How-To: Change Your Look with Lighting
The art of deception can take the same old venue and shine a light on its strengths.
When building a new bar from scratch, the lighting design is one of the singular most important aspects to consider, and can be one of the most costly as well. But if your current space could use a makeover, and the current economy doesn’t exactly warrant faith in outlandish expenditures, you do have options. Low-cost lighting renovations can be had through the art of deception, and when done right, the results can be impressive.
“Someone coming into the same space for four years, seeing the same bar, the same approach, etc., is the patron that needs a new experience,” says Vincent Conigliaro, owner and president of lighting and sound specialist company Salvin Design, in Kingston, New York. “And those are where the changes need to be made. Make that person turn left where he used to turn right.”
Conigliaro has seen a recent upswing in bar owners contracting Salvin to work with their venues’ existing structures, fixtures, and even lighting hardware, and yet still deliver a new customer environment.
“The facelift,” as Conigliaro calls it, “is based on what an owner wants to do versus how much they can spend. With lighting, this can be done by re-arranging what you already have. Move something on the truss. Put a mirror here, remove one from there.” (See before and after images, left)
Conigliaro adds that second-hand equipment should always be considered an option for effective lighting facelifts at low cost. “Owners shouldn’t be afraid of buying a used piece of equipment if it’s from a reputable company, because they can get very good deals,” he says. “I’ve seen clubs open and close in the same month, and the equipment they had was easily recycled because there was a deal to be had. I’m not talking about buying out of the back of somebody’s truck. Go to Guitar Center, or Salvin. If a seller backs it up with a good warranty, it’s a good way to go. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
“Owners need to keep in mind the clientele they’ll bring in,” says George Saviolidis, president of GS FiberLite, Inc., in Lake Worth, Florida. “How much flash and glitter do you really want? Will it be noticeable when the music is playing? With LEDs and smart programming it works really well, but not so much with fiber optics. With the DMX systems that they have, the fiber optics can’t really keep up. It makes the whole ambience. Usually with clubs they save for all of that for when the music is playing and it’s noticeable. Now, for a glass floor like at the Fontainebleau, it’s just getting the program to make the floor dance with the music.”
Conigliaro says that an empty room is a good place to start. “Step back an re-evaluate the look of the club with nobody in it,” he says. “Turn on the lights, turn on the smoke and take look. Readjust the lighting in this setting first, without it bouncing off of people and clothing and bottles.”
“A lot of club owners don’t realize it’s time for change because they don’t step outside of themselves. They need to put themselves in the line outside their door and stand there and say, ‘What am I doing here? What am I looking at?’ It’s the simple things that distract people from thinking about where they are now, where they were last night—they’re just in the moment in your club.”
To learn more about how you can install cost effective lighting in your bar or club, check of the
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