Tom Sutherland
Lead Lighting Designer, DX7 Design
At only 31 years old, Tom Sutherland has already accomplished a lot. The youngest Knight Of Illumination award nominee ever, and a 2018 winner for Pitbull's Time Of Our Lives Las Vegas residency, this sought-after designer has lit some of television’s most popular reality shows (The X-Factor and Dancing with the Stars to name just two) and worked with some of the world’s leading artists. What’s his recipe for success?
Meet Tom
You’ve had a lot of success at a young age. What do you attribute that to?
I like to think it was a lot of determination but I like to call it respectful determination. It was very much about sending letters out when I was very young, about 12, to TV companies and theatres in London, and some very nice LDs, who replied and would let me tag along for a weekend when I wasn’t in school. I got the bug for lighting from that.
Did you actually help out or just watch what was going on?
I was always getting my hands dirty, not just watching an LD, but helping a tech run cable or helping in any way. Those little bits of knowledge of what everyone does meant that further down the line I had more respect for the entire process as a whole because I had that background into what it takes to put it all together. The bigger picture of what it takes to be a designer is very much a vital part of how I see my success.
Has such a young start given you any advantages?
A lot of people I know have done the college route and that’s given them a good basis, which is great, but personally I found it really beneficial to be surrounded by the experts. In my eyes, there’s nothing better than on-the-job training. The amount of knowledge you gain by just sitting next to a designer or programmer and watching their thought process is invaluable. I was sponging up all this information and seeing how different people work. I could then take the best bits from all of that and figure out my own way through.
In 2018, you won a KOI award for Pitbull’s Time of Our Lives Las Vegas residency. How did that connection come about?
I did a lot of the Simon Cowell type shows, Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor in London. His company was starting up a new show for Univision called La Banda and they asked me to come out to Miami to light that. That led to an introduction to the producer of the Latin Grammys, Cisco Suarez & Macarena Moreno. They had great connections and that followed on to producing Pitbull’s shows.
The KOI sword might be the coolest award to win. Where do you keep yours?
We’ve got a little office in LA on the end of Hollywood Blvd so we keep it in the window. It’s nice to see it whenever we walk in.
You started DX7 Design in 2014 and now have offices in LA, London and Shanghai. You do a lot of international work. Can that be a challenge at times?
We’re fortunate to work in some interesting countries. We’ve just finished a set of shows in Saudi Arabia, and at the same time are doing a stadium show in China. I love the fact that we manage to travel to all of these places and deal with all of these different cultures. I find it challenging but it’s fascinating. I always brief my team and tell them this isn’t like it will be at home. Take a deep breath, do what we do and let’s deliver the best we can in these environments. I think going in with that kind of mindset is a good sentiment. To go in with guns blazing, thinking you’re going to have the experts that you have in the US or Europe, isn’t the way to achieve a show in challenging environments. You need to motivate everyone locally as much as you do your own team to push it through to be its best.
Are there certain rules to follow when you’re creating a design?
My team always look at me in despair when we start drafting a plan as nothing is ever in a straight line!
I don’t feel like we’re bound to any rules. We respect the process of how everything is done but also push ideas and push boundaries. We look at a performance as a whole and try to merge what we’re doing with the artist on stage. Sometimes that’s done by doing very little because you can see that the artist is doing it all for you. It’s about creating those moments that relate the emotion of the artist’s performance by strengthening it and not overpowering it.
What’s the most stimulating part of lighting design?
What I find the most stimulating is when you’re in a big stadium or arena and it’s something everyone’s been working incredibly hard on for months or longer and there’s that one moment when the house lights go off and you see the first cue - the goosebumps come up on me. That’s the single moment when it makes it all worthwhile. It’s good nerves, good pressure, and if you’ve put in your all, you can look at it and be proud.
What’s the most challenging aspect?
It’s always a challenge when you have big ideas and the artist has big ideas, to fit that into a budget. It’s a fun challenge and sometimes it can be stressful when you never want to say no and want to always deliver a great big show.
What’s that process like?
I work a bit backwards actually. We’ll draw a plan that I know is going to be way over budget and will give the production manager a meltdown! Once we have that vision, that goal locked in, I know what we need to create. The vision is there. The next stage is figuring out with the rental company what we need to achieve, what do they have and how can we make it happen. Luckily, there are a lot of vendors and rental houses that will embrace the vision with us so it makes it really fun to collaborate.
How do you keep up with new products out there? Do you attend trade shows?
Yes, trade shows, but I’m lucky that products are also sent to us that we get to have a look at. We look at the new kit that is out there and see how we can work it into shows sensibly and resourcefully while keeping in mind that the show has to look amazing. I like to keep in mind that everyone is running a business and at the end of the day, everyone from the artist to the client to the manufacturer to the rental house to the truck driver has to make money.
It all starts in the R&D department of a manufacturer.
Yeah. You see a light on a show and I wish there could be a book that comes to every designer that dissects how many brains and how much manpower went in to creating that. You take it for granted.
You used the Elation Dartz on Dancing with the Stars. Have you used Elation much in your career?
Yes, the Dartz has been one of my favorites over the past 18 months or so. I always love something that gives me an added bang for my buck. I don’t know how you managed to fit so much into something so little. We put them on a show last April at the Strat in Vegas where they run 2 shows a night 5 days a week and not one of them has gone down. On a production like that, to invest in something that gives massive punch and they don’t have to repair it, is great for me as a designer. That means we’ve been responsible in picking gear that we know is going to last and not require a huge amount of maintenance, plus the show looks 100% night after night.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re doing a new show for NBC, we have a show in China called The Singer, and we are off to do Lionel Richie’s Las Vegas residency.
Is this your lifetime work or do you see something else out there for you?
As I move on and grow, if I could move into a creative direction role that would be amazing. But right now, we’re in a position that is really fun with a whole ream of really lovely clients. I love where we are in the mix of TV, live shows and concerts.
What do you like to do when you’re not doing lighting design?
I love to travel when I get a moment to do it, go to a nice beach somewhere and just take some time out and reset my head. That’s one of my favorite things to do. I wish I had time to do more hobbies. I’m going to learn to play the piano some day! That’s on my list.
What’s something about Tom Sutherland that people might find surprising?
I almost didn’t make it into lighting because I was a diver. I was a little Tom Daley, just without the abs!
