ClayPaky 🇮🇹

📍 Seriate, Bergamo, Italy

🏢 Founded 1976

🌍 Premium Touring & Theatrical Moving Heads

Overview Innovations Products Applications FAQs Resources

Company Overview

ClayPaky, part of the massive ARRI lighting group, is legendary in the global live event industry. Based in Bergamo, Italy, the company is credited with single-handedly inventing the modern ‘beam’ fixture—the ultra-concentrated, piercing shaft of light that defines modern EDM festivals and stadium rock tours. Their fixtures are universally recognized as the absolute pinnacle of optical engineering and mechanical reliability.

ClayPaky does not compete in the budget market. Their focus is strictly on highly specialized, premium automated fixtures that push the boundaries of physics. When a massive global tour like Coldplay or a highly complex theatrical production like Cirque du Soleil requires a fixture that will perform flawlessly 100 feet in the air for 200 consecutive shows, they specify ClayPaky.

Beyond raw output, the company is famous for its ‘Sharpy’ lineage, laser-source engines, and deeply saturated CMY color mixing, resulting in multi-award-winning fixtures that hold a permanent place on top-tier technical riders worldwide.

Core Technologies

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The Sharpy Beam Architecture

In 2010, ClayPaky released the Sharpy, a moving head that utilized a tiny 189W lamp perfectly aligned with a massive front lens to shoot a near-parallel, blindingly bright beam for miles. It fundamentally changed concert lighting forever.

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Xtylos Laser Engine

ClayPaky pioneered the use of a custom RGB solid-state laser source inside a moving head instead of an LED or discharge lamp. This creates a hyper-condensed beam of light with perfectly saturated colors that never fade over distance.

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CloudIO Diagnostics

A highly advanced maintenance tool for rental houses. Technicians can plug multiple ClayPaky fixtures into the CloudIO box, which runs advanced diagnostics, updates firmware, and predicts mechanical failures via the cloud before the fixture goes on tour.

Featured Solutions

Xtylos

The world’s first moving head beam fixture powered by a laser source. It produces a razor-sharp, insanely bright beam with deep reds and blues that traditional lamps cannot physically replicate.

Sharpy Plus

The modern evolution of the legend. A true hybrid fixture that can transition seamlessly from the famous piercing Sharpy beam into a wide, beautifully textured theatrical spotlight.

Sinfonya Profile

A unique, ultra-quiet LED profile designed specifically for theatrical and broadcast use. It features a revolutionary framing system and absolute silence, even when moving at high speeds.

Ideal Industry Deployments

🏟️ Global Stadium Tours

🎭 Broadway & High-End Theater

📺 Live Broadcast Events (Eurovision)

🎪 Massive EDM Festivals

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes the ClayPaky Sharpy so famous?

Before the Sharpy, creating a highly visible, thick beam of light required a massive, heavy, 1200-watt fixture. The Sharpy used brilliant optical engineering to create a much brighter, tighter beam using only a tiny 189W bulb in an incredibly fast, lightweight chassis, changing stage design permanently.

Is the Xtylos laser fixture dangerous to audiences?

The Xtylos uses a sealed laser source, but it is heavily diffused through optics to create a visible beam rather than a burning point. However, because it is so incredibly bright, lighting designers must adhere to strict safety protocols regarding minimum distance and avoiding direct eye exposure to the lens.

What does ARRI ownership mean for ClayPaky?

ARRI is the gold standard for Hollywood cinema cameras and lighting. Their acquisition of ClayPaky merges ARRI’s absolute mastery of cinematic color science with ClayPaky’s mastery of fast, automated moving heads, creating perfect fixtures for televised events.