With more than 40 years at the forefront of the rigging industry, Unusual Rigging continues to set the standard for innovation and excellence. They have proven their unique expertise in more areas than one. From creating extraordinary effects for the theatre to setting the artworks in an aesthetic manner in the famous museums of London, they do it all. They cater various services required for live shows, theatrical presentations, global motor shows, product launches and sports shows to mention a few. They design and source the best solutions irrespective of the range of the event. They commit best services for an international event and a regional project alike and that is one of the pivotal reasons for their success.

Join us for an engaging conversation with Tom Harper, the Managing Director of Unusual Rigging as he shares what goes beyond the making of sensational events.

1. How did you get the idea to start a distinctive creative firm like Unusual Rigging?

Back in 1983 when Unusual was initially established – the founder, Alan Jacobi was working for Theatre Projects, having completed a 10-year stint at the National Theatre as a lighting technician. He observed that there was no service that specialised in theatre rigging and engineering solutions, and that the need to refit and strengthen West End theatres such as the Palladium, the Gillian Lynn Theatre and the Theatre Royal Drury lane, to accommodate the fast growing requirement of new shows like Cats and Starlight express, required a small team with a can do attitude to help rebuild and rig these brand new musicals in the early 80s. 40 years on and the company grew to cover large sporting spectaculars, the royal tournament, and many more prestigious large scale public art projects, whilst remaining true to its roots by serving theatre.

2. In a highly competitive entertainment business, how does your company manage to deliver the best in the field?

Unusual remains the largest and longest standing rigging and engineering company in the UK and Europe. Our approach is to ensure a continued quality of service to our clients by focusing on the principles of the circular economy and ethical citizenship. Commercially we remain competitive whilst saving our clients costs through the reuse of resources and hence a reduction in associated C02e comes with that approach. We also remain leaders in setting and evolving industry standards, having worked with PLASA on establishing the renowned National Rigging Certificate, to ensure excellence in professionalism when it comes to best rigging practice.

3. What are the various services offered by your firm and how do they reflect your unique strength and capabilities as a company?

At our core we’re a design‑led engineering house dedicated to one deceptively simple question: how do you suspend, elevate or animate anything—from a priceless artefact to a 30‑foot mechanical elephant—safely and spectacularly? Sometimes the brief is permanent infrastructure, like the load‑bearing grids we designed for the Convention Centre Dublin and the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. Other times it’s a fleeting, once‑in‑a‑lifetime moment: Ford Motor Group’s headline reveals on the international motor‑show circuit; an eight‑tonne puppet spider rappelling from a derelict building in Liverpool; or 2,500 choreographed light bulbs drifting through the nave of Durham Cathedral.

Our cross‑sector experience means every project benefits from a toolbox that spans theatre, live events, architecture, heritage and sport. In museums, for example, we’ve become the go-to firm for hanging full‑size aircraft and automobiles—installations that must appear weightless yet stand the test of decades. And on the cultural front we’ve delivered everything from Garsington Opera’s open‑air stage engineering to the delicate suspension of Harrier and Jaguar jets inside Tate Britain.

All of that begins and ends in‑house. A seven‑strong CAD team can generate more than 1,200 detailed drawings on a single project, ensuring every weld, pulley and connection is mapped before a single shackle leaves our warehouse. Beyond design, we offer consultancy, installation, inspection and lifetime maintenance, wrapping each project in a cradle‑to‑cradle service envelope. Clients come to us because we say yes to the seemingly impossible—be it flying a five‑tonne electrified star over Riyadh or erecting 60‑metre towers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. What they stay for is the blend of imagination and engineering discipline that turns audacious ideas into everyday realities

4. It is clear that your company goes above and beyond to ensure each employee’s proper health. What makes this initiative especially important to you? 

As a standard element of an employee package, we provide medical insurance and mental health first aid training is also provided. We offer many additional benefits such as the bike to work scheme, allocated voluntary or charity days x 2 per employee per year, plus ad hoc free lunches and tickets to various productions available to employees throughout the year.

5. What are some of the most innovative rigging techniques implemented by your company?

Innovation isn’t just something we strive for—it’s embedded in everything we do. Many of our projects demand bespoke technical solutions that simply don’t exist in any rigging manual. Take, for instance, the challenge of suspending Tom Cruise from the top of the Burj Khalifa for Mission: Impossible—there was no precedent for that. Or the installation of a five-tonne electrified star above the Noor Riyadh building in Saudi Arabia.

