About Us
The Special Fx Story
The idea for Special FX Lighting began in 1984, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Founder Robin DuCrest, the local community theater director, was tasked to design the lighting for a local antique car museum. Due to the expensive nature of traditional theatrical lights and the short term life of gel, a long life lightbulb that has a transparent color coating was the solution he came up with. From this thought, Special FX Lighting was born.
In 1986 the company made the move to Spokane, Washington, where Special FX provided color coated light bulbs to restaurants, improving the ambiance. Coating techniques continued to be tweaked and perfected. In 1987, the company moved again to Las Vegas and became incorporated. Special FX made continuous improvements, adding flat glass to the product line as well as color filters for outdoor floodlights.
The company enjoyed steady growth during the 90’s and into the 2000’s. Sadly, Robin left us in 2004 from complications of a stroke. Beth Lock, his long time collaborator and co-founder, stepped in to run the company where she currently serves as President.
A powder coating division was added in 2013, a metal fabrication shop and sandblasting building was built in 2016, and a monument and headstone division was added in another building in 2021. From these expansions, Special FX Lighting became part of a rebrand known as FX Industries.
From 40 years of growth, family-run FX Industries has become a business that proudly offers American-made custom products and services. While each division can operate independently, customers can also find a start-to-finish American manufacturer that can utilize a combination of these offerings to create imaginative new products.