A Fife business has defended its approach to designing Dundee’s new Christmas lights.
The lights – which feature signs of the city’s heritage including RSS Discovery, the video games industry and DC Thomson’s comic – were designed by Fife-based Arro Lighting.
Aaron Andrews, who runs Arro Lighting alongside Ross Syme, said they wanted to make bespoke Christmas lights for the city.
But not every Dundee resident has been full of festive cheer at the results.
“Not everyone is happy with Dundee because they say it’s not traditional enough,” Aaron said.
“I heard one comment that it doesn’t look like Oxford Street in London.
“That’s fair comment if you want to see something more traditional.
“There is a risk in what we do – we’re a bit more rock and roll – and not everyone is up for that.”
But, despite some critics, Aaron said the response generally to the Dundee designs has been positive.
“Our view is, it doesn’t have to be abstract, it’s just tailored,” he added.
“It has been difficult to get people on board, but Dundee has really kicked the business off for us.”
Heritage behind Dundee’s Christmas lights
The Fife business designed and supplied lighting featuring the iconic comic characters of the Beano and Oor Wullie.
Elsewhere, designs were inspired by Dundee’s maritime past, its city of design status and computer game influence.
The Arro founders, who have nearly 30 years’ experience in the industry, set up their own business after deciding they wanted to “do things differently” from their former employers.
Across the UK, they have produced and delivered a wide range of projects from Christmas illuminations to 3D mapping projections.
Aaron said discussions about the Dundee project began early this year.
“We design here in the UK with our own team then once we come to an agreement with the client, we send our drawings to manufacturers in Spain,” he said.
“They make the decorations, then we import them. That process can take several months.”
Aaron explained the inspiration behind the Dundee designs.
“We treat every installation differently – but we wanted to dedicate the lights in Dundee to reflect the city’s heritage.
“We want people to become part of that, both locals and tourists.
“It’s a continuing passion of ours to be able to leave a legacy, wherever we install creations, not just provide off the shelf designs.
Fife firm working across the UK
The business has won work across the UK, from Leeds and London to Cardiff and Norwich.
Aaron stressed the need to have work coming in all year round and not relying on Christmas projects.
“For the last few years, we’ve been involved with light trails that have been popping up.
“We’ve also just finished working for Landmark. They wanted to bring their ancient forest trail alive so we designed a floodlight system.
“There’s an installation where if you walk past, it produces thunder and lightning.
“Most cities are hosting light festivals now so we’re trying to make contacts there so we can produce light installations.”
As well as the Christmas lights, the Fife firm is also behind the light maze in city square.
“It’s an interactive light maze that is very Instagram orientated. I hire that and exhibit it around the country.”
New premises for Arro Lighting
As part of the firm’s growth, Arro Lighting moved to Fife Enterprise Hub in Glenrothes.
Aaron said: “We really needed to be able to have a private space and the right professional environment for our business.
“It’s important that Ross and I can collaborate in the same space and have excellent broadband for our Zoom calls to clients.”
But the co-founders spend a lot of time on the go, he said.
“We are out and about all the time – it’s life on the road developing projects and there’s a lot of design work that happens on the go.
“Part of it is about managing the business in a way that it doesn’t manage us.”
