Interview with Viking Grandin, founder/owner of Adapt – with subsidiaries in Stockholm (SE), Göteborg (SE) & New York (USA) – and one of the first to follow us in our LEDskin® adventure.

Viking is Senior Project Manager at Adapt, a company he founded in 1999 (aged 17!) together with his colleague Jonathan. Since then, they have been active in the event and stand building industry. “Adapt supplies high-tech plug & play solutions for
stand building and events. We are active internationally, with clients all over the world. Our focus is to help our Scandinavian clientele with their projects anywhere on the globe, as well as our international clients whose projects bring them to Europe/Scandinavia. We have offices in Stockholm, Göteborg and New York, as well as a large warehouse in Linköping (Sweden).”

Since when have you been using the beMatrix stand building system and where/when/how did you discover LEDskin®?

“We have been working with the beMatrix frame system since 2010. LEDskin® immediately won us over, since it could signify the start of a revolution in the world of stand building.”

Adapt was an early adopter of the LEDskin® system. What do you think are the main USPs of this product?

“LEDskin® of fers today’s stand builder plenty of advantages, of which, according to me, these are the most important ones:

• Easy to integrate in walls and modular stand building systems
• Fast to assemble and disassemble
• No need for additional parts, endless ways to connect several LEDskin® tiles in any direction, to each other or to the frame, using the same connectors.”

Why would you recommend beMatrix, apart from their products, to other businesses?

“We always had a great professional relationship with the beMatrix team. They provide plenty of support and inspiration for our projects and are always at hand to solve any issue immediately.”

Adapt is active all over the world and recently opened an office in New York even. What made you take that decision and what are your plans in the USA?

“We opened our New York office at the end of last year for several reasons. We already have a lot of Scandinavian clients with projects in the US, and a lot of American clients for whom we deploy projects in Europe. Our New York office helps us to work more efficiently, since we find ourselves in the same time zone our partners and clients are in, whom in fact we can now meet face-to-face rather than just by telephone. Our presence in the Big Apple serves as a great source of inspiration for our projects, to us and our team.

Over the past months we found that in the USA there most certainly is a market for a business like ours, offering high tech event and exposition solutions with a Scandinavian twist.”

If it was up to you, what product/product range/ service(s) should beMatrix develop over the coming years?

“In my view, remaining focused on digital solutions is key.

All digital screens also require an easy to use video playback system, which would simplify sending content to all digital screens of a stand. We at Adapt frequently use digital interactive video playback systems. beMatrix launching a simple system that is truly plug and play would be so much more effective.

If beMatrix comes up with an all-in-one solution, combining an interactive and easy to use video playback system with digital screens, they would make the life of all stand builders worldwide even easier.”

What application of the LEDskin® range proved to be the most challenging so far and why?

“Actually, while working with the LEDskin® range, we have not been faced with any real challenge. One of its many advantages is its ease of use, no matter how complex the stand’s design.”

One of the most exciting projects we set up using LEDskin® is a 360° configuration for the exhibition “What’s on the plate – What children eat” in the Fotografiska museum in Stockholm. This project aimed at bringing famine and the situation of the beMagazine - 4 children in Africa to life, in 360°! To build this 360° cylinder, we had some parts custom made.”

What will be, according to you as a company active in the world of sound and image, the largest hurdles for beMatrix to remain front-runner over the coming years?

“From the point of view of a company like ours I think the largest hurdle for beMatrix will be to keep up with the pace of the digital evolution and product developments – this speed is enormous and forces you to continuously reinvent yourself and to evolve in order to remain in pole position. Digitisation already is omnipresent in the stand building industry, and its importance will definitely grow even more.”

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