Tomorrow night, about 400 guests are expected to flock to the Grove for an event hosted by developer Rick Caruso to celebrate Rare, a photographer Nicole Maloney's new book of portraits of celebrities and other known figures juxtaposed with exotic animals.
The invitation for the party came in the form of a mini replica of a coffee table. On top, a tiny book bore the event information, and alongside sat faux animal skins and a mini vase filled with synthetic flowers.
Event producer Christa Hastie of CH Special Events created the invitations with a quick turnaround. "The wood was overnighted from across the country because they had to be done in two days—2,000 table legs and 500 tabletops," Hastie said. "Two days of cutting fabric and flowers, staining, gluing, assembling, packing, and shipping 500 mini coffee tables by hand. [But] having mini coffee tables with mini coffee table books seemed like the perfect and most obvious way to invite guests to a worldwide coffee-table book launch event. Everybody thought I was crazy, as always, and that it would be impossible to get them done in time, but once I had the vision for the invites I couldn’t let go of it."
Cindy Crawford, Heather Graham, and Dustin Hoffman are expected to be among the crowd at the party, where Dead Rose Beauty, Christopher Robin Band, and Nikki Flores will perform, and a rare tequila bar will carry out the theme named by the book's title.
