Ayrton Celebrates 20 Years of Digital Lighting
November 21st 2021 sees Ayrton celebrate its 20th anniversary and what a journey it has been for the company which has dedicated itself entirely to developing innovative LED lighting products.
“When Ayrton was created, we didn’t know at the time, but we were going to revolutionize the world of lighting with a totally disruptive concept, Digital Lighting,” says Ayrton founder, Yvan Péard. “Over the past 20 years we have created more than 70 extraordinary digital luminaires that are as innovative as they are effective. We are very proud of our achievements and the way we continue to lead the way, pushing technology and design to the limits. This year we are celebrating 20 years of passion, creation and design; 20 years of working with the world’s greatest lighting designers, who have placed their trust in us to make the tools they want to use; 20 years of innovation to bring the wildest projects to life.”
Péard first brought Ayrton to life in 2001, naming his company after the outstanding Brazilian racing driver, Ayrton Senna, whom he admired for his brilliance, ingenuity and drive in the pursuit of perfection – qualities which Péard and the team at Ayrton have maintained to this day.
From technical innovations and original ideas in creative effects lighting, to classical lighting fixtures, through to the company’s first IP65 rated fixtures, Ayrton has gained a reputation for innovation, power, precision, versatility, and unbeatable durability and reliability.
Ayrton’s is a history of ‘firsts’ with notable advancements in technology delivering new, original products every year:
The company’s initial reputation for unique effects lighting accelerated in 2013 with the advent of MagicPanel 602 – the first-born in the Creative Solutions family – a modular LED luminaire equipped with continuous unlimited rotation in pan and tilt, and a unique square face that could deliver a broad range of visual effects. MagicBlade R was to follow the following year, the first of the redesigned ‘Radical’ range. MagicDot R, in 2015, was the first professional moving head LED luminaire with a single optical collimator and firmly established itself as the must-have fixture for embedding into sets because of its small form factor and amazing versatility. In 2016, MagicBurst was the first high-power graphic LED strobe with continuous, unlimited, rotation on pan and tilt, and melded beautifully with the other ‘Panel’ products. 2017 saw the arrival of MagicPanel FX, an exciting new development from MagicPanel R, with a revolutionary new optical zoom system that offered exciting possibilities for creating 2D graphical effects.
2017 also marked a new important milestone with the release of Ayrton’s first classical fixture, Ghibli, its first LED spot luminaire factory-equipped with a framing system, and packed full of features in a surprisingly compact body. This marked the beginning of Ayrton’s road map to produce a comprehensive series of fixtures to suit every size of venue and project application.
As this plan rolled out, 2018 saw the arrival of Mistral and Khamsin; 2019 introduced Diablo which is still one of Ayrton’s most popular fixtures, and its IP65 rated counterpart, Perseo Profile which has become the benchmark IP65 rated fixture, packing all the features and outstanding output into a compact, all-weather housing, which has since proved itself unmatched in reliability and versatility.
With Ayrton’s roadmap in full swing, the most recent years have seen the release of more revolutionary fixtures. Huracán Profile is a formidable graphical tool for enhanced creativity, with exceptional light output and an entirely new complex colour mixing system with a double CMY saturation level capable of generating 281trillion colours. Domino expanded Ayrton’s IP65 multi-function luminaire family as the larger sibling of Perseo Profile and has since been joined by Perseo Beam. Eurus marked the first multi-function profile luminaire launched under the new SLIM-21 programme for miniaturising fixtures and reducing their weight, while the latest additions – Karif LT and Huracán LT – are the first LED luminaires in the brand new line of “LT” (Long Throw) products dedicated to long-range applications.
All these products include signature features that are synonymous with the Ayrton name: accuracy of movement, lightweight and compact form, phenomenal output, innovative optics and colour management, feature-rich fixtures that belie the size of each fixture, next-generation cooling systems and boundary-pushing graphical effects.
“We are excited to be entering our 20th year!” states CEO, Chris Ferrante. “Ayrton has been the industry leader in Digital Lighting since our inception. Yvan’s vision all those years ago has led to the success we have achieved today. Our best-in-class products, characterized by innovation with purpose, creativity and quality, are designed with our users, the lighting designers and creatives, in mind. These people, along with our distributors and the team at Ayrton, are as important as our products and we look forward to celebrating with them over the next 12 months.
“However, we are never content with sitting still and have some unbelievable new technology and ideas planned for the near future which will continue to enhance the global shows and events we are fortunate to be a part of.
“We cannot wait for the next 20 years!”
To mark the 20th anniversary, Ayrton has released a video (click here to view) and a new logo, and is as determined to continue to lead and innovate as it has been from the start.
As Péard says: “The future has only just begun!”
Text: Julie Harper
