Haitian by birth, Albert's company has developed market share as much by employing sound business principles as by product innovation - hammering home a message in which the word 'value' is repeated like a mantra. This is of little surprise when you learn that he majored in Business Administration from the University of Miami.

Critically, along the way he has crossed the great divide from a base set firmly in the novelty/consumer end of the market into credible and highly-affordable club effects and mobile pieces. When the company set out its stall at Earl's Court it had already shown it was ready to embrace the next generation of effects, having found a place in the impressive 64-page Chauvet catalogue for LED lighting (in the form of the COLORtube).

To say that the company has crept up on the blind-side would almost demean its 15 year history, and its origins which began as a one-line producer of the humble ropelight.

However it has only been in the last five years that they have really hit the throttle, and turnover demonstrates that their fundamental promise - to deliver the right product at the right price - appears to be far from falling on deaf ears. As a French descendent, the lighting world might have lost Albert Chauvet to the professional sporting arena - his prowess as a soccer player was such that he might easily have made the grade as a pro. "But thanks to my parents I didn't go in that direction," he says.

His 'Haitian Divorce' came during high school when he left the former French colony to study in the States. "Very few people know exactly what they want to do at that age," he rationalises. "You study one thing in life but end up doing something completely different. It also takes a little luck."

Albert's goal had been to work for one of the top Fortune 500 companies - and the 18 months he spent with Goodyear proved an excellent grounding for a management trainee, as he attended countless seminars and learnt about sales and marketing. His family had always been in manufacturing in Haiti, specialising in Christmas lights and ropelights, with American distribution. But things didn't work out with the local agent, who threatened to close down the office - unless Albert was prepared to take it on.

"Should I take the risk?" he reflected rhetorically. "The truth is that after a year and a half at Goodyear I was convinced I was more of an entrepreneur. So I took over the Miami office and became the distributor."

The American company was called Starlight USA which was changed to Chauvet & Sons when Albert's father bought out his partner. "When I took over in 1990 we were basically supplying the major companies with ropelights. I looked at the income plan and within ten months we were breaking even. We improved the line of communication and from there I started to go to decorative lighting trade shows in 1992."

Then a customer invited him to an LDI expo in the mid-90's - and once he was exposed to the High End Systems show his life was changed for ever. However if he had planned an easy transfer into digi-lighting Albert Chauvet needed to think again. "Although I could see that this industry was much more exciting and challenging the problem was that some of the customers buying tubelight were also in the DJ business, and were opposed to me getting into club lighting."

Instead, he put his primary passion on hold and instead, for the next three years, he pursued the 'novelty' market - importing traffic lights, strobes and spotbanks for kids' bedrooms.

"But every time I went to the trade shows my love was only getting bigger for the digi-business. So five years ago I said 'enough' - and launched ourselves into the digi-lighting market. We needed a brand name - but a lot of people already knew about Chauvet - and so we simply dropped the '& Sons' from the name É". Thus Chauvet Lighting was born.

The DJ market provided a natural outlet - and Chauvet also acknowledges it had been the perfect time to extricate himself from the 'novelty' market, since the intrusion of mass merchandisers such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Target was by now making it increasingly difficult to compete.

Although he knew he would have to forfeit some of the company's best dealers, Albert says it was the best decision he ever made. Following the lead of their competitors they headed straight for the Asian factories. "The first thing we did was target the most popular products to generate fast sales - the Moonflower, the Double Derby, pinspots and mirrorballs was our first range. Fog, bubble and hazer machines have also been in production since the early days.

Initially they penetrated the US market before moving up to Canada, and then down to South and Central America. For the past three years they have been increasingly penetrating the European market and set up a UK office (via the CIE-Group). "That was a good learning curve and within a year we were profitable," he says.

However, Chauvet soon sensed that using the UK as a European distribution base was not viable. "The costs were extremely high. It may be a European community but each country has a different way of communicating and a different culture. Even though we were profitable, shipping from the UK to other countries in Europe was proving more expensive than shipping direct from China." Now the CIE-Group run a strong UK office while Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East are serviced direct from China, via a distributor in each country.

The growing influence of Asia, Albert feels, has put all lighting manufacturers on a level playing field - and although he says he still looks up to the pioneering Italian companies he knows that everyone now has to turn East for their stepper motor and optical design technology.

Chauvet are no different, while all their design and engineering takes place in Hollywood, Florida - which Albert says is an ideal base - manufacturing takes place in the Far East.

Today, the company has around 40 personnel stationed at head office, plus around 100 independent sales reps that cover the US. Presently they have a warehouse that is remote from the main HQ, and over the next 12 months they plan to relocate to a single, larger facility, where all services will be centralised.

Chauvet also has a factory in Northern China and a Chauvet brand of lamps. "But we know we can't make everything - third party companies have to supply us with lamp lens, stepper motors, PC boards and optical lens."

Under a slogan which embraces their core ideals in 'Value, Innovation and Performance' (which conveniently provides the VIP acronym) the company has enjoyed a successful 2003. While Albert promises many more products to come in the club/LED and mood lighting market he believes that an entry to the concert touring market is only a matter of time.

Chauvet entered the moving head market two years ago with spot and wash lights, moving head scanners and colour changers. In 2003 they have launched a number of successful products including Lazer Scan which yielded the coveted Crystal Disc award from DJ Zone.com during January's NAMM Show.

In Anaheim they also unveiled their newest intelligent DMX-512 scanner, the Omega, as well as their Laser-Link series, with two and three-dimensional patterns. Also launched on the Chauvet booth were the Gobo Splash, the Trackscan 250R, Legend, Mini-Legend and Wildmoon 250. "We've taken some products that were already on the market and added more features," adds Albert. "For example to a DMX controller we have added a button to allow for fog machine and strobe lighting. We were also the first to launch dual voltage switchable 110-220V fixtures."

Meanwhile, the wonderful aesthetic of the the Moonflower Precision series they owe to a designer in Florida, who conceived the stylish chassis. "When we saw the design we decided to invest heavily in the mould. We are not the cheapest, and don't intend to be, but the most important thing is to offer value. We focus more on the idea of what the end user wants." Chauvet Lighting has a precise route map of the direction in which they want to go. "And where we want to be is anywhere we can offer value to our dealers," says Albert. "We know our customers well and the reason a lot of people lose focus is because they are following other manufacturers. We don't worry much about what our competitors do."

And he has a salutary warning for those about to dive headlong into the LED market as a means of maintaining turnover. "In the years to come, LED will become dirt cheap Ð we know the price is just going to drop and drop. So while LED is here to stay, and we will be developing the market, we are not planning to do it quickly."

He believes the market is reminiscent of when neon first burst onto the scene. "We used to sell the neon licence plates and in a year the cost went rom $400 to $39. I know some friends that practically went bankrupt in the neon business - so we don't want to overstock."

Wise words from the business major, who has seen his company's turnover grow by around 30% a year over the past three years. "For us there is no sign of a global market slowdown," he says confidently. "We will continue to do our homework, come up with the right ideas and offer value. When times get rough customers are more receptive to us because we can offer a complete range - in fact I truly hope the economy stays like this forever!"