Ayrton Cobras let loose on Brussels Flower Carpet
The Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, a UNESCO world heritage site, hosted the biennial Flower Carpet for the 24th time from 13-18 August 2026. Over 700,000 brightly coloured flowers were laid out in a pattern inspired by the famous artwork by Katsushika Kokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, which was reimagined by Japanese artist Hiro Sugiyama to mark the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Belgium.
Measuring 1,680m2 and installed by 100 volunteers in just 6 hours, the world’s largest flower carpet is open to the public for only four days. Each evening visitors were treated to a sound and light show which played four times and was designed by production company, Artfex. Lighting designer, Geoffrey Oelbrandt, used 30 Ayrton Cobra fixtures as part of the light show to create undulating sweeps across the facades of the historic architecture that surrounds the Grand Place, sending beams of light far into the night sky, creating geometric shapes and sweeping across the multicoloured surface of the Flower Carpet itself.
“The Brussels Flower Carpet is such an iconic event,” says Oelbrandt, “and the Grand-Place provides a spectacular but also technically challenging environment for a light show. Our intention was not simply to illuminate the Flower Carpet but to extend the visual experience beyond the carpet itself and use the entire Grand-Place as part of the show. The Flower Carpet is naturally the central visual element but it sits within one of the most recognisable architectural environments in Europe. We therefore wanted the lighting to connect the carpet, the historic façades and the sky above the square. The Cobras were an important part of achieving that, their beams allowing us to take the show vertically into the sky and visually expand the scale of the production far beyond the physical dimensions of the carpet.
Oelbrandt and his team were looking for a fixture that could create very strong clearly defined aerial effects over considerable distances while still giving enough flexibility to integrate the fixtures into the wider lighting design. “The laser source of the Cobra gave us exactly that combination of intensity and precision,” he says. “For us, its most important qualities were the extremely concentrated beam, the output over long distances the speed, colour profile and the ability to create very clean aerial effects. These gave us the ability to create both very large powerful moments and more refined movements without losing the definition of the individual beams. The aerial effects remained clearly visible and defined even when working across the full dimensions of the square.”
The Cobra fixtures were positioned at ground level around the Flower Carpet and integrated into the technical layout. From these positions the fixtures projected upwards and across the Grand-Place with the surrounding façades and the open sky, effectively becoming part of the visual canvas. “Depending on the position and programming, we were working with substantial throw distances across the square and towards the upper sections of the surrounding architecture,” says Oelbrandt. “With 30 units we were able to create a large-scale composition rather than simply using the fixtures as individual beams. This allowed us to work with symmetry, movement, layers and large architectural looks that matched the scale of the square and the Flower Carpet itself and gave us the ability to build from subtle architectural moments into much larger and more spectacular looks during the show.”
The Cobra fixtures were supplied by Rent-All Europe with whom Artfex has a long-standing and reliable relationship. “Rent-All has been a very loyal and trusted partner of Artfex for many years and supports our productions throughout Europe,” confirms Oelbrandt. “This partnership is particularly important to the way we work as a company. Because we don’t want our creative or technical choices to be dictated by what is available in our own warehouse, we rely on partners who can provide us with the right equipment for each individual production. Rent-All gives us that flexibility and consistently supports us with the quality of equipment and service we expect for high-level productions. This allows us to remain independent in our design and fixture choices. Having a partner such as Rent-All who can support us with the right equipment across Europe gives us the confidence to make those choices without compromise.”
In conclusion, Oelbrandt says: “Designing a show for the Grand-Place means working within a UNESCO World Heritage setting where the technology needs to have a very strong visual impact during the show while remaining respectful of the architecture and the event itself. For us, the technology should never become the story on its own; we determine what we believe is the best creative and technical solution for a project and then we source the equipment required to realise that design. The aim was to use the technology to enlarge the emotional and visual impact of the Flower Carpet and transform the entire square for the duration of the show. The Cobra fixtures proved to be a very effective tool for achieving that.”
Credits:
Lighting designer: Geoffrey Oelbrandt
Production Company: Artfex www.studioartfex.com
Lighting Supplier: Rent-All Europe www.rentall.eu
Music by Alexandre Dai Castaing
Ayrton Distributor for Belgium: FACE www.face.be
Photos: © Mastershoot
