Here are the winners of BiZBash's first Event Style Awards, which were presented at our Spring Awakening networking event on March 26:
Best Tabletop Design
Matthew David Events, for the Central Park Conservancy's Raise Your Spirits Halloween Ball
To match the sorcery theme of this charity ball, Matthew David created unusual, innovative centerpieces made with clear globes and fans that animated the pieces throughout the night. Some of the globes had discs inside with illustrations of a bat, and the fans made the disc spin so the bat appeared to be flying. Other tables had fans that tossed tarot cards around inside the globes. The dynamic centerpieces were surrounded with moss, hydrangea, roses and fluffy red feathers, and the tables were covered with velvety, leaf-pattered tablecloths in an array of rich colors.
Read our coverage of this event...
Best Overall Event Environment
Avi Adler, for the Robin Hood Foundation's gala benefit
For this gala, Avi Adler and his partner, David Stark, designed two separate--but equally surreal--environments within the Javits Center. For the cocktail area, Adler created four large tables, each topped with 81 green poles in a grid pattern that rose almost 20 feet from a bed of green stones and yellow pompon flowers. The room was bathed in green light, and an image of green trees was projected on one wall. For the dinner area, the designers created a vision in black and white, with lots of Op-Art geometric patterns. They defined a vast, circular-shaped space with room for almost 300 tables by draping the walls with alternating patches of black and white fabric. To keep the d?cor constantly changing, moving images were projected on the white patches throughout the night--first black and white kaleidoscope images, and later bursts of color. The tables were covered with a variety of black and white patterned tablecloths, in stripes, checks, or checkerboard prints. The memorable, dynamic atmosphere looked unlike any event we've ever seen.
Read our coverage of this event...
Best Gift Bag
Travel & Leisure magazine, for its 30th anniversary/birthday party for editor in chief Nancy Novogrod
T&L event manager Laura Aviva and her staff worked with a 1920's Moulin Rouge theme that was inspired by the event's venue, the Strip House restaurant, which has deep red wallpaper and hundreds of photographs of burlesque dancers. The party's unique gift bag was a red plastic sphere the size of a basketball with a handle made out of a seatbelt by Harvey's Boutique. Inside, the T&L team included items from advertisers including Wolford fishnet stockings, a red candle, a box of Godiva chocolates and Hermes Rouge perfume-"all items that one would be sure to find on the bedside table of a burlesque dancer in the roaring 20's," says the staff. And to reinforce the magazine's brand, the bag included a T-shirt and a red Zippo lighter with the Travel & Leisure logo and two issues of the magazine.
Read our coverage of this event...
Event Style Hall of Fame Inductee
Chris Giftos, manager of special events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
For more than 40 years Chris Giftos has added his unique style to some of the most prestigious social events in New York, and he has worked at one of the premier event locations in the world -- the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- since 1970. BiZBash is pleased to honor Mr. Giftos for his exceptional contributions to the style and design of special events.
Read our Impresario profile of Chris Giftos...
Read Part One of the Award Winners...
Best Tabletop Design
Matthew David Events, for the Central Park Conservancy's Raise Your Spirits Halloween Ball
To match the sorcery theme of this charity ball, Matthew David created unusual, innovative centerpieces made with clear globes and fans that animated the pieces throughout the night. Some of the globes had discs inside with illustrations of a bat, and the fans made the disc spin so the bat appeared to be flying. Other tables had fans that tossed tarot cards around inside the globes. The dynamic centerpieces were surrounded with moss, hydrangea, roses and fluffy red feathers, and the tables were covered with velvety, leaf-pattered tablecloths in an array of rich colors.
Read our coverage of this event...
Best Overall Event Environment
Avi Adler, for the Robin Hood Foundation's gala benefit
For this gala, Avi Adler and his partner, David Stark, designed two separate--but equally surreal--environments within the Javits Center. For the cocktail area, Adler created four large tables, each topped with 81 green poles in a grid pattern that rose almost 20 feet from a bed of green stones and yellow pompon flowers. The room was bathed in green light, and an image of green trees was projected on one wall. For the dinner area, the designers created a vision in black and white, with lots of Op-Art geometric patterns. They defined a vast, circular-shaped space with room for almost 300 tables by draping the walls with alternating patches of black and white fabric. To keep the d?cor constantly changing, moving images were projected on the white patches throughout the night--first black and white kaleidoscope images, and later bursts of color. The tables were covered with a variety of black and white patterned tablecloths, in stripes, checks, or checkerboard prints. The memorable, dynamic atmosphere looked unlike any event we've ever seen.
Read our coverage of this event...
Best Gift Bag
Travel & Leisure magazine, for its 30th anniversary/birthday party for editor in chief Nancy Novogrod
T&L event manager Laura Aviva and her staff worked with a 1920's Moulin Rouge theme that was inspired by the event's venue, the Strip House restaurant, which has deep red wallpaper and hundreds of photographs of burlesque dancers. The party's unique gift bag was a red plastic sphere the size of a basketball with a handle made out of a seatbelt by Harvey's Boutique. Inside, the T&L team included items from advertisers including Wolford fishnet stockings, a red candle, a box of Godiva chocolates and Hermes Rouge perfume-"all items that one would be sure to find on the bedside table of a burlesque dancer in the roaring 20's," says the staff. And to reinforce the magazine's brand, the bag included a T-shirt and a red Zippo lighter with the Travel & Leisure logo and two issues of the magazine.
Read our coverage of this event...
Event Style Hall of Fame Inductee
Chris Giftos, manager of special events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
For more than 40 years Chris Giftos has added his unique style to some of the most prestigious social events in New York, and he has worked at one of the premier event locations in the world -- the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- since 1970. BiZBash is pleased to honor Mr. Giftos for his exceptional contributions to the style and design of special events.
Read our Impresario profile of Chris Giftos...
Read Part One of the Award Winners...