Apollo History Blog Series
Nineteen Ninety-Nine was arguably the most pivotal year in Apollo Design® Technology’s history. They accomplished a seemingly impossible feat: full-color, photographic glass gobos with half-tones. No one saw it coming.
Within two weeks of debuting their first ColourScenic® glass gobo at the LDI Trade Show in Orlando — a logo for the event itself — they went viral. The fever pitch of interest is even more impressive given that social media didn’t yet exist.
“My favorite product launch was when we went into color glass gobos,” Keersten professes. “I created the art setup process. Someone else in-house established the chemical etching parameters. It was a lot of fun to develop a procedure we had never used before — different than anyone had ever used before!” Since then, they have streamlined the process making color glass gobos much easier, safer, and greener to produce.
They were honored to receive the first ever ESTA Dealer’s Choice Award for New Product of the Year (1999) for this industry-wide transformative discovery, along with the ESTA Dealers’ Choice Customer Service Award (1999). Apollo Design® was named Industry Week Top 25 Growing Companies (1999). Sales increased by greater than 50% in the following 12 months, spurred in large part by the addition of their ColourScenic® glass gobo line.
With an ever-expanding portfolio, Apollo Custom® changed its name to Apollo Design® Technology, Inc.
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