Now heading Raiden Studios, a full-service fashion and events lighting design consultancy, Freddie Bonfanti injects his lighting designs with the same passion and unique perspective he's gained over the course of his career; carefully considering his space and casting light in such a way that it becomes a part of the show or installation. Working his way up from the yard to sets to runway shows in London and Moscow, Freddie's varied experience allows him to create designs that push boundaries with new ideas.
Focusing Alexander McQueen AW18.
Fashion! Turn to the LightingArmed with a Cinematography degree and electricians training, Freddie worked his way from the yard, to gaffering on sets, to discovering lighting for fashion.
I started out in Scotland, working on short films and features. In 2009 I moved to Australia where I got a job as a pat testing electrician at Fox Lighting in Sydney. One day in the yard I met one of Australias biggest gaffers, Shaun Conway, who gave me a chance to work for him on set and from there he offered me a place in his team of electricians, mainly as a truck person, looking after all his equipment. It wasnt a great job, but it proved essential to refine my skills and knowledge with the gear. From there I basically started working on big films in Australia and high-end commercials thats where I refined my film lighting knowledge. Shaun is a fantastic gaffer and a wonderful person, and the Australian sparks were very good, I learned a lot over there.
When I came back to London, I started gaffering on features and commercials, but after a few years I felt like I was getting tired of the film industry. One day around 2013, I was asked to gaffer a fashion show for a big Italian lighting designer called Manolo; I had never done a show before and my curiosity pushed me to accept the gig.
Finding true passion in designing lighting for live fashion shows with help from a mentor.
The job was an Alexander McQueen show and its fair to say, it opened my eyes. I didnt know that lighting a runway show would be so interesting and incredibly creative: the big shows at Fashion Week are born out of a huge creative process that involves the designer, the creative production and all the other creatives involved. Lighting is crucial in this process and the lighting designer has huge responsibilities.
You get to work in amazing locations, and precision is key. Learning that early was fundamental. I kept working with Manolo on a lots of fashion shows and events in the following five years, I then became his associate lighting designer and friend. We really built a good relationship. The amount of stuff I learned in those five years was unique. I would say Manolo is one of the top three lighting designers in the fashion business and he was able to teach me all the secrets of fashion lighting design which is very different from film lighting.
A Difference of Precision in Fashion LightingFilm lighting is an incredibly creative process, but there is significantly more leeway when it comes to mistakes. There arent many physical restrictions on where to place your lights based on where the lens is looking and, if what you planned isnt working, you can easily move the equipment to different parts of the set. Fashion show lighting design, however, is often irreversible and unforgivable. Once you have the technical plans and a brief at hand, you need to think carefully and commit to a design, lighting fixtures, and rigging. Everything goes on an executive plan which is then submitted for sign off; there is no winging it. Your job is to create an atmosphere in the location whilst properly and evenly illuminating the runway, making the models and garments as beautiful as possible, and giving the cameras and the photographers enough exposure. Ultimately, what sells the collection are the show videos and photographs.
Choosing the right lighting is also very important: you have to be very careful of what the lamps look like and what they feel like. You cant use masculine and techy looking moving lights if the shows inspirations were femininity and nature. Everything has to carefully blend.
Adidas Original AW19.
Collaboration Process and TechniqueWhat it's like to put a show on and the dedication it requires.
Firstly, you're presented with a creative pack by production featuring the main ideas, references, loose information on the garments, and location photographs. Your job is to soak up the vision of the creative director and transform it into concrete, technical lighting design. A production drawing is then supplied, this will establish where sound, lighting, scenic elements, etc. will be positioned from the various departments. From the drawing youll be able to understand how far and wide the runway is, understand how many fixtures youll need and estimate the correct angles of lighting. Precision during this process is paramount.
Choosing the appropriate lighting instrument is also very important: you need to pick the right light for the job, but you must be very careful of what the lamps look like and understand how they will fit with the rest of the scene. You cant use masculine and techy looking moving lights if the shows inspirations were femininity and nature. Everything has to be carefully selected.
Once on site, the job is to create an atmosphere in the location whilst properly and evenly illuminating the runway, making the models and garments as beautiful as possible, and giving the cameras and the photographers enough exposure. Ultimately, what sells the collection are the show videos and photographs.
Creating AtmosphereYou arent just lighting for one medium: youre lighting for the audience, for the stills cameras, for the video cameras and lastly, for smartphones. Guests will post on social media; its all about the experience.
I was taught that gue
Europe Stories
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
The best playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks bring a little extra magic to your daily routine. With new features and offerings, Spotify Premium delivers even mo...
25/11/2025
Comprehensive new research confirms what we already knew: Australian music fans love the quality, quantity, and access they have to new and local music on strea...
