JEM Audiovisual Events & Installations is a growing company based in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, led by its owner and founder, Justin Engelman, and built on passion, energy and enthusiasm for live events and for delivering technical production to the highest standards.
Specialising in sporting events, corporate events and dance competitions, as well as theatrical and cultural productions, JEM also creates the visual design for 90% of its shows. The company has grown since 2022, after moving into its current warehouse, a space it has used in an imaginative way.
In this new stage of development, the company began investing in Robe moving lights. Its most recent purchase was 8 ESPRITE Profile fixtures, which join the LEDBeam 150 and LEDWash 600 units that have been part of its inventory since 2022. The ESPRITE fixtures have significantly expanded the possibilities of its lighting designs.
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JEM was founded in 2010 with the aim of focusing on the creation of visual and lighting designs. The visual world had fascinated Justin since childhood: he was first drawn to the lights in toy stores and later began DJing at parties and for school friends. From those early years, he knew he wanted to turn this sector into his career and his business, and that he wanted to do it well.
Justin's first contact with Robe dates back to 2011, when he was working for the Koninklijke Nederlandse Gymnastiek Unie (KNGU), the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Union, as a lighting programmer and operator. The organisation had purchased first-generation Robe DLX Spot luminaires, which also incorporated the power and vibrancy of a multispectral LED engine.
Justin found them to be robust and reliable fixtures, capable of offering extensive lighting possibilities, and his appreciation for Robe grew from there. At some point along the way, JEM also acquired those DLX Spot luminaires from KNGU.
Our designs are based on a specific approach to the environment and on lighting each event appropriately, not simply on the number of luminaires we may have available, Justin explains, describing his broader view of how an event should be approached visually.
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After the pandemic, although those original DLX Spot fixtures were still working properly, Justin decided it was time to raise the level of the business, add new technology to the inventory and take a qualitative step forward. Looking for more industry-standard moving lights, he once again thought of Robe.
Initially, 4 LEDWash 600 fixtures were added to the inventory, followed a few months later by 10 LEDBeam 150 units. Later, he needed a powerful, versatile and reliable profile fixture, so he organised a comparison between potential candidates. On Robe's side, the process was coordinated by Benelux distributor Controllux, with whom JEM already had an excellent working relationship.
For JEM, the key factors were CRI, the fidelity of saturated colours, reliability, sustainability and, linked to the latter two, durability. Ideally, they were looking for a fixture that, like the DLX Spot, would still be working in ten years' time. They also needed accurate framing shutters, an efficient and effective frost, prisms and animation wheels. After assessing these elements and following a very convincing comparison, they chose the ESPRITE.
The fact that the ESPRITE fixtures also offered a good colour match with their existing Robe luminaires was an additional advantage. However, the excellent local support and after-sales service provided by Controllux also played an important role in the decision.
Justin highlighted the quality of Controllux's technical training programmes, an opportunity JEM used so that its regular technicians could get to know the fixtures better, understand how they work and carry out maintenance themselves.
Justin also visited the Robe factory in the Czech Republic and was delighted to see the manufacturing process first-hand. He particularly values the fact that Robe manufactures in Europe and that its facilities are organised and managed with great precision.
I think we can all learn a lot from the way Robe produces its products and manages its business, he noted.
Since joining JEM's inventory, the ESPRITE luminaires have been used on numerous events, including the Dutch Artistic Gymnastics Championships, held at Rotterdam Ahoy, where they brought greater vibrancy, colour, movement and dynamism to the various gymnastics displays.
