Sugyp, Swiss precision on display at Masters de Feu

Heading to French-speaking Switzerland. In this series dedicated to the pyrotechnicians invited to Masters de Feu, the third meeting takes us to Sugyp, the Swiss fireworks house led by Jean-Pascal and Nicolas Guinand. On 17 September 2022, at the Compiègne racecourse, their team represented Switzerland in an edition themed “Around the World”, facing other European competitors. Behind this well-known name among lovers of grand fireworks displays lies a highly distinctive approach: pyrotechnics built methodically, conceived as a narrative, and always guided by the audience’s emotion.

Sugyp, a Swiss signature between heritage and contemporary creation

Sugyp belongs to those houses whose history mirrors the evolution of the fireworks profession. Founded in the late 1960s under the name SUGYP-IMPORT G. Porchet, the company developed its fireworks activity from the 1970s onward before becoming SUGYP SA in 2007 under the leadership of Jean-Pascal and Nicolas Guinand. Based in the canton of Vaud, it has established itself as one of the most active Swiss pyrotechnic signatures, present at popular celebrations, major national events, and international competitions alike.

This background gives the company a dual culture. On one side, practical expertise: permits, safety, firing-site setup, weather constraints, logistics, dismantling, cleaning. On the other, artistic exploration: choice of colors, musical writing, dramaturgy, pacing of sequences, balance between power and delicacy. It is precisely this alliance that gives a competition team its strength. A major fireworks display is never just a stack of effects; it requires intention, reliable mechanics, a point of view, and flawless execution.

Jean-Pascal and Nicolas Guinand, two complementary roles

Within Sugyp, Jean-Pascal and Nicolas Guinand embody a valuable complementarity. The former is associated with the technical and logistical dimension, essential to turning a fireworks score into an operational setup. The latter is regularly presented as the artistic face of the house, particularly in musical conception and pyrotechnic writing. This division of roles sheds light on how a show takes shape: the idea can only exist if it is technically achievable; technique only matters if it serves an emotion that the audience can clearly perceive.

This complementarity is especially important in a competition such as Masters de Feu. Pyrotechnicians must work within a fixed framework: same theme, same duration, same safety requirements, and the same need for clarity for all competitors. The challenge lies in turning these constraints into a language. A firing angle, a musical breath, a rise in intensity, a calculated silence, or an unexpected color can become artistic markers. In this context, the team that is most coherent is not necessarily the one that puts the most into the sky, but the one that tells the story best.

A house accustomed to major international formats

Sugyp did not arrive in Compiègne as an unknown name. Its portfolio includes participation in numerous major competitions and events, from Montreal to Macau, from Brno to Hanover, as well as Monaco, Ottawa, Szczecin, and Saint-Brévin. The Swiss house has also staged or contributed to major events in Switzerland, including fireworks linked to the National Day, shows in Geneva, Neuchâtel, Vevey, and Zermatt, and event creations for public or private occasions.

This international experience matters. Every site requires its own language: a lake is not handled like a racecourse, an urban waterfront follows different constraints from an alpine valley, and a competition does not obey the same rhythm as a National Day fireworks show. Teams that travel learn to adapt their vocabulary, rethink distances, use depth, adjust calibers, and prioritize visual layers. This know-how helps a house like Sugyp present itself to a French audience with a proposal that is structured, clear, and ambitious.

Fireworks as musical writing

In Sugyp’s approach, music is not a mere accompaniment. It acts as the backbone. A contemporary fireworks display is often built like a score: strong moments, breaks, reprises, counterpoints, tension and resolution. The spectator does not necessarily perceive the complexity of this architecture, but feels its effects. When the cues are right, when colors answer the timbres, when the volumes match the accents, the show feels effortlessly inevitable.

That is one of the key challenges of Masters de Feu. The competition asks pyrotechnicians to present an artistic vision, not just a technical demonstration. Synchronization, variety of effects, control of space, and the ability to create emotion are at the heart of the judging. For a Swiss house known for its exacting standards, the challenge is stimulating: it must convince both a jury and a large audience, in limited time, with a proposal that remains memorable from the very first seconds.

“Around the World,” an ideal theme for a traveling house

The 2022 edition of Masters de Feu invited competitors to create around the theme “Around the World.” For Sugyp, this invitation carried a particular resonance. The Swiss house has often worked on varied stages, in very different cultural and geographic environments. Such a theme made it possible to broaden the palette: contrasting rhythms, evocative colors, changes in atmosphere, effects of movement, and construction in successive stops or tableaux.

In a competition, a universal theme can be a trap. It is tempting to pile up references or multiply visual clichés. Success, on the contrary, requires finding a guiding thread. Travel must be understandable without becoming literal, spectacular without losing elegance. At Sugyp, expertise in pyromelodic shows and major international formats provided fertile ground for approaching this theme with nuance: to take the audience on a journey, but through sensation rather than illustration.

A strong commitment to safety and the environment

Modern pyrotechnics must also be considered through its responsibilities. For several years, Sugyp has communicated the importance of safety, which remains the foremost requirement of a successful show. Distances, stability of the devices, wind conditions, team training, firing systems, waste recovery: these topics are invisible to the public when everything goes well, but they shape the entire creation. Emotion can only emerge within a perfectly controlled framework.

The Swiss company has also undertaken actions to reduce the environmental impact of its activity, notably through waste reduction, the predominant use of paper and cardboard materials for components, post-show recovery, and the offsetting of emissions linked to certain operations. These measures do not eliminate the footprint of a fireworks display, but they reflect how the profession is evolving. Major pyrotechnic houses are now expected to combine beauty, safety, innovation, and responsibility.

In Compiègne, Switzerland in the race for the Silver Master

On 17 September 2022, Switzerland was among the competing nations at the Compiègne racecourse, alongside Spain, France, and Slovakia. This edition opened a new selection sequence toward the Silver Master, continuing the previous years marked by the Gold Master. For the audience, Sugyp promised an encounter with a precise, sensitive, and rigorous aesthetic; for the competition, it reinforced the international dimension of an event that has become a major reference point for pyrotechnic creation in Europe.

This series of questions put to the pyrotechnicians therefore had a simple aim: to go beyond the fireworks seen from the stands and give a face to those who write the light. Behind every bouquet, every fan, every comet, and every silence lies months of accumulated experience, artistic choices, technical trade-offs, and mobilized teams. With Sugyp, Masters de Feu welcomed a house for which fireworks remain, above all, an art of sharing: a brief, collective, intense work that exists fully only in the eyes of those who watch it.