The Europe-based Knight of Illumination Awards, which celebrates outstanding achievements in lighting design, is expanding internationally with the launch of “KOI South Africa’ in 2015.
Knight of Illumination Awards organisers Pio Nahum and Davide Barbetta from Clay Paky, Jennie and Durham Marenghi, and The Fifth Estate’s Sarah Rushton-Read announced that work is already in progress for next year’s debut South Africa KOI Awards, which will run concurrently with Mediatech Africa trade show in Johannesburg.
Mediatech is scheduled for 15 to 17 July 2015 and the southern hemisphere event will run in addition to the existing London awards.
“Clay Paky is proud to have been at the forefront of creating the hugely successful Knight of Illumination Awards, which is now in its seventh year and growing,’ says Pio Nahum. “We feel the time is now right to launch a sister KOI, and we are delighted to be doing so in South Africa. Clay Paky is committed to supporting the emerging markets worldwide, and has made many great friends in Africa over the years. We look forward to announcing more details of KOI South Africa very soon.’
Durham Marenghi, an award winning lighting designer in his own right and coordinator for the Knight of Illumination Awards “The lighting industry increasingly receives huge support from companies across South Africa. We are keen to celebrate great lighting design wherever in the world that it is happening and we’re looking forward to working closely with our friends and colleagues in the region to create a KOI South Africa we can all be proud of.’
Duncan Riley, from South Africa’s Clay Paky dealer, DWR Distribution, concludes: “We’re thrilled that the international community will be able to celebrate the outstanding achievements of African lighting designers with the launch of KOI South Africa. DWR has long been a passionate supporter of lighting, and we’re proud to be a part of this fast developing industry in our country. KOI South Africa is a fantastic step forward for all of us working in the industry.”
Pro-Systems’ News Africa has confirmed its support as the event’s official media partner and will be bringing regular updates on the developments of the event through our magazine and online mediums.
