Malham Lighting Ltd | company

LED VIDEO DISPLAYS

CONTROL EQUIPMENT

Since the early 1960s Malham has been involved in providing specialised lighting for the entertainment industry. Over this period of time, a wealth of experience has been gained in both specifying and manufacturing bespoke lighting solutions. Malham was one of the first companies to embrace LED lighting technology and has produced many innovative lighting products.

Malham Lighting was originally founded by Dennis Eynon in the late 1950s. The business began as a photographic equipment company, born out of Dennis’ passion for teaching and practicing amateur photography. Dennis’ first foray into lighting was manufacturing telescopic tripods to hold lights for his still-life photography. He made his first batch using sections of discarded concertina lift gates, found in a scrapyard. He poured custom parts for his design at the foundry he worked in as a metallurgist and assembled the tripods in his back garden shed. After successfully using the lights for his own photography, he put an advert in the back of Amateur Photographer magazine to sell the rest of his salvaged lift gates as tripods for a £1 postal order each. To everyone’s surprise the postman arrived at Dennis’ house in Catford with a full sack of postal orders, completely overwhelming the manufacturing capabilities of the garden shed, and his wife, Pam, was tasked with typing a couple of hundred “due to high demand” apologies on the typewriter. The business grew as a photographic equipment company and Malham Photographic Equipment Ltd was founded in 1959, so named because of the South London street on which the factory was located. Gradually, Dennis started to receive requests to modify his lights to be used to light stages and ballrooms. He did work designing and manufacturing bespoke lighting solutions for the prestigious Top Rank Organisation suites and ballrooms. As their product reach expanded, the company was renamed, and Malham Lighting was born. As Malham Lighting, Dennis was at the forefront of innovative lighting design and manufacturing. He undertook exciting new contracts such as collaborating with French company Cremer, responsible for lighting the Notre Dame in Paris, to floodlight Canterbury Cathedral. The company went from strength to strength, including projects such as lighting the interior of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi’s private jet, manufacturing custom lighting and rigs for Pinewood Studios, and providing bespoke floodlights for the Billy Graham rallies at Earls Court.

As the discotheque scene grew in the 1970s, and ballroom dancing became less popular, Malham made the slow and natural progression from ballroom stage lighting to disco and nightclub lighting. In the late 1970s Malham designed and lit Ireland’s first ever purpose built nightclub, Tomango’s, and stayed at the forefront of lighting design in the leisure industry throughout the 70s and 80s. Under the direction of Dennis' sons, Andrew and James, Malham continued as Malham Lighting Design Ltd throughout the 90s and 2000s, designing and manufacturing modern lighting solutions and fittings as well as continuing to provide contract lighting designs within all aspects of the leisure industry. Today Malham Lighting have kept up to date with the changes in lighting, embracing LED technology, and continue to create bespoke lighting solutions for any application. With extensive product knowledge, still under the direction of Dennis' son, James, and his granddaughter, Laura, Malham specialise in adapting LED video display technology for use in the entertainment industry and beyond.

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