The dance floor is an obvious place to make an impact. For a private event, designer Preston Bailey created a unique dance floor that served as the evening's focal point. Hundreds of flowers were covered in Plexiglas, creating a massive floral carpet. "The result was a statement piece that allowed guests to dance on air," said Bailey.
The floor can also be an unexpected place for logos, sponsor information, or branding. The TEDActive conference in 2013 took over some of the host venue's Spanish tiles for its own messaging. The special tiles at La Quinta resort in the Palm Springs area also guided attendees along the walkways to the various event venues on the sprawling property.
Floor decor can serve a bigger purpose. During Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival in 2015, carpet company Flor handed out some 5,000 squares of carpet so that guests could make their own carpeted seating areas on the grass—creating a functional and eye-catching decor idea. When the weather turned stormy during the festival, attendees used the carpets to cover muddy spots on the grounds.
Energy Floors offers human-powered, interactive dance floors for event rentals worldwide. The eight-inch-deep tiles each house small generators; the tiles compress when stepped on, activating the generators to convert the kinetic energy produced by the dancers into electricity. The power can be used to activate the colorful LED light tubes inside the tiles that respond to the movement of dancers or nearby electrical systems.
Expanding wall and ceiling decor down to the floor can also have a big impact. At the Museum of Contemporary Art's 2015 Benefit Art Auction in Chicago, colorful stripe-on-stripe decor expanded all the way to the floor, creating an optical illusion. Ghost chairs and striped tables allowed the design to feel fully immersive.
Sometimes all you need is some masking tape. During Austin's 2014 South by Southwest, event production agency MKG brightened up a dark room using neon masking tape and ultraviolet lighting, creating an edgy, Pop Art-inspired look for the party for online magazine xoJane.com.
The Brussels Flower Carpet is a 19,375-square-foot mosaic of 700,000 intricately arranged begonias that comes to life every two years for five days during August in the central square of the European capital city. Meant to incite conversation about nature, cities, and art, the designs have typically incorporated themes from Belgium’s history since the first carpet was created in 1971. It takes 100 gardeners four hours to arrange the petals by hand.
The room by spoken-word artist Ashlee Haze, conceptual artist Jonathan Rosen, and art-tech company Wallplay is one of may spaces to play up themes of empowerment. On the walls are words of self-acceptance from Haze, while an interactive mirror from Rosen flipps through a series of positive affirmations.
Singer Demi Lovato’s installation is a black-and-white temporary tattoo parlor where guests can turn their personal journey and struggles into art. Five tattoo options, inspired by Lovato’s own tattoos, feature messages of courage and self-confidence.
Water brand Perrier and artist Hottea created a colorful installation made from 1,500 linear yards of yarn. Guests can immerse themselves in scented listening booths designed to inspire creativity. Each area is marked with a tongue-in-cheek phrase based on the flavor, such as “You’re one in a melon” and “I love your zest for life.”
Entertainer Lilly Singh also focused her installation on female empowerment, presenting women as superheroes and attempting to break down the cycle of girl-on-girl hate. Refinery29 staffers acted as models for the painted work. Attendees are also invited to enter a phone booth and call a female friend to spread a message of love.
Transparent creator Jill Soloway and artists Xavier Schipani recreated a gender-neutral high-school bathroom where visitors can hear first-person stories about gender identity from Roberta Colindrez, Rhys Ernst, Alexandra Grey, Amos Mac, Bashir Naim, and Pigeon Pagonis. Graffiti on the walls includes phrases such as “Defy the hand you’re dealt” and “Every body welcome.”
The room by actress and singer Janelle Monáe tackles the intersection of art and technology, specifically the ideas of mass surveillance. More than 160 mirrors document visitors’ moves, then display the footage on screens on the heads of mannequins.
Toyota created a surrealist room that aims to show how it feels to drive its new 2018 Camry. Guests can climb inside the car and check out a futuristic space depicting astronauts, 3-D butterflies, and other quirky details.
A colorful, interactive fairground is a collaboration between Google Pixel 2 and artist Nina Chanel Abney. In addition to games and slides, the space features thought-provoking artwork adorned with phrases such as “Does identity have to mean one thing?” and “We are all the same.”
In a room created by Belletrist book club founders Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss, a larger-than-life typewriter is adorned with a quote from Joan Didion. Aiming to celebrate female authors and the art of storytelling alive, dozens of empty books are available for attendees to write in. New to the Los Angeles edition, Belletrist is partnering with L.A.-based book-donation service Re-Book It and local store the Last Bookstore; attendees are invited to donate used books throughout the two weekends.
I, Tonya star Margot Robbie’s installation features a mountain of 206 trophies, plus flags that attendees can wave for an empowering photo op.
A surreal floral landscape was created in collaboration with Marc Jacobs Fragrances to celebrate its Daisy scent.
Adidas offers a running energy station aimed to inspire attendees. The clean, bright space was lit with 12,000 LED pixels.
In a dim, speakeasy-like space, guests can write down their most vivid dreams, then singer Darby Walker will interpret them through song. The surreal, interactive jazz club is a collaboration between Walker and artist Juno Calypso.
Twenty-five hundred pounds of pink sand make up SheaMoisture’s room. The peaceful space, which is surrounded by a canopy of tree silhouettes, allows guests to relax and watch videos discussing the impact of the brand’s ethical supply chain.
While not one of the official rooms, Refinery29 and Cotton Incorporated created an on-site installation that raises awareness of the recycling process for jeans. Three-hundred pairs of recycled denim jeans created a flat house, which is an optical illusion that changes perspectives depending on where guests are standing.