Unusual Rigging Headquarters

These aren’t typical engineering briefs; they’re creative challenges that push us to develop entirely new systems. In meeting these demands, we’ve designed and built solutions that redefine what’s possible. One example is the REV-2 winch system, developed for the Manchester International Festival. We needed to fly a 1,500kg load at 3 metres per minute, across two 22-metre ladder beams—while remaining fully compliant with EN17206. No such system existed at that time, so we created it. It’s now one of our signature innovations and a testament to our R&D team’s capabilities.

Perhaps the most striking example of our approach was a performance on the London Eye, where we suspended 24 aerial dancers from its rotating frame. We engineered a custom catenary rigging system that allowed each performer to be safely connected—and later released—within a 30-second window, timed with absolute precision by our technical director. It was a delicate fusion of choreography, structural engineering, and nerve. What ties all these projects together is a deep foundation of technical knowledge, a relentless problem-solving mindset, and a rigorous approach to safety. Every solution, no matter how unprecedented, is assessed to the highest health and safety standards, often in collaboration with external assessors. At the end of the day, our job is to make the impossible look effortless—safely, reliably, and with a spirit of bold creativity.

6. Would you mind sharing some of your most proud partnerships or collaborations?

OBS, Tate Britain, LW Theatres, AVIVA Studios, BackUp Tech, PLASA and ABTT are some of the many partnerships and collaborations we are proud to work alongside.

7. How do you balance being the rigging service that global brands want while maintaining environmental responsibility? 

Since 2017 when we were selected by the WEF as a finalist in the Circular Economy awards, we have continued to pioneer the transition to a Circular economy business model. We are the leading company in our industry to publicise our net zero strategy and our new HQ has received numerous awards, having been constructed in line with the principles of a circular economy. Our main site in the UK runs almost completely on renewables.

8. How do you envision the future for Unusual Rigging and would you like to share any exciting projects or initiatives that you’re looking forward to? 

So long as we continue to nurture our core values, I am optimistic about the future. Our focus remains twofold: strengthen the industry we serve and, in doing so, sharpen our own sense of purpose. The recent reshuffle among major players has opened a rare talent window, and we’ve moved quickly, bringing in seasoned specialists whose expertise lets us explore new frontiers with confidence. One standout addition is a precision‑stage‑engineering veteran with 25 years’ experience and an automation process design specialist with equivalent length of service. With their support, we’re scaling up our automation offering and prototyping next‑generation, micron‑accurate stage systems.

Geographically, we’re growing as well. Saudi Arabia is a headline opportunity, but we’re equally determined to deepen our footprint in established markets, ensuring our service levels rise in lock‑step with demand. To manage that breadth, we’re bolstering our corporate strategy at group level and engaging external advisers who can pressure‑test our assumptions and keep us agile. In short, we’re pairing fresh talent with a sharper strategic lens—so we can lead the industry forward while staying true to the values that got us here.

9. How do you lead the way, Tom Harper, as the Managing Director of Unusual Rigging? How do you create a successful work environment and overcome obstacles with your strong leadership?

I am very blessed that the core team at Unusual have been with the company, collectively in a way that equates to offering over 150 years of service.

The loyalty engendered by my late father Alan Jacobi has ensured a slow turnover, due to the unique work ethic he instilled, leading by example – the work was seen by him as fun, vital, challenging and never impossible. He threw himself into doing everything and anything but with diligence, exacting standards and a fierce technical and commercial intelligence. Since his passing 5 years ago, I have benefitted from a committed and highly competent team, with whom communication, candour and constant connection is key.

Building on the work ethic and the company ethos, we have engaged a specialist practitioner providing focused workshops on ethical citizenship and leadership development, from which the members of the core team have benefitted. The principles of ethical citizenship have taught us to balance the needs of the business by understanding, prioritising and communicating the decisions that are in the best interest of the overall community, as opposed to decisions that may be driven by self-interest.

I have worked to ensure that I am not a leader as such but more someone who supports the natural leadership capabilities of the senior team. My passion for the circular economy and the influence the company now has in our industry as a net zero operational pioneer provide an example of how the company’s vision can be expanded to include ethical citizenship and ecological literacy, not at the cost of commercial pragmatism but as a significant boost to our value, both reputationally and financially.

Company Name: Unusual Industries Ltd
Managing Director: Tom Harper
Website: www.unusual.co.uk
Email: sales@unusual.co.uk