After months of sporadic building work, the directors studio is now complete!

SXS Managing Director Johnny Palmer felt that the existing office space needed to be expanded to allow for more seperated areas for creative work spaces, as well as a space where full-concentration work can be done.

A "loft conversion" of a corner of the warehouse was constructed into a custom office. This was done by constructing a mezzanine floor over the top of some existing warehouse storage. To turn this into an attractive space it was then plastered, a skylight added and painted.

See build shots to the right of this text. A video of the SXS office complex is below.

To ensure it presents the best possible techncial flexibility the space was then kitted out with:
- Power media server PC with Autocad, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and Premiere
- RAID-enabled NAS storage backup to ensure absolute data integrity
- 4-way TFT monitor system including portrait layout for design work
- Cisco optical network system
- 50" high-definition plasma TV
- bi-amped monitoring sound system

"The space is great. We previously had a pleasant and spacious 5-desk office and a more formal meeting room. This new space is a casual area that allows for more relaxed meetings and creative collaborations. I look forward to discussing technical challenges and designs in this space" Says Johnny.

3D Video Gallery

The SXS website now has a 3D gallery.

Thanks to the talent of our new photographer Andre, we can offer clients a new level of inspiration by seeing the detail and quality of our finest work.

Please see here for interactive video on the SXS site: http://www.sxsevents.co.uk/other_files/pano_gallery.php

Embassy Parties

This season has began for embassy parties.

The first of the run for this year was for the Turkish Embassy in London.

Following the succesful production of a VIP drinks reception last year, we were invited back again to provide:
- Considerate architectural lighting in national colours
- Six of our gas flambeaux effects
- Red carpet entrance up stairs around the foyer area to a standard that looks like it is permanently installed.

Fashion Show Season is in

The last two months have been an exciting one for the SXS team in fashion show production and design.

As ever the demands and expectations of clients have been high. In particular clients are looking for ways of making the overall aesthetic of their shows better. Afterall, they are selling an aesthetic product to design-conscious customers.

This year has seen the SXS team develop new ways of making our shows look immaculate. Our philiosophy is that clients want the effect of the equipment, not to be able to see the equipment.

In particular, we have been using innovative cable-management techniques that ensure that all cables are completely inivisible.

Further, this season has seen the manufacture of much custom set to hide lighting and rigging.

When working in flagship retail units on Regent Street and Old Bond street these new techniques have satisfied clients visual requirements.

We have used these techniques in environments including Swaovski's and Ermenegildo Zegna's flagship stores in London

We look forward to developing many new techniques to deliver a better service to our clients.

Please take a look at our fashion show lighting website here.

Outdoor Stage Hire Brand

Heading into the festival season, it was time for the SXS team to shout loudly about our outdoor staging services.

We have two outdoor stage systems which are ideal for small to medium events. Us having these systems allows us to offer a complete production service for outdoor events and festivals at a fraction of the cost of using multiple providers.

Please see the new site here www.outdoor-stage-hire.co.uk

Expect to see this site all over the web!

Event Magazine Article

Event Magazine Article.

We are pleased to see that Event Magazine are taking an interest in our innovative marketting strategies and have done a write-up on our latest brand - Fashion Show Lighting.

Please see the site www.fashionshowlighting.co.uk here

and take a look at the event magazine article: http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/884349/SXS-Events-launches-fashion-show-arm/

fashion show lighting

SXS Launch our new fashion show website.

Having recently produced various sattelite shows around London Fashion Week with enormous success, we felt that it was time to develop a specific site for fashion shows.

While the sound, set and lighting has been crucial, we have found that it is our flooring skills that have won over the clients. We have refined the use of studiotak, marley and carpetting on both raised catwalks and normal floors.

Please take a look at fashion show lighting, also look at the fashion show sound, and fashion show catwalk pages on the new site.

What's a discharge light?

We have you booked to wash our [product] in a white light and your account manager says you are using discharge fixtures. What does this mean and how much power do they draw?

The fixtures we will use are a 400watt discharge unit. These work by creating an "arc" (like a spark) within the lamp. This is different from standard "Incandescent" lamps (standard light bulbs) as the latter have a filament and produce a lot more heat, meaning they are less efficient on power consumption.

There are various different types of lamps for our discharge fixtures ranging from the "sodium" type (as used in street lighting, creating an orange light), to coloured lamps to pure white. For your event we will be using a "metal halide" lamp for your event. These produce a very white light - much like that of sun light.

They can also be gelled, so we can create different colours to match your specification.

In terms of power, these discharge fixtures all run on standard 240 volts. As for current they draw a lot of current on the initial strike and then the draw a lower current for nominal usage. The nominal current draw for a 400watt fixture should be assumed to be around 2amps.

Additional notes:

One important thing to remember with metal hallide fixtures is, while they appear white, the mixture of different colours that makes the white appearance is NOT even. This can mean that when we put, say a blue gel, in front of them, they may not produce a blue, but a soft purple."

Establish your intended colour and then do tests.

More info: SXS Event Lighting Page or SXS Hire Lighting Page

Event Advice Page

Johnny here again.

It's that time of year again when we are tendering on various festivals, student balls, graduation events and conferences.

In this process I find myself answering a lot of questions to lay-people about their events and the services we provide, which results in many pages of explanations.

I thought that, as I was writing these, I might as well publish them online. I very much hope that these technical explanations will bridge gap between people loosely knowing what the kit is and them having a good technical understanding.

These questions and answers will be posted on the SXS Events site here
I will also be posting them on this blog.

UWE Bristol Fast Forward Magazine

SXS Managing Director Johnny Palmer is to have a full-page feature about his business success in UWE Alumni magazine Fast:Forward.

Johnny has done numerous events for the university including graduations balls, fashion shows, awards dinners and charity dinners. In addition he has given guest lectures on marketting and entrepreneurship.

"It is an honour to have such a prominant feature in the magazine that represents all my peers at university" Johnny says. "I really want to pass on the message to people studying that while you are at university is the best time to setup in business".

Watch this space for a link for a copy of the article.

The magazine will be released in early 2009.


A graduate profile of Johnny can be found here: Johnny Palmer Graduate Profile

www.johnnypalmer.co.uk

Johnny Palmer's Business CV Includes:
2001-present - Managing Director - SXS Events Ltd - www.sxsevents.co.uk
2007-present - Marketting Director - Shreyas Decor Ltd - www.shreyasdecor.co.uk
2007-present - Brand Manager - Plug AV - www.plugav.co.uk
2008-present - Brand Manager - Bay Event Drapery - www.bayeventdrapery.co.uk
2008-present - Web Master - SXS Hire - www.sxshire.co.uk