Rock Vault – British Fashion Council

Precision Lighting LED Pico Zoom mini-spotlights helped showcase the work of new British jewellery talent at the Rock Vault event as part of London Fashion Week spring/summer 2015.

The latest edition of Rock Vault, organised by the British Fashion Council took place at Somerset House in London from September 12-16, 2014. Creative production company Blonstein designed the temporary exhibition, putting the jewellery on plinths crowned by classic, domed birdcages and using Precision Lighting’s Pico spotlights to light them precisely, with glitter but not glare.

‘When we were developing the creative for the Rock Vault show case at London Fashion Week we were thinking about lighting from the very beginning,’ said Blonstein’s Brian Jones. ‘We really wanted to avoid the glass box on a stand aesthetic that is the easy solution for a temporary exhibition but the birdcages idea was only going to work if the jewellery looked perfect. ‘

Blonstein lit each cage from within with three surface-mounted Pico Zoom spotlights. Jeweller Emma Madden of Shimmell and Madden described the effect as ‘brilliantly bright, beautiful lighting, perfect for jewellery display.’

‘The room is naturally bright and the designers use a wide range of materials; some of which need a lot of light to ‘pop’ from the display,’ said Jones. ‘A chance to work with the team at Precision Lighting meant we could use the very high power-to-size ratio of their Pico range without compromising the display with lots of ugly fittings. The Zoom function in such a small package is a real innovation.’

Pico Zoom, designed by Precision Lighting’s Peter McClelland, was recently described as ‘nothing short of a mini-marvel’ by a leading industry publication and has received critical acclaim since launching. Despite weighing in at just 60g, the highly engineered but diminutive spotlights have focusing and locking features usually only found on much bigger fixtures. A combination of adjustable optics and exceptionally smooth movement makes it possible to position and focus these discreet spotlights with pinpoint accuracy.

The Zoom optic can be adjusted to give beam widths of between 12° and 30°, while Pico’s rotation and tilt mechanisms provide a smooth, constant movement for superior adjustability. Like all Precision Lighting luminaires, Pico can be locked in pan and tilt so that it stays perfectly focused.

‘All the designers and our clients at the British Fashion Council, commented on how great the lighting was this season and we look forward to any opportunity to collaborate with the team at Precision Lighting in the future,’ said Jones.

The Pico range is frequently used to light jewellery including the precious Cheapside Hoard at the Museum of London, and by jewellers Mappin and Webb for their showrooms. ‘The Pico is great for various applications including picture gallery lighting,’ said Precision Lighting Sales Director Spencer Baxter. ‘However, the Pico Zoom’s tool-less adjustable beam technology makes it particularly suited to use within display cabinets; either surface-mounted or as the Pico S1 Zoom which is mounted on a 360mm stem.’

In order to control the contrast between the lighting inside the cages and in the surrounding room, Blonstien added lighting from carefully directed Director DR2 spotlights designed by Precision Lighting’s sister company Remote Controlled Lighting.

RCL has developed a range of spotlights that can be adjusted using laser hand controls or its iDirect app. This is often done to create flexible lighting without the effort and risks involved in using ladders, scaffolding or lifts. However, at Rock Vault, ‘another issue with the space at Somerset House is that the display galleries are Grade I-listed and so there is no opportunity to run cables across the floor,’ Jones explained. ‘Our design solution was to run attractive retro cables up into the lighting rig but this means that ladder access to focus track spots was very problematic once the display was installed. Being able to use the remote controlled lighting units to solve this was a joy.’