TPi_Magazine__February_2018

LITECOM
LITECOM
Despite boasting offices in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Georgia [and a few
famous names on its client list] Litecom remains determined - not - to conquer the world.
TPi’s Ste Durham flew to Copenhagen to hear the company’s story first hand.
Litecom’s own CEO, Rasmus Bremer Sørensen, was on hand to play
chaperone to TPi for the day, as we visited the company’s various
operations in and around a decidedly crisp but sunny Copenhagen.
First stop was Litecom’s secluded HQ in Kastrup (luckily, just in time for
smørrebrød).
“My brother Morten and I started Litecom officially in 2000,” Bremer
Sørensen began. “We had worked together before that, but it was always
‘just a job’ - mainly freelancing in conventional broadcast and film lighting.
More by coincidence than strategy, our business became focussed on
moving light, which gave us a clear direction.”
Litecom, in its current incarnation, is built on the twin pillars of lighting
equipment rental and, perhaps more surprisingly, real estate. Although
these areas of business may seem disparate at first, the company’s decision
to buy and develop property for its own use has allowed it the freedom to
expand (or consolidate) as it sees fit.
Bremer Sørensen continued: “The real estate company only has one
client, Litecom, but it still means we can see a building and immediately
start talking about how we can add to it or develop the area around it. We
are very good at lighting, but I would go as far as to say that this aspect of
our business is even stronger.”
This talent for spotting prime real estate was evidenced quite recently,
when Litecom came across a disused electrical research facility that was
located a short drive across town in Brøndby. This imposing structure,
which has been affectionately dubbed The Cube, was snapped up by
Litecom to serve as the city’s new go-to rehearsal studio. While this was an
exciting new venture for the team, reality quickly set it once the doors of
this building were reopened.
“When we first came, the place was rubbish,” laughed the company’s
gregarious CFO, Torben Merrilgdgaard. “It had been abandoned for 5 years
due to bankruptcy and had 1.5m of water in the basement! Even so, we
knew it was going to be perfect for us. There is soul there, and a sense of
expectation that is clear as soon as you walk through the door.”
Although it took 2 years of hard work to whip the neglected building
into shape, the facility is now as enthralling as it is functional. The company
has worked to retain as much of the laboratory’s former glory as possible;
with each piece of apparatus and instance of anachronistic décor conjuring
(most likely inaccurate) visions of Nikola Tesla-esque scientists their hairraising
experiments.
From the subterranean tunnels used to circulate heat around the
cavernous main studio to the reinvigorated observation boxes that
overlook it; many of the building’s idiosyncrasies have been refreshed and
repurposed to complement facility’s new function.
The main studio in particular, which was earthed to within an inch of its
life for obvious reasons, benefits from phenomenal acoustics and natural
soundproofing that would have otherwise cost Litecom a small fortune.
“It has been a long and hard journey to establish The Cube, but we are
almost there,” said Merrilgdgaard. “We have never built a rehearsal space
before, so it was important that we did it the right way. We had to present
our case to the mayor, who was very supportive; to ensure that what we
were planning would be for the benefit of the surrounding community. We
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