Woodlite is a large, well-stocked and super-efficient dry hire specialist with an HQ
just outside the attractive university town of Karlstad, the capital of Varmland
county in Sweden, and a facility in Stockholm.
The company is active all over Scandinavia and Europe and has recently invested in
over 100 Robe BMFL moving lights bringing their current BMFL total to around 330.
They also own nearly 350 Pointes … such is the growing popularity of both these
types of Robe fixture.
The company was founded by Magnus Jansson in 1995 and has built its success on
having the latest technologies available, in excellent condition … and making the
process of getting the kit needed to the client / project quickly, easily and always
with a smile.
Woodlite started investing in Robe products in 2010 when the LEDWash series was
launched. That was the time, says Jansson, when the demand for Robe really
started to grow amongst their clients, especially in the rental and staging sectors.
From a rental company perspective what’s important is having good quantities of
“industry standard’ products on board, and once he perceives that a product is
reaching that status … he knows it’s a rock solid investment with a decent lifespan
and a guaranteed ROI.
They also have Robe’s LED DLX Spot and DLS Profiles in stock and some CycFX 8s,
which amounts to around 3000 moving lights in total.
The Karlstad warehouse is a 3500 square metre premises and there are currently
18 people working full time for the company, all of whom Jansson values highly as
well as the regular freelancers.
Woodlite’s business model of being easy and pleasant to deal with and having well
prepped and maintained kit to their own “Woodlite standard’ is straightforward on
one hand, but a lot more complex to execute on another. It relies on a lot of trust
and everyone having the right attitude and personalities.
Jansson’s relationship with Robe’s Swedish distributor Bellalite goes back to the
early 1990s and building and sustaining long term relationships – as opposed to
benefitting short term gain – is very much integral to Jansson’s commercial
philosophy.
Jansson himself started in the industry as a DJ – impressed with one of his sister’s
boyfriends … he thought it was a cool thing to do! That led to the purchase of his
first sound rig and then a lighting desk and some broken dimmers which he fixed –
he’s always had a love for tinkering with electronics!
After finishing college, military service and a few low key jobs … he landed a
contract to light Swedish punk rock band Noice on the road in 1994/95, during which
time he got the idea that he could make a business out of renting premium quality
kit and providing excellent service … the rest as they say … is history!