punQtum takes centre stage at Gucci launch
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The fashion show was attended by a star-studded line-up of guests, including Dakota Johnson, Liu Wen, Wen Qi, Mark Ronson and Gulf Kanawut. Parisian production company Bureau Betak was called upon to oversee the whole production of the VIP event.
In search of a high-quality communications system, Bureau Betak reached out to Dasan SR, the South Korean distributor for Riedel Communications. The brief from the client was for an easy-to-use, reliable system that would make coordination across the evening as seamless as possible. It was to be responsible for giving cues to models from the Head of Production, as well as assisting the video crew throughout the event.
Dasan SR suggested the use of a punQtum wired intercom system that would be subsequently integrated by the team at Rhino Sound - a Dasan SR company specialising in audio equipment hire and live sound production.
“punQtum was chosen as it made a great solution to accompany the Riedel Bolero wireless, as it is also based on AES67, uses PoE to power the belt packs and is very easy to set up,” explains David JooYoung Jeon, application engineer at Dasan SR. “With the Bolero being designated as a request, it was clear that we needed a wired communication that could be integrated seamlessly. This is what led us to punQtum. It was the perfect addition as it had the crucial advantages of working as a partyline without the need for a station.”
punQtum specialises in affordable communications technology for a range of projects and installations. Engineered in Switzerland and made in Europe, punQtum’s products form the backbone of any production and offer a highly sophisticated centre of coordination - something that was essential for the GUCCI Cruise show.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, the location of the event, is a national cultural heritage centre, which meant that there were numerous limitations regarding the time given to set-up and the physical positioning of the hardware. Also, because of its historical nature, the team had to be extremely cautious about every aspect of the installation and deployment of the system.
In keeping with the GUCCI ethos, aesthetics were equally as important as the stability and reliability of the system. One of the main requests from the client was that no cables were to be seen by guests, so care was taken to ensure that they were minimised and hidden in the venue. Since the punQtum system can be daisy-chained up to a maximum of eight belt packs with the appropriate cables and PoE switch or supply, cabling didn’t pose a huge issue for the project team.
Further, a master station wasn’t required, which was also helpful since all belt packs could communicate with each other independently, so connecting them through the communications network was the only thing needed for a seamless show.
JooYoung Jeon continues: “Since the network infrastructure was already set up by our team for the Bolero, all we needed to do was plug in ethernet cables from the network switch and run the Q-Tool. Q-Tool has a very straightforward user interface, with the ability to progressively set up each part of the system needed and then push in the settings to the network right away. This easy set-up of hardware and software was a big reason why we chose punQtum. We were really happy with how the system performed and the outcome of the show.”
