The festive lighting route was featured on the local Dutch television network and visitors to the city were overwhelmingly positive. Whether visiting the city to see the lights, or to experience the walking tour, or simply to shop, visitors to Zwolle were able to enjoy the festive atmosphere, experience the child-like delight of coming across an over-sized snowman for the first time, and share memorable moments with family and friends, taking photos at the many photo points and sharing them on social media. The resulting walking tour was made available online and the custom-designed map provided a clear route with markers that indicated where each light artwork could be found and short descriptions of different parts of the city. The streets were decorated with overhead lighting motifs, the trees draped with glittering light chains, and bridges and building façades became instant attractions thanks to sparkling accent lighting, and the city Zwolle was transformed into a magical, light-filled space. In November 2017, 12 larger-than-life light sculptures appeared throughout the city, each a unique and engaging visual experience for visitors to enjoy. MK Illumination Holland applied their local knowledge of the Dutch market and of Zwolle in particular and drew on their international experience to create a complete festive lighting solution that fitted Zwolle’s needs perfectly. Zwolle Fonds also wanted to extend the festive lighting beyond the city center, to make the whole city a pleasurable experience for residents and visitors alike. The idea behind this was two-fold: first, to attract visitors, and second, to encourage them to enjoy a walking tour of Zwolle that would introduce them to different parts of the city, which in turn would lead to longer visits and a strong possibility that local businesses would benefit as a result. They contacted MK Illumination Holland with an initial idea in mind: they wanted to use festive lighting and decoration to create multiple points of attraction throughout the city. They wanted to create an experience using festive lighting that would encourage visitors into the city center.

In 2017, Zwolle Fonds knew that they wanted to do more than simply hang a few string lights to celebrate the festive season. Zwolle Fonds is a collaboration between entrepreneurs from retail, catering and public-oriented businesses in the city center of Zwolle (The Netherlands), all of whom contribute to a fund, supplemented by a contribution from the municipality, which they use to make Zwolle a vibrant, bustling and safe city that welcomes visitors. We manufacture our lighting design and non-lighting design products, and manage quality in our production facilities in Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. We’re open to new ideas and we’re courageous enough to challenge the norm, think differently and try new things to create extraordinary experiences.

From initial input, briefing and design, to manufacture, installation and site dismantling, we do it all. Wherever you are in the process of choosing lighting and products to create an experience for your space, our team of experts are ready to help.

Team of experts with a full-service offering.

We draw inspiration from many sources, combining that with a deep understanding of how design can be used to create emotion and experiences. We transform spaces of all shapes and sizes with light and design, applying valuable global experience and understand of world-wide trends whilst keeping local values and cultural expectations in mind. In short: if you want to BUY SMART you want to buy from Our lighting, decoration and themed attraction products are safe, legal, efficient and as far as possible, sustainable. Our True Light Experiences and MK Themed Attractions deliver added-value because they make people happy.

Illuminate light company