Gil Teichman is one of the most flamboyant figures on the Israeli lighting design
and production scene – innovative, creative, sometimes controversial,
uncompromisingly “hands-on’ in every design job, the LD and “light artist’ is a larger
than life character in every sense of the word.
He is also a regular investor in Robe products.
His eponymously named company, “Gil Teichman”, purchased their first Robes
some years ago, and in fact he’s known of Robe right since the start in the 1990s,
when they were an OEM manufacturer. The first ever “Gil Teichman” purchases
were of the ColorWash and ColorSpot 1200 series, around 9 years ago, followed by
the 700E AT series, all delivered through Robe’s Israeli distributor, Danor Theatre &
Studio Systems.
A great relationship with Danor has maintained “Gil Teichman’ as one of the
distributor’s largest customers for Robe, and the upgrade to the moving light stock
started three years ago. This now includes some 24 x MMX Spots, 12 x LEDWash
1200s, 24 x LEDWash 600s, and was followed up in summer 2015 with the purchase
of 18 x Pointes. Both Teichman and “Gil Teichman” are among the biggest cross
rental clients in the country, especially for BMFLs right now.
Robe represents 90% of “Gil Teichman”’s moving light stock, and most of their
projects will involve Robe lights.
A lot of Teichman’s personal design work is for government sponsored projects, city
lighting schemes and public events like the 60th Independence Day celebrations.
He’s known for “pushing the envelope’ of imagination and creativity, often testing all
working alongside him … but producing stunning results.
Teichman utilized over 200 Robe fixtures for the opening ceremony of the new Hall
2 at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Centre.
Other notable recent projects have included illuminating the 158 metre high Kirya
Tower – the sixth tallest building in Israel – achieved using 24 x LEDWash 1200s
spread out around the base, their powerful beams shooting up the postmodern
glass, granite and aluminium clad tower, transforming it into a rich glowing red
beacon to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the assignation of Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995.
Another plan activated by Teichman – via the Council of Jerusalem – was the
illumination of the elegant Chords Bridge at the entrance to the city. Designed by
Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, the single 118 metre mast
supports the road span via 66 steel cables arranged in a stylish parabolic shape,
making it one of the city’s defining visual features. It is used by Jerusalem’s light
railway and has an adjoining glass sided pedestrian walkway. Teichman pitched the
idea to the City of Jerusalem Council … they went for it, with him as the lead light
artist.
Teichman has a complete passion – close to obsession – for lighting and his work.
He has invested in Robe products for a number of different reasons including the
quality, brightness and reliability “all of which adds up to the best value right now’
he states, adding “Our Robe fixtures are the hardest working in Israel’.
