some of the innovation department would be focussing their attention. “Lasers as a lighting source is one of the big conversations right now,” he stated.
Claypaky was first to market when it came the use of lasers within the moving head fixture with the Xtylos – a compact beam moving light that makes use of a tailor-made RGB laser source. “There was a lot of learning with the Xtylos with more safety considerations to bear in mind,” stated Zucchinali. “The cost of these types of fixtures will decrease in the years to come, which will lead to more conversations about the use of lasers over LED.”
Last year, Claypaky introduced the Skylos, a white laser light sourced fixture that comes from the searchlight tradition but has an incredible list of features that make it versatile in every respect, also highly appreciated in the touring sector. With a maximum energy consumption of 900W, Skylos has the same light output as a 4kW xenon lamp, in line with the sustainability philosophy adopted by Claypaky.
He also explained that one of the other main considerations for his team is the firmware development as well as improving the mechanical capabilities of the fixtures.
“It’s all about matching up the roadmaps of the innovation department and the product development team,” he stated. “Claypaky must keep looking forward as this is where we’ve always been, and innovation is very much part of this conversation. We have already pushed LED to its limit in terms of output and that means focussing on other aspects such as more intelligent software – all of which will solve issues that are important to our customers. Just think of the work we have done on the firmware of Sinfonya and Rhapsodya, two products designed specifically for the theater market: they both incorporate AccuTune, our in-house firmware algorithm, ensuring precise control over the multicolor LED engine. This delivers vibrant, high CRI, and high-TLCI light optimized for both stage and TV. The simplicity of operation saves valuable time ensuring the uncompromising quality.”
Claypaky has also entered the digital age, being the first company which introduced Internet of Things and Cloud-based services into the Entertainment Lighting industry – with CloudIO – a solution for the remote maintenance and Buddylight, a brand-new automated followspot system.
Claypaky has a dedicated tab on its website that focusses on the work of the innovation arm of the business, highlighting some case studies and product releases and presenting some innovative solutions for the end user.
Words: Stew Hume
