40 Years of Fantasee -- The Michigan-Based Lighting Company Celebrates an Anniversary

Fantasee Lighting is spending 2016 celebrating 40 years working in the lighting industry. The firm, which was founded by lighting designer Stefan Graf in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1976, specializes in lighting for entertainment and corporate events and provides design and project management solutions. The firm moved to new 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Belleville, Michigan, in 2000.

One of the hallmarks of a long lasting company is happy clients; Fantasee Lighting has decades of clients who will attest to the professionalism and creativity. Jim Price, executive producer with JP3 Creative Services of Taylor, Michigan notes, "I have been contracting Fantasee Lighting for over 30 years for my staging needs. During that time they have consistently provided me with top quality lighting design, equipment, and personnel. Fantasee's designers and engineers have always provided me with simple solutions to the complicated problems that are so common in large scale production. Fantasee Lighting is continuously upgrading their inventory and keeping abreast of the latest technology, assuring that as a producer I have the latest tools to provide my client with the biggest bang for their buck. I will continue to work with Fantasee Lighting in the future." Jodie Brighton of Event Solutions International of Troy, Michigan, says, "I would like to thank you for the excellent work you and your team did on the lighting for the MIRA Gold Key Gala. While I wasn't there to see everything up and running, my team tells me that everything looked great and that the lighting really helped turn the empty space into something special."

Fantasee Lighting also provides exceptional educational opportunities for their employees. "We strongly encourage all our full-time employees to pursue additional education and certification. This includes incentives and bonuses to go, and to bring that training back and present it here, in what we like to call lunch and learns. We had some of the first people in the state certified in ESTA's ETCP program," explains Fantasee Lighting operations manager Colin Brandt.

The official Fantasee Lighting anniversary celebration took place this past August; entertainment was provided by the Horizon String Quartet, Xiaodong Hottman and Yuki Mack and Mark Farner, formerly of Grand Funk Railroad. There were free massages, gift baskets made up of products donated by Fantasee's various vendors were given away, as well as food galore, much of it Michigan-centric. "It's because of our clients, that we have been able to make it to 40 years. We look forward to continuing on for many years to come," concludes Graf.