16 Ways to Make Chairs Interesting at Events

For the Oh Joy for Target launch party at a private residence in Beverly Hills earlier this year, Caravents turned patterns from the entertaining and party product collection into vinyl appliqués. The team applied them to the backs of ghost chairs to add on-brand pops of color to the event.

Instead of hosting a show at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents in 2011, Lacoste hosted a dinner for 40 at its Fifth Avenue store. The Manhattan space was under construction, so the apparel brand dressed it up with a stained and varnished plywood table under the exposed ceilings and wires, and marked chairs simply with numbers instead of place cards.

For last year's Costume Institute gala, which celebrated the exhibition “Punk: Chaos to Couture” with an overall punk-inspired look and feel, chairs at the dinner had cream fabric slip covers decorated with strips of black or pink grosgrain zippers.

The Schwarzkopf hair show in Los Angeles last year had a color-blocked look marked by bright, tropical shades. A canopy of colorful fringe hung over the event space, and ghost chairs were emblazoned with versions of the beauty brand's logo.

At the 2003 Angel Ball benefit for the G&P Foundation for Cancer Research in New York, On3's gift lounge included chairs decked with feathery angel wings. It made for striking decor, as well as a way to acknowledge and differentiate the highest-level sponsors.

For the Boston Ballet’s Balanchine Ball last year, Be Our Guest worked with Seaport Graphics to create custom chair decals for the clear surfaces, a striking decor element that also served as a surprise acknowledgment of the evening's honorees, Eleanor and Frank Pao.

For a wedding reception, YourBash set chairs with personalized gifts for guests in the event's color palette: individually-wrapped and branded handkerchiefs labeled “for your tears of joy.” After the gifts served their purpose on the big day, guests took them home as favors.

The Discovery Channel feted its new documentary, Frozen Planet, in New York in 2012 with a playful branded touch that also served as a fun takeaway: Among the array of penguin details the company brought into the Lincoln Center concert hall were plush stuffed toy penguins on each seat.

Earlier this year, the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’ annual Dining by Design benefit in New York included a New York Design Center vignette, designed by Kati Curtis, that used the chairs to make a statement: The idea was to play on gender stereotypes, placing traditionally male or female aesthetics side by side to underscore their difference and also unite them.

At the 2011 Artists for Humanity “Have a Seat” benefit in Boston, the chairs themselves were a centerpiece of the design as well as the fund-raising effort: Each guest who attended received one of the chairs as a gift. The chairs then lived on in homes and offices all over the city as a conversation starter about the group’s mission.

Discovery marked the 25th anniversary of its Shark Week in 2012 with a Beverly Hills party that included shark imagery as dramatic event decor—including as moving projections in the Beverly Hilton’s pool. In addition, custom upholstery showing Shark Week imagery decked chairs for a can’t-miss branding effect.

The nonprofit Studio in a School has a goal of bringing art into public schools. So to bring art right into its gala space in New York in 2008, the group splashed the canvas coverings of its chairs and tables, making them works reminiscent of Jackson Pollock pieces.

Last year, luxury wedding business summit Engage took place in Asheville, North Carolina. On attendees chairs were custom clipboards and pencils from Gifts for the Good Life. Notepads by Trisha Hay Design encouraged guests to jot their "top takeaways” from the event's speakers.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened its new 14,000-square-foot Dinosaur Hall in 2011. In keeping with the new facility’s more than 300 fossils, 20 dinosaur skeletons, and multimedia interactive exhibits, the event got a dinosaur-hunting theme, with on-theme hats hanging on chairs as takeaways.

A Billabong and Element store opened in New York's Times Square in 2006 with an after-party that put the marketing message just about everywhere. For instance, guests sat on chairs made from de-wheeled skateboards.

The Robin Hood Foundation used IML devices to solicit donations from its dinner guests in 2010. To make them easy to find, the New York nonprofit created branded pockets that were attached to the legs of chairs.