XAL’s showroom in 22 Bateman’s Row, London
Austrian luminaire manufacturer XAL has opened a lighting showroom in the UK for the first time and last night invited the industry to take a look.
XAL’s showroom, located in Shoreditch, London, is split into themed rooms based on luminaires for public spaces, hotel spaces, high-end residential, retail and offices.
It is XAL’s tenth showroom globally. The company’s CEO Christian Schraml told Lighting that although he had always wanted to open a UK showroom, such a move was all about timing.
XAL CEO Christian Schraml
Schraml said: “The UK was always for us a very important market but it is also one of the most sophisticated markets in the lighting industry. This is because the original roots of the lighting designer industry are in the UK”.
He added: “For us, the easiest markets to start with were those with the same language, Austria, Germany, Switzerland. When it came to opening a UK showroom, it was a question of right space, right person.”
XAL decided to move into the RIBA award-winning building at 22 Batemans Row in Shoreditch a year ago, “but we still needed to find the right person for the UK”, said Schraml.
Referring to XAL’s newly-appointed UK general manager Paul Welbon, who started in his post four months ago, Schraml said: “Now I have found the strong link between the UK and Austria.”
The company’s newest showroom was unveiled last night to lighting designers and architects against a backdrop of Austrian appetizers and a DJ. The space is arranged over the ground floor and the basement level of the building.
Katja Leszczynska, senior lighting designer for Aecom told Lighting: “I like the way the luminaire designs are split into different rooms at slightly different levels which makes it more intimate, instead of one ceiling height with everything in one space.”
The showroom has been carried out in collaboration with the Austrian practice Innocad Architektur ZT and the UK’s Space Group Architects. The luminaires on show include XAL’s Helios which is shortlisted in the interior category for the 2013 Lighting Design Awards.
