Strand

Born in London’s theatreland district in 1914 at the start of World War 1, Strand was famous for its lighting by the 1920s, pioneered controls in the 1930s, grew internationally in the 1940s and moved into television lighting in the 1950s.

In the US, Century Lighting opened for business in New York to serve Broadway. In 1969, Strand, a company within the Rank organisation, purchased Century from then-owned Lighting Corporation of America, forming Century-Strand. Soon after, the name was changed to Strand-Century, and around 1989 the Century name was dropped.

By the 1970s Strand was making big technological leaps – shifting into automation and rewriting the rules for consoles, while the 1980s saw major advances in dimming and controls.

The revolution in computing in the 1990s saw a time of rapid technological growth. Strand created its first digital consoles and software-based control systems – direct descendants of those that control today’s highly-evolved, energy-efficient LED luminaires.

Click here to find out more about Strand Lighting’s history.

Strand is part of the Signify portfolio of brands, along with Vari-Lite and Zero 88.