The Boston institution hosted its opening night gala in late September. The decor was loosely inspired by the symphony's Shakespeare-related programming this season, and a dinner table was laid out in a way that mimicked the shape of an English garden.
![Giant champagne cork wire cage side table, about $240; xlcork.com [Editor’s note: When you have more lead time, the company also makes bespoke branded corks, starting from $99 each, with a minimum order of 75.]](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2013/11/065_bi_chi_dc_fl_to_bizbash_34.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
Tasting Table hosted its Open Market Chicago event at Revel Fulton Market last Saturday. The event had a festive photo booth that featured a wall of gold, silver, and copper holiday ornaments, counterbalanced by a variety of colorful ornaments. Guests posed with holiday-theme props and were able to print branded photos and receive digital versions through text and email.
The Washington bar Mockingbird Hill has temporarily changed its concept to become the holiday-theme Miracle on Seventh Street through December 24. The venue redecorated with kitschy Christmas decor and included a “Hanukkah Hangout” complete with a dreidel chandelier. Along with a list of holiday cocktails named after holiday references in pop culture, the bar is offering activities such as Christmas classic movie nights and Manischewitz Pong competitions.
Foto Master's Mirror Me Booth is a new portable photo option for events, with a camera embedded behind a mirror. As users step in front of the mirror, colorful animations appear on the surface with instructions such as “touch here to begin” and “say cheese,” and the animations can also include sound so they appear to talk to the users. Hosts can customize the experience with specific instructions—asking people to wave their hands or to scream, for example. Guests can also sign the mirror to have that signature printed on the hard copy of the photos. The 65-inch mirror comes with a selection of frames. It launched in April.
A corporate holiday party designed and produced by Sterling Engagements at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County earlier this month had a Night at the Museum theme. Traveling dinosaur puppets entertained and interacted with guests.
At the holiday party, treasure maps designed by Prim & Pixie were given to guests, highlighting the various interactions that were scheduled throughout the night. The maps were designed to feel historic and aged, and complemented the theme with sections including "The Grand Arrival," "Into the Forest," and "Into the Desert."
In Los Angeles, Wolfgang Puck Catering & Events uses vertical buffets. The bookcase-style shelf takes up minimal floor space and lets guests grab their own dishes from various levels of shelves.
San Francisco's Blueprint Studios has a rental piece known as the "Picnic Chill Table." The table has a built-in aluminum tray which allows it to chill drinks; the tray can also hold floral arrangements.
Available through NECR, the Zen sofa has sides that can be pulled up to form tables. When the tables are not needed, they are folded down and the piece simply provides seating.
At its 2014 fall fashion event in Los Angeles, Macy's erected a step-and-repeat that featured albums from the '70s and '80s, as well as suspended records. The entrance underscored the event's overarching rock 'n' roll theme.
At the TV channel's 2010 music fest in Brooklyn, Ultimate Lighting provided thematic gobos of the event logo and musical notes for the tent ceiling.
In 2014, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's annual benefit was dubbed “A Celebration of John Williams: Opening Night Gala Concert.” Inside the dinner tent, Shiraz Events' decor included blown-up replicas of Williams's score for “Soundings.”
In 2013, The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 25th anniversary with a masquerade ball at the New York Public Library. Inside, a projected image of the Phantom mask illuminated drapes. Low lighting in red and blue hues added to the eerie, almost ethereal look.
An outdoor candy land with whimsical custom decor set the tone at a launch for the opening of the brasserie Sugar Factory Ocean Drive in Miami last July. The step-and-repeat was flanked by a grass-covered wall studded with lollipops and other confections. Live It Productions International produced the event.
Looking for an alternative to the traditional floral centerpiece? For the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario's 2015 fund-raising gala—which took place at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex in Toronto last April—designer Bill Fulghum substituted giant spools of cotton candy for flowers.
Looking for ideas on how to generate buzz at an event press conference? A press conference on January 21 for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts—which takes place in April at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts—showcased culinary installations to communicate the festival's artistry. To highlight the festival's underwater concert, the conference featured an ice sculpture with musical instruments. It was paired with sushi for a taste of the sea. Garces Events produced the culinary installations.
An LED drum line was among the eye-catching ways that Downtown Summerlin kicked off its grand opening in Las Vegas in November. The opening included a four-day street festival that Extraordinary Events produced for the Howard Hughes Corporation. The first night had a "Light Show" theme, and Howard Hughes C.E.O. David Weinreb cut a laser ribbon that cued multicolored lasers to shoot down the street.
