Joshua Cutts

Joshua Cutts was born and grew up in Johannesburg. His father was an actor, so he spent a lot of time with him in theatres as a child and fell in love with the performing arts early on. He also had an inquisitive mind and an aptitude for technology … which inspired him to pursue stage lighting as a career as soon as he left school.

After eight years working hard as a lighting designer and technician in theatre, Josh left that sector on a mission to broaden his knowledge and experience of lighting in other sectors.

Serendipitously in 2002 he landed the job of designing lighting for a large music talent TV show called Project Fame catapulting him into the world of television and broadcast, where he impressed with his unique application of certain theatrical techniques and style in a new context.

His reputation in TV lighting grew rapidly and he went on to design some of the highest profile TV shows in South Africa including Idols, The Voice and the 2012 SAMA Awards.

Visual frontier was founded in 2011 to create some space in a busy industry for independent lighting and visual designers and programmers wanting to operate without being tied to any of the major technical companies and organisations … a step he hoped would grow and develop the whole industry.

Apart from his great eye for drama and good lighting, Josh is known for his quick grasp of new technologies and ability to incorporate this appropriately into a show.

He became an advanced programmer due to his knowledge and understanding of networking and large lighting rigs with complex elements like pixel mapping and server control.

This has also enabled him to appreciate the bigger picture and combine video and set with lighting to create complete and harmonious visual environments. A big part of the thrill for Josh is always “achieving the almost impossible” whatever the parameters!

Josh’s work schedule has been pretty insane in recent years and any spare time is spent on family activities.