For its 19th annual Readers’ Choice awards—the first to be taped for televised broadcast—Condé Nast Traveler added more tropical and seaside scenery to the American Museum of Natural History. Special events director Lindsey Hicky worked with Delaney T. Bagwell to design the look of the black-tie affair, which drew 350 guests from the travel industry to the presentation honoring the best hotels, airlines, cities, and resorts.With a 94-foot blue whale famously suspended from the ceiling of the museum’s Millstein Hall of Ocean Life—the party's cocktail area—and the magazine’s “Best Beaches” issue as inspiration for the aquatic theme, Bagwell contracted Suzanne Couture Modelmaking to create a large centerpiece complete with artificial rocks, tropical foliage, and a fake waterfall built within the bar and buffet station. The island-shaped station, serving a selection of seafood nibbles from Catering by Restaurant Associates, was draped in blue linens, topped with faux oversize seashells, and illuminated with color-changing lights.
The concept even extended to the LeFrak Theater’s stage set from Production Design Group with wooden boardwalk-like walkways that led to the podium, wood paneling surrounding the projection screen, and three plasma screens showing water images under long drapes.
In contrast, the backstage greenroom for the award presenters—Ivanka Trump, Sandra Bernhard, and Liam Neeson among them—mirrored a 1940’s Hollywood salon with rich gold tones, Art Deco-like furnishings from furniture retailer Greenbaum Interiors, velvet draping, and Oriental rugs.
—Anna Sekula
Posted 10.18.06
Photos: Nicole Villamora for BiZBash
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The concept even extended to the LeFrak Theater’s stage set from Production Design Group with wooden boardwalk-like walkways that led to the podium, wood paneling surrounding the projection screen, and three plasma screens showing water images under long drapes.
In contrast, the backstage greenroom for the award presenters—Ivanka Trump, Sandra Bernhard, and Liam Neeson among them—mirrored a 1940’s Hollywood salon with rich gold tones, Art Deco-like furnishings from furniture retailer Greenbaum Interiors, velvet draping, and Oriental rugs.
—Anna Sekula
Posted 10.18.06
Photos: Nicole Villamora for BiZBash
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Overstuffed Beach Party Opens Hawaiian Tropic
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Palm Springs Party Has South Beach Style
For Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards, the American Museum of Natural History’s Millstein Hall of Ocean Life got a tropical, island-shaped centerpiece.
Suzanne Couture Modelmaking’s centerpiece inside the buffet station included real palm trees, orchids, spider plants, and banana trees.
Delaney T. Bagwell worked with the caterer to incorporate the decor into the food presentation, filling oversize resin shells with bread.
Unlike the other two spaces for the event, the backstage greenroom was decorated with 1940’s-style furnishings in amber, rose, and charcoal gray hues.
More beach-inspired decor adorned the stage of the LeFrak Theater, which featured a boardwalk-like walkway.
