Tobias Rylander

While working with The 1975, Rylander was able to artistically develop with no restrictions and being able to bring into the lighting business ground breaking ideas such as the use of projection as the main lighting source doing volumetric aerial projections as opposed to only using typical stage lighting.

Tobias Rylander (born 14 June 1983) is a Swedish born Stockholm based lighting designer, stage designer and conceptual designer.

Tobias Rylander was born in Dalarna, Sweden.

After his education at the age of 19 he relocated to Stockholm.

Rylander engaged in the study of classical trumpet during his high school years, participating in several Swedish rock bands playing guitar and harmonica.

In 2001, Rylander started running lights for fun at legendary Kafé 44 in Stockholm and touring with local bands like The Hellacopters, Sahara Hotnights and Millencolin.

After Rylander discovered his interest in lighting and visual design he started looking for knowledge at local vendors and eventually landing a full time job at Spectra Stage and Event Technologies AB where he worked initially as a lighting technician and later became a production manager.

At Spectra, Rylander worked at the Nobel Banquet, Eurovision Song Contest and The Swedish Royal Opera.

In 2009, he decided to start working as a freelancer and moved to New York and was hired to design and tour North America with Lykke Li, Fever Ray and Miike Snow.

In 2012, Rylander was headhunted by renowned Seven Design Works Stage and Lighting Designer Roy Bennet and associate Cory Fitzgerald and was offered to be part of the company.

He moved to Los Angeles and started designing shows for several other top artists like The Strokes, The XX, Tegan and Sara, Mark Ronson, Explosions in the Sky, Savages and Phoenix.

Rylander has been closely working with front-man Matthew Healy as conceptual, stage and lighting designer co-creating all the band´s tours since 2013.

The tours include:

In 2015, he started adding fashion brands to his portfolio and was responsible for designing of the Balenciaga SS15 and FW15 Paris Fashion Shows and a Calvin Klein party.

In more recent years since 2017 Rylander has gone back to working alone in his own company and extended his design not only to touring artist like Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Grizzly Bear, FKA Twigs, Steve Aoki, Drake, London Grammar but also to art, advertising and avant garde fashion, creating runway experiences for luxury brands such as Acne Studios, as well as a multi-sensory art installation An Encounter with Lux Prima in collaboration with Karen O and Danger Mouse at the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles.

He has also worked with Spike Jonze on Apple's award winning HomePod advert, and also creating the visual environment on a string of Volvo car adverts in 2022 as well as live stream arena events for esports in collaboration with Riot Games.

During the 2020 Pandemic, Rylander decided to move back to Sweden were he Since has also explored the Swedish scene designing acts like Robyn and Eva Dahlgren, Ragnar Grippe and two-time Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen, but also expanding his work in ballet and theatre, creating a lighting and stage productions for The Royal Swedish Opera like 'Cinderella' and "Gustavia".

In 2023, Rylander took on the project of Lighting Designer for Beyonce during her "Renaissance World Tour" and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023) as well as The 1975's critically acclaimed 'At Their Very Best' 2022 to 2023 world tour that brought back a more analog and simplified approach to touring in a quest for more environmentally friendly spectacle for audiences in a post pandemic era.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of Rylander working with band The 1975.