Held in Paris in 2011, the event had touches inspired by a winter in Russia. Traditional Russian folk scarves draped the backs of each seat, adding not only a decorative element, but also a parting gift for guests and an on-the-spot warmup.
#4 Benefit
Spurred by the Whitney's relocation to the meatpacking district last year, the event moves from fall to spring in 2016. Roughly 1,500 are expected to gather in the new 220,000-square-foot venue to raise money for the museum. Next: May 17, 2016
The Museum of Modern Art honored Quentin Tarantino in 2012, choosing not to plaster the walls with explicit references to the filmmaker's iconic movies. Instead, the New York art institution crafted a more subtle homage with a color palette of indigo and a commissioned sketch of Tarantino. Nathan Milner's sketch—artwork commissioned by Tarantino that depicted the director and iconic characters from his films—was incorporated into visuals, used on the step-and-repeat, and printed on the dinner program.
The Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds award ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2012 honored five Los Angeles high school students who overcame personal obstacles and achieved academic excellence. To incorporate the teenagers into the night's visuals, the organizers used a gallery of black-and-white portraits as the backdrop for the stage.
In January, the Walrus Foundation hosted its annual gala at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto. The event paid homage to the Canadian city, and the skyline appeared in imagery at the bar.
At the Walrus Foundation gala, the shape of the city skyline also appeared in lights along one wall of the venue.
At the Walrus Foundation Gala, tabletops were decked with miniature renderings of the Toronto skyline, created in paper by artist Kalpna Patel.
In September, Ben Bourgeois produced the inaugural celebration for Los Angeles's new contemporary art museum, the Broad. Laser-cut paper foldouts used as tabletop centerpieces were meant to represent the building's architecture.
Screens printed with the New York City skyline enclosed the entry hallway that led to the reception space at the 2014 Robin Hood Foundation Benefit in New York. David Stark Design and Production designed the event.
In October, the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong celebrated its 50th anniversary with an 800-guest bash. A 3-D projection on the building's façade told the story of the hotel's history, starting with its 1963 opening and detailing its development as a global luxury brand.
At the Warner Brothers International Television Distribution gala in 2012 at the Warner Brothers Studios lot, digital mapping by Bart Kresa covered the back lot buildings with dramatic projections, including fiery images that furthered the event’s pyro-centric themes.
Perez Art Museum Miami's March 4 gala drew some 800 guests. With an overall concept from Lee Brian Schrager, the evening included a "Chef's Table" seated dinner, a "Supper Club" lounge, and a "Remix" after-party. In the Supper Club lounge, interactive artist stations included a floor-to-ceiling coloring book, which invited guests to doodle on the wall.
The Chicago art museum celebrated the opening of its new exhibition, "Van Gogh's Bedrooms," with a 450-guest gala on February 20. HMR Designs handled decor, and worked with Frost to create projections of the artist's works that surrounded the dining area. The idea was to let guests feel as though they were dining inside a Van Gogh painting.
The ninth annual Unicef Hope Gala took place April 9 at the Geraghty in Chicago. The evening had a childlike theme, with decor from Kehoe Designs that included a canopy of suspended neon Slinkys.
At Diffa's Dining by Design in New York last year, Smartwater's space aimed to reflect the brand's natural water purification process, which is mirrored after rain clouds. The fluffy fixtures lit up like a storm above the simple table setting.
Marc Jacobs capped off a snow- and ice-filled Fashion Week schedule with a palate cleanser of a show evident immediately from the 500 soft sculpture clouds—individually hung at two different points and slightly altering heights—encased in stretch-jersey-covered foam. The set designer was Stefan Beckman, and KCD produced the 2014 show.
The iconic retailer celebrated its 111th anniversary with a gala in New York in 2012. With 13 cloud-like shapes spun from pure raw cotton suspended overhead, Van Wyck & Van Wyck bathed the Grand Ballroom in Bergdorf's signature hue by changing out the room's chandeliers with 300 hand-dipped lavender light bulbs.
The California College of the Arts hosted its gala celebration, which honored designer Stanlee R. Gatti, on March 23 at the Nave of its San Francisco campus. The event, which was designed by Gatti's team, featured felt-dipped Sansevieria succulent centerpieces.
