The British are coming! The British are coming! Well, not exactly, but we have reason to believe that their event trends may be. New York and London have long been sister cities across the Atlantic, and this is an especially apt time for an exchange of ideas between the two markets. England has been the United States' main political ally in the war in Iraq, and the lively English event industry hasn't felt the economic setbacks that New York has seen since the September 11 attacks. And one of London's chichi venues—the members-only club Soho House—is about to open a New York outpost next month.
We got a chance to check out English event style during a week-long trip to London for the RSVP trade show for event and meeting planners. (Started by Single Market Events managing director Tim Etchells, RSVP is kind of an English version of BiZBash, with a trade show and a tabloid-sized newspaper for the event industry—you could think of it as BritBash).
On the trade show floor, we saw many echoes of New York event style: There were plenty of ice sculptures, drag queens, and bright, modern-looking flower arrangements. But the British booths—or "stands," as they call them in England—offered glimpses of trends that haven't shown up on our side of the Atlantic.
One big trend is the influence of Bollywood—the nickname for the Indian film industry (Bombay meets Hollywood) known for colorful, over-the-top musical numbers. Bollywood themes became big in London last year, as references to India popped up in various places: The upscale department store Selfridges put up window displays of Indian fashion, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams opened on the West End, and samples of Indian music showed up in hip- hop and dance music. On the trade show floor, Partridge Design had a purple Bollywood-themed booth decorated with bright pink, orange and blue plastic flowers, plenty of Christmas lights and Indian tapestries. And numerous other booths had Indian touches.
The dominant look among floral designers at the show was a clean, modern, geometric look, with hints of the work of New Yorkers like Avi Adler and Marc-Antoine. But there were interesting twists: In Water used neon-colored plastic tubes to add a different feel to its mod arrangements, and CJ Floral Design used an assortment of brightly colored flowers instead of the restrained palette usually associated with modern looks.
For catering, Stephen Congdon (proprietor of the catering firm Lettice) told us he is focusing on serving good-looking food that guests can grab quickly. When he's catering a dinner for a group of investment banker types, for example, he knows they don't want long buffet lines to get in the way of their good (perhaps drunken) times. One of his solutions: Congdon stacks plates of food with wide plastic tubes between each layer to keep the top plate from crushing the food underneath it. Then guests can grab the top plate (and remove the plastic ring) instead of waiting in line.
For years private members-only clubs like Electric House in Notting Hill and Soho House in Soho (naturally) have been some of London's most popular venues. Now New York's Soho House is scheduled to open May 1 in a warehouse in the meatpacking district, with a restaurant, bar, 44-seat cinema, 24 bedrooms, and three other private rooms suitable for parties. It's destined to be the hot media party venue for at least a couple of months. (Vanity Fair already hosted a bash in the unfinished space.)
Other places to check out if you're heading abroad: Hakkasan is a chic Chinese restaurant (designed by Christian Liaigre, who also did New York's Mercer Kitchen) with latticed wooden screens and a loud, buzzing atmosphere. Gordon Ramsay is the city's hottest chef; his Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's won Time Out London's Best New Restaurant award in 2002. The bar and restaurants in Ian Schrager's St. Martin's Lane hotel have familiar-but-still-fun-and-kooky Philippe Starck looks. And the red walls and banquettes inside the Met Bar at the stylish Metropolitan Hotel (London's answer to the Chambers or 60 Thompson) still draw a crowd.
But London's biggest hotspot is a place called Sketch, a giant venue that mixes spaces for restaurants, bars and art installations. One of the rooms starts as an art gallery during the day, becomes a restaurant at dinner time, and gradually turns into a late-night lounge as projections on its white walls become more frenetic. The entire space has a Starck-influenced, hypermodern look, and the design highlight—as in many New York locations—is the bathroom. To use the loo, you step inside large white, egg-shaped pods (think Mork & Mindy) with toilets inside. ("I'm going to pee in a pod," was our favorite remark during a night at Sketch.)
The trend New Yorkers should hope comes over is the London event industry's fairly positive economic outlook. While chatting with dozens of vendors on the trade show floor, we heard lots of let's-get-back-to-business cheeriness. They all acknowledged the seriousness of the war in Iraq and their support for the American and British troops involved. But they had little of the hesitation that many Americans have shown in recent weeks—or in the months since the September 11 attacks. Many pointed out that the Brits have been used to the threat of terrorism for years, and they have a much more blasé attitude towards that concern.
But here's what made many people pause: Hearing we were in town from New York, they were instantly interested in what was happening in the event industry in the most vibrant city in the world. Back home, where businesses are feeling their way through the effects of a war and a slowed economy, the question remains, what is New York going to show London? Because the world is watching.
—Chad Kaydo
Read our report on ideas from the trade show floor...
