| EVENT REPORT 08.06.08 12:35 PM |
PRINT | SEND TO A FRIEND |
|
| Best Served Chilled |
| For a 10-person dinner to introduce its newest gift set, Champagne brand Ruinart created a stark wintry setting with woodsy elements and reflective surfaces. |
|
For most people, picnics conjure up images of grassy lawns, gingham cloths, and wicker hampers. In stark contrast to this typical summer picture, Champagne house Ruinart celebrated the introduction of its picnic hamper—Escapade—with a private dinner in a bare, minimalist setting. (Last year the company hosted a more traditional-looking picnic in Westchester.)
Wednesday on the 21st floor of the Glasshouses at the Chelsea Arts Tower, the small gathering showcased the new gift set (which will be sold this holiday season) to just 10 guests, including host Jean-Christophe Laizeau, the international director of communications at Maison Ruinart, and so-called "New York influencers" such as Baroness Sheri de Borchgrave, John McDonald, and Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti. Hired by Ruinart, the Susan Magrino Agency handled the design, management, and execution of the event. |
|
CONTINUED > |
|
|
PHOTO GALLERY |
 | Making use of the venue's floor-to-ceiling windows, the event featured very little in the way of lighting, except for a logo projection on the floor.
Photo: Lance DeWalt |
|
|
 | A handmade chandelier—branches decorated with crystals—hung over the dining table. Bare birch trees decorated other areas of the room.
Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss |
|
|
 | On the mirror-topped table more visuals included wooden chargers, a tray filled with berries and leaves, and leaves used a place cards.
Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss |
|
|
 | The invitation, a piece of birch inside a Plexiglass box, was designed to imitate the room—a glass box with a sliver of nature inside.
Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss |
|
|
 | The hamper was displayed with its components spread across a table.
Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss |
|
|
|
|
|
Looking to design something unexpected, the agency's newly installed vice president of fashion and events, Lynn Willis, came up with the idea to create a wintry setting—an intentional contrast to the weather outside—in a way that wouldn't drown out the venue's minimalist look. To avoid clichéd winter trappings such as fake snow, Christmas trees, and ice, Willis opted to employ reflective surfaces, crystals, and bare branches to decorate the room.
The centerpiece was a large chandelier (approximately eight feet long) suspended over the dining table, which Willis made in-house using branches draped with crystals. Elsewhere, unadorned birch trees stood atop mirrored panels to form a sleek-looking forest. The table itself was topped with a mirrored surface and set with wooden discs for chargers, leaves for place cards, clear plastic chairs, and a tray from Michael Aram filled with leaves and berries from the flower market. Nearby, another table displayed the product, a luxury version of a picnic basket with four hidden compartments, a leather throw that doubles as a carrying case, and engraved champagne flutes.
Echoing this aesthetic, the invitation—designed in-house at Susan Magrino and only sent out once the guests had confirmed—was a large cross-section of birch encased in a plexiglass container. The item was meant to be a miniature version of the event itself, essentially, as Willis put it, "a glass box with a piece of nature inside."
At dinner, catering company Creative Edge served wild mushroom ravioli and poached filet of beef. Passed sweets for dessert on the terrace included apple galette on puff pastry with vanilla sugar, peanut butter truffles dusted with bittersweet cocoa, and chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.
—Anna Sekula
RELATED TOPICS
Ruinart
MORE EVENT REPORT STORIES
Hosiery Preview Styles Vignettes After Vargas Pinups
Continental Marks New Partnership and Aircraft With Dramatic Kabuki Drop
Health Initiative Rethinks Halloween With Woodland Scenery, Interactive Performances
Library Lions Takes a Page From Venue With Paper Decor
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen Launch New J.C. Penney Collection With Mobile Store
MORE STORIES ABOUT RUINART
The Best Ideas of 2007 (Part Two)
Ruinart Airlifts Guests for Champagne Picnic
| More Suppliers/Venues to Consider |
ADVERTISEMENT |
|
|
|
Arena
Arena is a multimedia event space and nightclub next to Bryant Park. Framed by two crystal chandeliers, the centerpiece of Arena is a remarkable demi-globe set in the center of the original 1923 molding. More >>
EMAIL THIS RESOURCE |
|
Bestek Lighting & Staging
Bestek is a resource for special events planners, meeting planners, public relations companies, and producers who demand a high level of commitment and experience coupled with dependable service for projects ranging from product launches to corporate meetings and special events of all types and sizes. With Bestek equipment they furnish installation, show and removal labor, insurance certificates, trucking and support for the following special event services: lighting, sound, stages, rigging, sets, drapes, power distribution. More >>
EMAIL THIS RESOURCE |
|
Barkley Kalpak Associates Inc.
Barkley Kalpak Associates (BKA), an award-winning event design and production company, provides a full suite of services for business meetings, trade shows, product launches, media events, teambuilding exercises, employee recognition, awards shows, and entertainment.
From creative inception and development to dramatically different multimedia events, BKA offers production and technical design, graphic and video production, audiovisual services, and speaker support for companies throughout the world. More >>
EMAIL THIS RESOURCE |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
