The living daylights

Ever dreamed of leaving the m&e contracting business and becoming a secret agent? Well, this is probably about as close as you’re likely to get.

The Lamp Company, which stocks more than 7000 lines of lamp at any one time, has supplied a variety of its products to light up a major exhibition entitled ‘For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond’, which is currently on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.

The exhibition examines Ian Fleming and his heroic fictional spy in their historical context, although, let’s face it, what we really want to get a look at is the gadgets, which include a working model of an Aston Martin DB5 made for HRH Prince Andrew in 1966, complete with the kind of high-tech add-ons and gizmos that made your eyes light up in wonder as a kid. You might recognise the DB5 from two of the most well-loved Bond films, namely, Thunderball and Goldfinger.

Andy Grant, managing director of Luminance Lighting Design in London and lighting designer for the Bond project, specified Philips Masterline energy savers, 45 W MR111, 45 W Capsule and 30 W AR111 lamps.

The displays, many of which are on show to the public for the first time, are now powerfully and strikingly lit by 50 AR111 lamps and 40 Capsules. The lighting was fitted by electrical contractor The Moule Partnership Group.

“I specified the energy savers because of the lower energy usage and the fact that they are longer-life lamps, therefore negating the need for maintenance on what is a six-month temporary exhibition,” explains Grant.

The museum has its own on-site maintenance team, and although Grant is confident that Bond can hold his own for the six months the exhibition runs, he is also secure in the knowledge that the team has been brought bang up to date when it comes to green lighting if the installation does, in fact, die another day.

“We’ve used the Masterline range on some of the permanent displays before, although sometimes the museum’s own maintenance team used to replace them with their own, less efficient bulbs if the bulbs blew. But now they’re changing over to more efficient luminaires, so that isn’t going to happen on this project.”

There’s no denying it, the exhibition simply has it all for the wannabe spies out there. For the die-hard fashionista it also has a fair bit to offer. There’s the original blood-splattered shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, and Halle Berry’s bikini from Die Another Day. Unfortunately, she won’t be modelling it in person.