We Started in a Garage, Today We Shine Across Europe

Answers to questions from the website Roklen24.cz, July 2025.

What were your very first beginnings like?

When my husband and I founded the company in 1997, we had only great enthusiasm, a desire to create something, and a few square metres of space in a garage. We made everything by hand; every project was an adventure. Gradually we won our first customers, invested in technology, and today we are among the market leaders. We supply 13 European countries, we have branches in Germany, France, Hungary and Slovakia, and interest in our products is growing even outside Europe.

You launched light exhibitions only three years ago, yet today they make up a significant part of your business. How have they changed the company?

Greatly. We have been twice as big since then. We grow by 25 % every year, and last year, thanks to the light exhibitions, we grew by as much as 50 %. We used to have around fifty employees; today we have nearly seventy, and during the season up to two hundred, and we still struggle with a shortage of people. In the past we began with towns and cities, then shopping centres were added, and this year it is precisely the light exhibitions that will make up the largest part of the business, also thanks to expansion abroad. We made our first exhibition in Prague at Žluté lázně (the Yellow Baths); last year we opened light exhibitions in fifteen places across Europe.

That is a big leap. How do you cope with such rapid growth?

It is demanding. We had to make a number of changes across the company. Turning a company from small into large is always a painful step. We have no choice – we must set up new processes and, in a way, build another "floor" of the company all over again. At the same time, though, we want to keep the family spirit and the personal approach, because that is the foundation of our company culture.

In 1997 you started with a turnover of three million. What did your turnover look like last year, and what do you expect this year?

Last year we grew from 250 million to 280 million crowns. This year we expect a turnover of over 300 million. It is considerably helped by the expansion of light exhibitions at home and in Europe, which make up an ever larger share of revenue, and also by other foreign projects.

What is your main goal this year?

To extend the concept of light exhibitions with a new theme, "Heart of Europe". Through light we want to tell the stories of our continent – against the background of Greek myths, to show what has shaped us and what unites us. At the same time we continue to expand abroad, where we see enormous potential. Light exhibitions are a unique experience that works across cultures.

Your installations now decorate towns and shopping centres across Europe. Which recent projects please you most?

A huge success was our first exhibition at the Hungarian royal palace of Gödöllő, which was visited by over 110 thousand visitors, including relatives of the noble family. The story of Sisi was a great challenge, as were other installations at Špilberk, in Dolní Vítkovice and elsewhere. A great challenge was the installation of an eight-metre light tree in a listed building in Marseille, or the giant snowman for the Saint-Quentin shopping centre near Paris. Every project is original for us and a new challenge.

Which other business segments matter to you?

A smaller part is made up by our e-shop, and the smallest by sales in our physical shop at the Christmas Courtyard (Vánoční dvůr) in Dobrovíz or at OC POP Tuchoměřice and in Bratislava. But the core of the business is clearly light exhibitions, and municipal and commercial installations.

Do you use new technologies in production?

Alongside our own woodworking, metalworking, upholstery and 3D printing, we involve in production robotic technology developed specifically for our needs. A custom-modified robotic head helps with production, making processes more efficient and allowing greater precision. Besides the smart LED PRO Twinkly system, which allows colour variations and the programming of moving patterns, we plan to keep investing in the most modern technologies; constant technological innovation is a prerequisite, but what remains decisive is the idea and the original design that speak to our visitors.

Where would you like to take Decoled in the coming years?

We would like to become a leading quality manufacturer in the market for decorative and festive lighting in Europe, and perhaps in other regions too. We want to push the boundaries of design while working sensitively with public space – so that every installation is not just a work of light, but a story that connects light with its surroundings and with people. With our lights we want to illuminate, tell stories and connect as much as possible, in an enlightened way too – in short, to make the world around us a kinder place.

Published in: Roklen24.cz, 13 August 2025.