16 November 2010
Dave Whitehouse and JC du Plessis It is our privilege to welcome Dave Whitehouse and JC du Plessis, both remarkable individuals, to DWR Distribution.
Dave
Dave is an established lighting designer having won various LD Awards. He has also worked as a consultant, but more than that is someone whom it is very difficult not to like. He spent a couple of weeks in sales at DWR before returning to his home town of Port Elizabeth to complete prior arrangements and to move house. Dave will officially start at DWR in January.
Originally born in England, Dave came to South Africa for the first time as a teenager with his family. “My dad was an industrial Engineer but he also used to build sets in England for a Repertory company,” says Dave. In 1980, after three years, 18 year old Dave decided to return to England while his family remained in the country he had not fallen in love with.
Dave was hired to work for Barclays Bank. “The guy who ran Barclays had a hall which was a 400-seater auditorium in the financial district of London in Lombard Street,” he recalls. Involved in lighting at school, Dave soon found himself attending lighting courses held at the auditorium and working there over weekends.
Not long afterwards, however, Dave was contacted by the well loved and respected Colin Ward who ran the PE Opera House in South Africa. He offered Dave a position within the theatre and ironically Dave jumped at the opportunity to reunite with his family.
With fond memories, Dave remembers working at the Port Elizabeth Opera House and the stints at the old Nico Malan, now known as Artscape, where he was employed from 1986. “John T Baker and Malcolm Hurrel were fantastic, I learnt so much from them,” he said.
Dave’s career has included working at Calite, Magnetic Storm, Electroquip for ten years and for a short stretch at Congo Blue Design and Cosmotronics as their Lighting Specialist.
He has gained tremendous knowledge, built wonderful friendships over the years and we are so pleased that he fits in at DWR like one of the family.
JC
From JC’s first day at DWR Distribution, he has made a difference to the workload and we have appreciated his lovely attitude and eagerness for whatever the task.
“I never, ever thought that I’d end up doing lighting for big events,” says JC, who started off his career as the manager of a bookshop which mostly sold plant and gardening literature. When his brother in-law, Johan Naudé from Showgroup invited JC to go to Sun City for a corporate show (a Liberty Life event to be exact), his life was changed.
Showgroup hired JC where he stayed for a couple of years before moving to Sound Stylists. “I stayed at Sound Stylists for a year, and eventually became Head of Lighting,” says JC. “I picked up a lot of experience there.”
For the next couple of years JC worked at Multi-Media Staging where he lit some impressive corporate shows and finally took the position of HOL.
On 11th October, JC joined DWR, hoping that the move would also give him opportunity to enjoy more family time. “It has been amazing and something completely different,” said JC. “I’m very happy and the people are nice. I have thought about shows and I still have creative ideas in my head. That’s why I can’t wait to get to Cape Town to do the install at a club we are doing there.”
Welcome JC – we are so pleased to have you!
