As they say, great minds think alike. And event planners are no exception. This year, some benefits, venue openings, product launches, and marketing initiatives shared a common thread in their decor inspiration like grass carpeting, street-art demonstrations, and circus performers. Here are the biggest trends spotted at 2014 events.
Beverage brand Perrier teamed up with street artists JonOne, Kobra, and Sasu to create limited-edition packaging designs. 3dar, an animation studio based in Imperial Beach, California, helped develop the interactive light graffiti wall featured at one of the launch parties, held at the Colossal Paint Warehouse in Brooklyn in September. Guests used an LED-equipped spray can to "paint" on the warehouse wall; the artwork was revealed as the guest moved across the canvas.
Shiraz Events created a step-and-repeat using stacked crates of fresh vegetables at the May opening of Hudson Eats at Brookfield Place in New York.
At Weston Family Foods' annual group meeting, held at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in May, 5th Element Events built a wagon out of bread. The production company shellacked and hot-glued real bread to create the decor piece.
The renovated Riverside ballroom at Radisson Hotel & Suites Austin Downtown in Austin, Texas, was unveiled during the city's Taste of Downtown event in September. In the spirit of the foodie fest, the venue's centerpieces featured produce, such as artichokes and potatoes, in fruit and vegetable cartons.
Event planner Kim Graham of Kim Graham & Associates used the concept of “yarn bombing” (including on the 28-foot bar's framework) to bring a sense of pliability to the industrial Pendell Boiler Factory space for March's Re-Make Event in Toronto.
To promote its original series Fargo, the FX network hired crochet artist Olek to outfit a double-decker bus with a wintry knit inspired by the show. Fans could score branded scarves and instant hot chocolate packets from the mobile artwork, which traveled around Manhattan in April.
This year's Governors Ball, held after the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles at Hollywood & Highland in March, featured massive vertical garden walls from Mark's Garden and a starry ceiling designed by Larry Oberman in association with ELS. Two 18-foot-tall structures filled with floral arrangements and moss insets flanked the entrance to the park-like setting.
For its annual client and advertiser dinner, Swoop, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based media company, enlisted the help of chef Marc Forgione, who decorated his TriBeCa restaurant with vines, leaves, moss, and real grass carpeting. Animal sounds served as background music for the event.
The Museum of Modern Art’s event team transported guests to the English countryside with boxwood hedging, large topiaries, and faux grass on the floor of the lobby for its annual Party in the Garden in May.
The Walrus Foundation gala, held at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto in January, featured “literary life sculptures,” which were commissioned from Toronto artist Kalpna Patel. Each table held a stack of books with handmade paper covers and “exploding" books with pop-up letters carved from the pages that spelled out titles of iconic Canadian novels or sponsors' names.
Monument names on the National Mall as well as significant events were rendered in oversize letters and suspended from the ceiling at the Trust for the National Mall's annual benefit luncheon in May.
A chandelier that looked like abstract art spelled out “thank you” when viewed from a certain angle at the Human Rights Campaign's National Dinner, held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in October.
At the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic, held at Will Rogers State Park in October, Mille Fiori Floral Design mixed succulents with marigolds in the brand's signature color for some of the arrangements.
Guests received a potted succulent from florist Multiflor as a take-home gift at Washingtion-based 360 Live Media's office party in September.
The Museum of Modern Art honored Alfonso Cuarón during its annual film benefit in November. Taking inspiration from the writer and director's award-winning movie Gravity, the dining space included clear tables, sleek white chairs, deep blue carpeting, and geometric centerpieces. Large metal angular sculptures hung from the ceiling, while LED light strips, similar to an aircraft's path lighting, added illuminating accents.
For the premiere of Cosmos in March, Fox's creative services team transformed a parking lot in Los Angeles's Griffith Park into a screening room with spacey, LED star draping from Kinetic Lighting.
Creative Edge Parties provided carnival-inspired fare, like corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and funnel cakes dangling from parasols, at Ted Baker's launch event, held at the High Line Hotel's Hoffman Hall in New York in February. Servers were instructed to imitate tightrope walkers, while circus-style acts performed throughout the space.
Rethink Breast Cancer's Boobyball fund-raiser, held at Toronto's Kool Haus in October, featured carnival mirrors, a fake elephant, and a hot-air balloon, along with classic big-top performers such as a clown and juggler. Vintage circus signage, like the Stila Cosmetics and Ardell Lashes display, was used throughout the pink-hued space.
To introduce its new GLA SUV, Mercedes-Benz enlisted Los Angeles-based street artist Mr. Brainwash to perform a live art exhibition during the car brand's Evolution Tour, which kicked off in July at Terminal 5 in New York. He continued to add to his freestyle design on the exterior of a brand-new GLA as the tour progressed.
At AT&T's U-Verse Art Lounge during the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October, there was a daily mural painting demonstration by a different local artist. Attendees could also win custom-painted Samsung cell phone covers.
