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