About us
ShowTex is a worldwide leader in inventing, manufacturing and installing innovative flame retardant fabrics, tracks and motion control systems for achieving the creative vision of theatre, event and entertainment professionals.
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
October 2011
Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre ready for the future with black ShowTex stage drapes.
The black velvet velours fabric used for all acoustic panels, stage borders, legs, and backdrops was selected by the project’s main contractor Bosch Rexroth in a blind test. There were several requirements for the Bolshoi’s new drapes, from fabric weight and colour, to density of weave and flame retardant certification level. In the end, a cotton Velours by ShowTex stood out as the truest black that can be achieved in a staging environment.
The sheer weight of the Bolshoi’s new theatrical curtains is also breaking records. The 20 metre long curtains constructed from 600 g/m² ShowTex Velours combined with the 5 layered acoustic panels are the heaviest drapes ever made in the theatre world.
Special care was taken in manufacturing, storing, packing, and shipping to keep the curtains from being altered or damaged along the way by their own weight. ShowTex met this one of a kind challenge by developing custom storage containers, a specialized packing technique, test installations at the International Art Centre, De Singel in Antwerp, and expert finishing all in time for the Bolshoi’s planned grand reopening in October.