Robe Lights TPi Awards 2025

	The lights were rigged on a series of trusses flown above the audience and long, shallow stage area, and on vertical ladders filling in gaps between the onstage screens. Photo: Marco Polasek

Robe stepped up the energy in the room for the 24th edition of the TPi Awards, supplying nearly 250 of its latest moving LED lights for the high-profile industry event produced by TPi magazine, part of Mondiale Technology Media. The TPi Awards was staged at Evolution London and was hosted by comedian Emmanuel Sonubi. More than1,850 industry professionals attended.

Thirty-two awards covered numerous production aspects from set design to catering and sustainability.

The lighting team included lighting director Nathan Wan, associate LD Andy Webb, lead programmer Jordan Tinniswood, programmer Kyle Evans, and Robe International's exhibition and production manager, Tomas Kohout. They collaborated closely with TPi's production team including Mondiale Technology Media's commercial director Fran Begaj and their event production manager Ryan Esson from GoTo Live. The event featured bespoke jungle-style theming, video content, and infographics produced by Lewis Kyle White and his team at Pixels & Noise.

Robe's team also compiled the special awards show intro soundtrack under the direction of TPi and worked closely on-site with crew from PRG, who supplied and rigged the LED screens.

Wan and Webb were supported by a crew consisting of seven NRG (Next Robe Generation) students from five UK colleges. Ant Ioannou, who is studying event production at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in Nottingham, was assistant lighting designer in the main room, with Abigail Skelton, also studying the same course, overseeing lighting for the main bar area. James Levy, a theatre technology student from Guildhall, tech'd an exterior iBOLT installation, which was inaugurated last year.

Four RoboSpot operators included Mason Dilworth and Sebastian Ollivierre, both studying creative lighting control at Rose Bruford College; Andrew Whewell, from Leeds City College, studying theatre design and production technology; and Harry Mooring, from Derby University, who is studying sound, light, and live event engineering. All four were also involved with helping to design lighting for the afterparty in the Robe VIP Bar upstairs at Evolution.

The 90-second opening sequence, comprised of video content and light show, kicked off the awards presentations, followed by a series of intricate and near-static lighting looks. All were based around this year's tropical jungle theme. Set against a waterfall backdrop that transitioned from day to night through the evening, the looks incorporated a series of foliage and tiki-styled facades with colorful combinations and multi-layered texturing.

Robe technology in the main room included the recently launched LedPOINTE luminaire. Also on the rig were the new SVB1s and SvoPATT luminaires, the flagship FORTE LTX, SpiiderX LED wash beams, LEDBeam 350s, TetraXs, iBOLTS, and six RoboSpot systems, each running with FORTE LTXs.

The lights were rigged on a series of trusses flown above the audience and long, shallow stage area, and on vertical ladders filling in gaps between the onstage screens, with some lights even blended into the set design, hidden among the digital foliage.

The RoboSpot count was increased from four to six this year to cover the room comprehensively and, crucially, to enable super-quick winner pickups from tables wherever they happened to be seated around the room.

The main room show was programmed and controlled via two Avolites D9 consoles. Beforehand, the creative team had spent time pre-programming in Capture, allowing Wan to arrive on-site well-prepped and spend the one night of on-site programming refining a complex show in a short time frame.

In the bar area, Skelton used an Avolites Diamond 7-215 for control with lights including LedPOINTES and LEDBeam 350s. Levy used an Avo Tiger Touch II console for the iBOLT installation, which comprised a circle of eight iBOLTS surrounding one fixture in the middle. It was set up so the lights could spin round and color/texture the front of the building, catching arriving guests.

Robe brought a rock vibe to the mezzanine level VIP area, complete with a green wall, bar area, and one of the company's famous neon-look Rock 'n' Robe signs, used for photos, insta-moments and as a general chilling zone.

This was lit by the Robe team using LEDBeam 350s and Robe MolyPATT scenic lights -- with another Avo D7 for control -- to bring a lounge atmosphere, with Robe's brand new iESPRITE LTL and iSTROBE products also on show.

The 2025 TPi Award for Lighting Designer of the Year was again sponsored by Robe. It was presented by Robe UK sales director Ian W Brown to Sam Tozer, of Vision Factory. Known as a multidisciplinary creative designer, his recent work includes the band Parkway Drive's 20th-anniversary tour, singer-songwriter Sam Fender's People Watching Tour, and the 2024 MDLBEAST Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh. The Favorite Lighting Rental Company of the Year was London-based Colour Sound Experiment, and other notables included Olly Martin (Lighting Operator of the Year) and FRAY Studio, who won the Content Creator of the Year while Carol Scott received the TPi Industry Recognition Award.

Robe UK's managing director Mick Hannaford concludes, "Robe was proud to support the TPi Awards 2025, celebrating the massive talents and achievements of our industry. It is always a pleasure to see our fixtures light up Battersea Evolution for the evening, facilitated by our excellent in-house creative team who diligently design and program the show from start to finish."