We got a chance to check out English event style during a week-long trip to London for the RSVP trade show for event and meeting planners. (Started by Single Market Events managing director Tim Etchells, RSVP is kind of an English version of BiZBash, with a trade show and a tabloid-sized newspaper for the event industry—you could think of it as BritBash).
On the trade show floor, we saw many echoes of New York event style: There were plenty of ice sculptures, drag queens, and bright, modern-looking flower arrangements. But the British booths—or "stands," as they call them in England—offered glimpses of trends that haven't shown up on our side of the Atlantic.
One big trend is the influence of Bollywood—the nickname for the Indian film industry (Bombay meets Hollywood) known for colorful, over-the-top musical numbers. Bollywood themes became big in London last year, as references to India popped up in various places: The upscale department store Selfridges put up window displays of Indian fashion, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams opened on the West End, and samples of Indian music showed up in hip- hop and dance music. On the trade show floor, Partridge Design had a purple Bollywood-themed booth decorated with bright pink, orange and blue plastic flowers, plenty of Christmas lights and Indian tapestries. And numerous other booths had Indian touches.
The dominant look among floral designers at the show was a clean, modern, geometric look, with hints of the work of New Yorkers like Avi Adler and Marc-Antoine. But there were interesting twists: In Water used neon-colored plastic tubes to add a different feel to its mod arrangements, and CJ Floral Design used an assortment of brightly colored flowers instead of the restrained palette usually associated with modern looks.
For catering, Stephen Congdon (proprietor of the catering firm Lettice) told us he is focusing on serving good-looking food that guests can grab quickly. When he's catering a dinner for a group of investment banker types, for example, he knows they don't want long buffet lines to get in the way of their good (perhaps drunken) times. One of his solutions: Congdon stacks plates of food with wide plastic tubes between each layer to keep the top plate from crushing the food underneath it. Then guests can grab the top plate (and remove the plastic ring) instead of waiting in line.
For years private members-only clubs like Electric House in Notting Hill and Soho House in Soho (naturally) have been some of London's most popular venues. Now New York's Soho House is scheduled to open May 1 in a warehouse in the meatpacking district, with a restaurant, bar, 44-seat cinema, 24 bedrooms, and three other private rooms suitable for parties. It's destined to be the hot media party venue for at least a couple of months. (Vanity Fair already hosted a bash in the unfinished space.)
Other places to check out if you're heading abroad: Hakkasan is a chic Chinese restaurant (designed by Christian Liaigre, who also did New York's Mercer Kitchen) with latticed wooden screens and a loud, buzzing atmosphere. Gordon Ramsay is the city's hottest chef; his Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's won Time Out London's Best New Restaurant award in 2002. The bar and restaurants in Ian Schrager's St. Martin's Lane hotel have familiar-but-still-fun-and-kooky Philippe Starck looks. And the red walls and banquettes inside the Met Bar at the stylish Metropolitan Hotel (London's answer to the Chambers or 60 Thompson) still draw a crowd.
But London's biggest hotspot is a place called Sketch, a giant venue that mixes spaces for restaurants, bars and art installations. One of the rooms starts as an art gallery during the day, becomes a restaurant at dinner time, and gradually turns into a late-night lounge as projections on its white walls become more frenetic. The entire space has a Starck-influenced, hypermodern look, and the design highlight—as in many New York locations—is the bathroom. To use the loo, you step inside large white, egg-shaped pods (think Mork & Mindy) with toilets inside. ("I'm going to pee in a pod," was our favorite remark during a night at Sketch.)
The trend New Yorkers should hope comes over is the London event industry's fairly positive economic outlook. While chatting with dozens of vendors on the trade show floor, we heard lots of let's-get-back-to-business cheeriness. They all acknowledged the seriousness of the war in Iraq and their support for the American and British troops involved. But they had little of the hesitation that many Americans have shown in recent weeks—or in the months since the September 11 attacks. Many pointed out that the Brits have been used to the threat of terrorism for years, and they have a much more blasé attitude towards that concern.
But here's what made many people pause: Hearing we were in town from New York, they were instantly interested in what was happening in the event industry in the most vibrant city in the world. Back home, where businesses are feeling their way through the effects of a war and a slowed economy, the question remains, what is New York going to show London? Because the world is watching.
—Chad Kaydo
Read our report on ideas from the trade show floor...
The Partridge Design booth at London's RSVP trade show for event and meeting planners was one of many influenced by Bollywood, the nickname for the Indian film industry.
Catering firm Lettice used plastic toys in place of food to show off its method of stacking plates with wide plastic tubes between them so guests can grab food quickly at a party.
In Water used neon-colored plastic tubes and plastic boxes to add a different feel to its mod arrangements.
