Clay Paky Revitalizes Itself with Alpha Series

Though Italian entertainment lighting manufacturer Clay Paky has been around since 1976, it was about 10 years later when they became one of the first to offer an automated luminaire that you could purchase instead of rent. The Golden Scan was an innovative product for its time, featuring stepper motors and crisp optics with a uniform beam and a sharp focus. After many years of partnering with Group One, their former U.S. distributor, Clay Paky has recently set up Clay Paky America with managing director Francesco Romagnoli and former High End Systems account rep Eric Mueller. This article is part of the ongoing series of automated lighting manufacturer profiles leading up to the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Vari-Lite.

It was the day before Christmas, December 24, and all over the world people were taking off early or, at the very least, chatting up holiday plans with co-workers over unneeded sweets, crumbs askew. In Seriate (Bergamo) Italy, however, it was a different story.

It was the day of Clay Paky’s annual meeting where all the departments, managers and other principles sit down to discuss product development, upgrades and plans for the coming year. At one such meeting in 2002, the group discussed the need for lights with more features in general and more gobos in particular.

“We were making a list of the features we wanted, and what came of it was the Alpha Series,” says Francesco Romagnoli, North and Latin America Sales Manager. “In June of 2003, we announced that we would show a prototype at that year’s LDI show, and then Alpha 575 was ready for market in 2004.”

The complete Alpha Series, currently consisting of eight spots and washes, and available in a range of 14 colors, was shown off at the 2005 LDI show in Orlando. It gave many a chance to take another look at a company they thought they knew.

Pasquale Quadri is the entrepreneurial sort, who, back in the 1970s saw the future of lighting. With fellow musician Claudio Paredi, they founded Clay Paky in 1976. “One played bass and one played drums, and they were always playing clubs that were dark and boring,” explains Romagnoli. “They bought 8mm projectors and put a color wheel in front of it and that’s how the company started.” (Tragically, Paredi died in a motorcycle accident not long after the company was founded. Quadri has run the company ever since.)

From the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Clay Paky developed innovative products for the burgeoning European disco market, eventually exporting them around the world. The hugely popular Astrodisco, which used a single lamp source and many lenses arranged around the circumference of a rotating disc to create spinning luminous rays, came in 1982. The Astroraggi followed, and quickly found popularity in discos everywhere. But it was in 1987 when their first automated fixture, the Golden Scan, really put them on the map. In 1990, more automation came in the form of the SuperScan, followed by the Mini Scan and the Pin Scan. At the end of the 1990s they brought out a range of six Stage Line moving yoke fixtures from 300W to 1200W. It was quickly adopted in a variety of fields including theaters, television, and concert tours. Around that time they also expanded into architectural lighting, further increasing their catalog selection.

In 2002, Clay Paky moved their headquarters to its current location in Bergamo, which is just northeast of Milan. Today 80 to 100 employees work at this picturesque northern Italy location. Despite others who look to Asia to manufacture the product, Clay Paky does all theirs in Italy.
“We didn’t want to think about it,” Romagnoli says of the idea of moving the plant. “Everything we do is 100% designed and produced in Italy. We do this for many reason, the first being quality. The owner watches everything, and quality will not be compromised.” Romagnoli, who has been with the company since September of 1997, adds that all research and development is done at the plant too. And while normally it can take two to four years to bring a product to market, components of the Alpha series were remarkably faster, fueled mostly by demand.

After the Alpha Spot 575 came out, customers were immediately asking for a 1200W version. “Going from a 575 to a 1200 is not just changing lamps!” he laughs. So, when asked about it in April 2005, the company produced it in August. “From idea to production in threeand- a-half months is almost impossible. On August 8 we shipped 50 units and to this day the rate of failure has been zero.”

Romagnoli says Clay Paky is well aware of the increase in competition, and their approach to it remains simple: “ My experience is that out there the client has many choices; so many products with so many features at competitive prices. The most important thing then is reliability. If you don’t have to tinker with or fix the product, if it can withstand heavy use over a long period of time without breakdown, then that’s important. So then the challenge becomes, when you’re demonstrating a product at a trade show or in someone’s office, how do you show someone reliability?”

So by showing how well the product functions, its features and by making the prices appealing while stressing their reliability, this is how they approach marketing their product. “I have not had someone come back unhappy,” he says.

Currently they are focusing on expanding the North America market due in large part to their success in Europe. “Europe is our playground. Here, we don’t have many customers yet, but the ones we do have, we have personal relationships with.”

Personally, Romagnoli says he enjoys working for a company with such history in an industry that is such “fun.” “Even those who retire from this company still work here!” he laughs. He adds that he’s especially enjoyed the recent revitalization the company has experienced. “I’m pleasantly surprised how dynamic it’s been here in the last three years. We’ve been coming out with a bunch of new products, most importantly the Alpha.

“And it’s not over yet.”