A short report on PALME Middle East 2008, held in Dubai

Angelina Stojsavljevic, Group Marketing Manager of IIR Exhibitions, reports a 22% increase in visitor numbers to the PALME Middle East Exhibition and it was certainly a great opportunity to meet up with many old friends and share the problems and joys of the lighting industry.

The large influx of Chinese lighting fixture manufacturers certainly added to the international feel and it was good to see them reaching out to this region. With more space next year many exhibitors have already signed up for the 2009 show.

"We are delighted to confirm that at close, 40% of next year's space allocation had already been reserved," states Exhibition Director, Alex Heuff.

Several multi-million dollar deals were signed over the course of the three day show, largely with key regional project managers emphasising the surge of new development work through the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.

Next year's PALME promises to be not only bigger and better but a good place to do some real business. Book the dates now, 26-28 April 2009.

This new independent company, owned by Avinash Dowlwani, is the only one in the area offering original replacement lamps for all data and video projectors. They are also authorized resellers for Sanyo and NEC. This was AVI's first exhibition and the stand looked good with a backdrop lighting display provided by their projectors. One of the busiest stands at the exhibition, it seems that there will be a good market for Avinash.

From his start with Wide Angle and their theme 'Let there be Light', Sultan Thomas now presides over six event companies in Lebanon, Qatar and the Emirates. Already they have undertaken major events from the UAE National Day, Abu Dhabi Corniche, Sheik Zayed Book Award at the Emirates Palace and equipped a production studio at Abu Dhabi TV.

There was an impressive array of lighting fixtures on display at probably the largest stand at the show. These included the new Studio Due's worm like D Color, numerous moving heads, washes and lasers. A strong team has been developed by Sultan to cover every possible event you can imagine.

With experience of AV, theatrical and architectural lighting control systems, they offer non conventional solutions to save installation time from offices thoughout the Emirates. Having recently gained the agency for Robert Juliat, it was no surprise to find their display included the Lancelot and Cyrano followspots. Fortunately, Lugwig Lepage from RJ was there to handle the technical enquiries.

Led by Sunny Zhang, Marketing Manager, there was a nice display of their Light Sky moving heads and LED fixtures for stage and studio use. This is one of the leading Chinese manufacturers with an R&D design centre producing an excellent range of world class products. With a planned advertising campaign for the autumn (with Lighting-Professional.com of course), their products are sure to become a popular choice with both sales and rental companies.

With more than 10 years' experience manufacturing stage lighting they have developed several products such as moving heads (150 - 1200w) and an LED version, fresnels and the Leite 2000w/4000w searchlight.

There was a good display of fixtures with the searchlight not only taking centre stage but also ensuring the stand attracted the attention of everyone who passed by.

Pouring Ou, International Business Development Manager, gave an amiable run down of the products and the company's development programme.

Manufacturing lighting for Film, Television and studios their products include the Daylight range which have an output of 5600K and including PAR lights (200w - 12K) and the double-ended HMI series with 6K, 12K and 18K variations. The stand, although small, ably demonstrated the larger Daylight fixtures and He Kai, a Director of the company, certainly knew his products well.

This is the regional corporation of this Danish manufacturer of dynamic lighting products. They supply the entire range of Martin products, including Mach speaker systems and Jem smoke machines, giving the company the unique ability to present a comprehensive and complete entertainment package.

There was the typical large range of products on display including their latest moving heads and LED walls. Led by the amiable Nour Assifiri, it was nice to see his son and daughter are now part of the business.

A Chinese company who have been manufacturing a range of fixtures for stage and studio for over 12 years. With more than 300 products available including LEDs and effect lights as well as the moving heads and followspots. Outdoor lights, smoke, snow and bubble machines complete the range. A small display of some of their products was on show with a 'hands-on' opportunity to try them out. The Area Manager, Air, was on hand to help those of us less proficient.

From their wide rage of lamps for entertainment and architecture, there was a small display of lamps including the 'Fastfit' MSR Gold range which enables easy lamp replacement and adjustments in difficult stage conditions, reducing the overall lamp length which makes compact and lighter fixture designs possible. Special Lamps Manager, Nittin Dargan, who is based in Dubai, was manning the stand to help find the right lamp for the wide range of fixtures that Philips supply to the OEMs.

As we saw last year, Triangle have many lighting and effect products in their range. This year a large stand displayed many of them with Coemar, Griven, PSL, SGM and Antari well represented. A new feature was live music with a 3 piece group playing jazz throughout the show. With his Dubai services now well established, in addition to the Lebanese operation, Zahid Elian is well placed for the many activities in the Gulf.