25/11/2025
Applicable Products
Objectives The purpose of this application note is to give a brief background on 5G (NR) wireless communication an explain the reason a SN...
25/11/2025
25 Nov 2025
VEON's QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM...
25/11/2025
UKTV has acquired a high-profile slate of US dramas from Paramount Global Conten...
25/11/2025
A symphony of genius, rivalry and vengeance, boldly reimagined from Peter Shaffe...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Cinematography World
Read the article
FilmLight has finalised the prestigious 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards jury and welcomed award-winning...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Prensario
Read the article
La serie fue dirigida por Juli n de Tavira, Rodrigo Santos, y David Leche Ruiz, con direcci n de fotograf a a...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
The awards, celebr...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Televisual
Read the article
Already live in Los Angeles and rolling out in New York and London, Nara gives producers, colourists, conform ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Digital Media World
Read the article
ARTONE post-house in Tokyo is the first facility in Japan to integrate Baselight M, choosing its prec...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
Once hidden in post-production suites, the artists who make movies and TV shows look the way they ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Deadline
Read the article
The Brutalist' & Bad Bunny's Nuevayol' Music Video Among 2025 FilmLight Colour Award Winners - Cam...
24/11/2025
Robyn made her long-awaited return to the stage this week, as Spotify and Acne Studios brought friends and top fans together for an unforgettable evening at the...
24/11/2025
After more than two years of redevelopment, FC Barcelona returned to its spiritual home on November 22, hosting Athletic Club in the first La Liga match at the ...
24/11/2025
24 Nov 2025
Kyivstar Launches Starlink Direct to Cell Satellite Connectivity in Ukraine Today's Launch Makes Ukraine the First Country in Europe Where Star...
24/11/2025
Ahead of the new ninth series of Dancing with the Stars, kicking off in January 2026, RT and Shinawil have announced the arrival of three new faces to the hit ...
21/11/2025
Fans have been counting down the days until the final theatrical chapter of Wicked is revealed. To celebrate the highly anticipated release of Wicked: For Good ...
21/11/2025
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul with the return of Spotify Hous...
21/11/2025
Wiesbaden, November 21, 2025. The SGL Carbon site in Meitingen has reason to celebrate as one of its trainees received a special award. Elias Stemmer was honore...
21/11/2025
Sky Media's £2m award-winning sustainability initiative crowns its first charity as this year's standout changemakerFriday 21 November 2025
GoodGym nam...
21/11/2025
As COP30 draws to a close, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ...
20/11/2025
Your playlists are personal. They're the soundtracks to your road trips, your quiet mornings, and your biggest celebrations; collections of memories and dis...
20/11/2025
Spotify, uzun s redir zerine al t T rk m zik k lt r n n ikon haline gelmi ...
20/11/2025
For the first time, Spotify has teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to cohost ...
20/11/2025
This year's ARIA Awards marked a turning point for Australian music, and Spotify was right at the heart of it. For the first time in the awards' nearly ...
20/11/2025
15 March 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy and Vericom are pleased to announce the recent deployment of Cinegy Archive for production and as...
20/11/2025
6 September 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
FIC Turkey supplies media content to Pay TV under Fox TV Channel brands in Turkey.
At the start of s...
20/11/2025
25 June 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Last month VIVA finalized its Cinegy installation in order to produce and broadcast the World Cup Brazil ...
20/11/2025
1 October 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
With 5 locations spread out around Baden-W rttemberg, Schw bisch Media required a scalable end to end s...
20/11/2025
27 April 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy, which develops and produces media asset management products that are used in flagship production...
20/11/2025
12 August 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 26 October 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
20/11/2025
5 November 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 3 November 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
20/11/2025
12 February 2016
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 9 February 2016 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital...
20/11/2025
22 June 2016
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 21 June 2016 - Cinegy today announced that ABS BROADCAST, one of the largest independentl...
20/11/2025
10 January 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Find us on page 12 of the Program Guide 2016
Tags
NewBay Media Awards , Program Guide 2016 , broadc...
20/11/2025
15 March 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 15 March 2017 - Cinegy today announced that Thailand's Next Step direct-to-home Free...
20/11/2025
12 December 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 13 December 2017 - Cinegy today announced that it is making its Cinegy Air Cloud Pack...
Now heading Raiden Studios, a full-service fashion and events lighting design consultancy, Freddie Bonfanti injects his lighting designs with the same passion and unique perspective he's gained over the course of his career; carefully considering his space and casting light in such a way that it becomes a part of the show or installation. Working his way up from the yard to sets to runway shows in London and Moscow, Freddie's varied experience allows him to create designs that push boundaries with new ideas. 
