These events took the focus off tabletop decor by hanging suspended props and lighting fixtures above the heads of guests.

Photo: Mark Woodworth/BFAnyc.com

At the Children’s Aid Foundation’s Teddy Bear Affair, November 5 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, manager of events Meg Sethi staged vignettes representing the seasons. For spring, clear umbrellas and glittering beads hung as the sound of rain played.
Photo: Carla Warrilow/BizBash

At Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry’s Columbian Ball, four- to eight-foot-tall steel centerpieces with Piet Mondrian-inspired colored panels sat on tables, while additional square fabric structures in bright hues hung from the tent’s ceiling.
Photo: J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

To add some branding to the Z100 & Coca-Cola All-Access Lounge at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in December, sponsor Coca-Cola fashioned a chandelier from aluminum bottles.
Photo: Jeeyun Lee/BizBash

At a dinner following the spring collection presentation of Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz at the Carondelet House in Los Angeles in November, ExtraExtra suspended decorative feathered hats among chandeliers above the table. This caption has been updated to credit ExtraExtra.
Photo: Mark Woodworth/BFAnyc.com

At Tribune Media Group’s iBall in September, the Event Creative team drilled dozens of rigging points into the concrete ceiling of Venue One in Chicago to hang furniture upside down. Inverted chandeliers on the floor served as highboys.
Photo: Mark Ballogg for Event Creative

Los Angeles-based artist Jorge Pardo created special-edition lanterns to hang above the tables at the Hammer Museum’s gala in September. The lanterns were later sold through the Gagosian Gallery.
Photo: Stefanie Keenan