With comic strips and illustrated city skylines as a backdrop, architecture firm Raw turned Toronto’s city planners into superheroes at its comic-book-inspired industry party called Rawstrip on Thursday, June 21. The fifth annual bash grew significantly this year, attracting more than 500 industry professionals.
Taking over the 109OZ presentation site—a future Raw condo development—floor-to-ceiling comic strips covered the walls of the second-floor event space. “It’s a very visual crowd, so we always want to have a visual,” said Kim Graham, of Kim Graham and Associates, who planned and publicized the event. The comics were custom-made and took readers through an architect’s creative process, from getting a client call and visiting the site to wrestling with ideas while brainstorming.
In the parking lot outside, the decor playfully referenced a cartoon-like urban campground. Guests roasted oversize marshmallows over open fire pits and relaxed in Muskoka chairs. A 30-foot-tall projection on to a nearby wall showed the evolution of Toronto, before and after building structures like the Skydome and CN Tower. “It's kind of crazy, over-the-top this year,” said Graham. “It’s bringing the city together to celebrate the city we’re creating.”
A sense of whimsy has been an important part of Raw’s events from year to year. “It’s all because of who Raw is,” Graham said. “The spirit and nature of their office and creative process is very playful.” Sublime Catering worked with Graham to instill the menu with fun. Taking cues from vibrant and colourful comic books, menu items were dyed and grouped by colour for a monochromatic effect. At the end of the evening, Sublime served glow in the dark cotton candy, wrapped around an LED light.
As takeaway, guests received a copy of the Rawstrip comic book. To tackle all five senses, each issue was scented with a custom “creativity” blend, created by Tracy Pepe of Nose Knows Design.
