DeFabrique is a fantastic canal-side event space located in the former Ulbe
Twijnstra oil mill and processing plant in Maarssen, Utrecht, Netherlands, which
dates back to the 1920s and oozes style and amazing industrial chic.
In 1996 the plant – which supplied linseed oil for the manufacturing of paint, soap
and margarine – closed and was rejuvenated as a unique event location by a local
couple who took great pride in maintaining the historical and industrial character of
the building. DeFabrique is now a successful, well-equipped venue for meetings and
events from 50 to 3,500 people offering 8 charismatic halls for hire … which have
been lit with around 400 Robe PARFect 100 fixtures supplied by Bijman Audiovisual.
Bijman Audiovisual, based in De Meern, specialises in supplying sound, lighting and
AV to corporate events. It’s now run by Ramon Bijman, was originally founded and
run by his parents and has been flourishing for 35 years before their retirement 6
years ago.
Bijman AV has been providing DeFabrique’s technical requirements for the last 15
years, but last year it was time for a major technical overhaul.
Bijman sought a cost effective, flexible and uber-cool energy efficient lighting
solution to replace the generic PAR 46 “house’ lighting of the previous installation. It
was also important to Bijman to preserve the fantastic rawness and edginess of
DeFabrique’s industrial atmosphere … and combine it with a thoroughly modern,
carbon-conscious lighting scheme that looked fabulous.
Enter Robe’s PARFect 100!
The LED source ACL-style fixture is an affordable made-in-Europe product and a
static version of Robe’s massively successful LEDBeam 100 fixture. The fixture
retains key features of the LEDBeam 100 like both CMY and RGBW colour control,
tungsten emulation, zone FX, selectable and variable colour temperatures … and a
powerful, punchy 7° beam.
Bijman and his team had initially considered other options but the PARFect won out
in every aspect, and it was a great testament to his confidence in the brand by
committing to such a large purchase, which was delivered by Robe’s Benelux
distributor, Controllux.
The PARFect 100 also had the right intensity and plenty of headroom over and
above that of the old PAR 46s.
The lights are all rigged as high as possible in the various ceiling spaces around
DeFabrique – up to 20 metres in some cases – so not to intrude, and help maintain
the original look and vibe of the venue, complete with all the original industrial
elements that make it so dramatic and interesting.
“We definitely didn’t want the installation to look too slick or to resemble a stage
set or a festival’ so considerable effort was made to physically blend the PARFect
100s into the architecture and compliment and highlight the interiors as well as
supplying practical lighting for the 400 plus conferences, presentations, meetings,
parties and diversity of other events staged there every year,’ explained Bijman.
