Siblings' business wins more acclaim

Carousel Lights was honoured with a place in the final of the recently held 2016 Lloyds Bank National Business Awards, dubbed ‘the Oscars of the great British business’ by ex-Prime Minister David Cameron.

Already a holder of the Cool Brand 2016/17 accolade, it was shortlisted in the New Business of the Year category.

The London-based business, started by Reynolds siblings Ben, 40, and Rebecca, 41, designs and produces feature lights using neon, fairground lights, and lightboxes.

It missed out on taking home the New Business of the Year title, but Ben said making the final ‘made us feel like we’d won anyway’.

Founded in 2012, Carousel Lights has gone on to produce pieces for the likes of BBC, ITV, London’s Royal Academy (which appeared on Made In Chelsea) Harrods, Topshop, CentreParcs, and celebrities.

“Some of our celebrity clients like us to keep quiet, but we produced a light for Sophie Ellis-Bextor,” said Ben. “She has a tattoo on her arm and wanted this brought to life as light for her kitchen. It consists of polished steel, original fairground lights and ‘family’ written in neon.”

The business was inspired by visits to Boston’s May Fair and one of its creations, Waltzer Heart, is a nod to the ride of the same name.

“The Waltzer ride was developed in 1933 for the showman Charles Thurston, and we therefore created an art deco style light, with polished steel, wings and swirl-capped fairground lights to mimic the spinning cars,” said Ben. “We spent months tracking down the exact shade of red that ‘Waltzer’ was written in on the first ever ride, and then used this red to give the light a red trim.”

For more on Carousel Lights, visit the website www.carousellights.com