INTERVIEW
46 MAY 2019
GLP Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Attendees joining GLP’s 25th Anniversary celebrations at PL+S Frankfurt
GLP started out near the famed Black Forest. A mountainous region in southwest Germany, bordering France. Known for its dense, evergreen forests and picturesque villages, it is often associated with the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. However unlike the fairy tales, GLP’s growth has been real. ETA talks to Company Founder, Udo Künzler in this exclusive.
hybrid fixture ever made and it was extremely innovative. It took us some time to understand that developing the Patend Light was a highly complex fixture to engineer and that it would take much longer than we initially expected. So, we decided to swallow our pride and create a more conventional product first, that would help pave the monetary foundations of the company and ensure the final development stage of the Patend Light. These were GLP’s first steps in the industry. What was the first product that was manufactured by GLP? The Startec 2000 scanner, which we came up with in order to make the Patend Light possible. When did the brand make its first appearance in a trade show? What products were exhibited? What was the response?
Udo Künzler flanked by Soren Storm (left) and Michael Munz (right) from the GLP Asia office
Pretty soon after our first product launches, we exhibited in Rimini (Italy), London’s PLASA Show and Musikmesse in Frankfurt. The industry present at these trade shows was very excited about our early products, which kind of fueled our drive to create ever more innovative solutions for the entertainment industry over the last 25 years.
Udo can you kick off with a brief about the company’s beginning. Why, when and how?
Can you highlight some of the key milestones for the company?
GLP – German Light Products – was founded by my uncle Hartmut Braun and I in 1994. We started off in a small area in the big warehouse of my uncle’s company, B&K Braun. Back then, I had created the idea for the now legendary Patend Light, which was the reason why we established GLP in the first place. The Patend Light was something between a scanner and an early moving light. It was arguably the first
The much beloved Patend Light premiered at PLASA Show in London in 1996. This was a huge step for the company. Initially equipped with a 575W discharge lamp, a more powerful Patend Light with 1200W was to be introduced later. Both versions of the Patend Light were a massive success and paved the way for more GLP products, like the MAX, the Mighty Scan or the very popular Pocket Scan.
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