Robert Penalver, head of Wynwood Productions, has produced many a fabulous event. But Manuel Deleca posed a challenge. The general manager of the new world headquarters for electrical power system protection company Unitek and its subsidiary, ECG, hired Penalver to produce an event worthy of a five-star hotel in the high-tech company's industrial warehouse. Thirty of Unitek's top execs flew to Fort Lauderdale from as faraway as Japan, Spain, and Madagascar to join 240 other industry and banking leaders at the opening. Deleca wanted an event that would reflect both the nature of Unitek's business and the stature of the guests.
Penalver worked with freelance art production designer Tom Criswell on the decor, softening the L-shaped industrial space by draping the cement walls with white silk, backlit with soothing blue and green projections. Steel poles in the middle of the space were wrapped with spandex cloth dyed to suggest Roman columns, with lights inside timed to change color every 40 seconds. The same high-tech flicker was mirrored by shifting lighting inside the food stations and cocktail bars. The concrete floor was covered with thick carpeting cut to fit around the poles. Lounges were set up with plush love seats, overstuffed armchairs, and acrylic-cube coffee tables illuminated from within. A blue spandex tunnel-built to look like an enormous optical fiber, and covered with gobos of the companies' logos-hid the raw ceiling and walls in the hallway leading into the warehouse. At the other end of the tunnel, enormous electrical power breakers and other Unitek and ECG products were displayed on pedestals under glass like precious jewels. Projections of complex numbers ran Matrix-like across the wall behind the displays.
After an hour or so of mingling, all of the lights dimmed except for a single spotlight. A tightrope walker performed as a musician played a solo on the bandoneon, followed by a performance by a fire dancer. Afterward, corporate representatives screened videos and delivered speeches on a stage surrounded by eight models who had registered guests and handed out name tags earlier. At the end of the last speech, an "inter-actor" dressed as a waiter from troupe CircX dropped a tray on another performer dressed as a guest, earning a rebuke from a third member of the troupe—another waiter, who had been loudly berating the first throughout the evening. Indignant guests surrounded the bickering waiters until the performers broke the tension by breaking into song and taking the stage. The band Miami Nights followed the singers with a set of Latin jazz and salsa. The event, scheduled to end at 10 PM, continued until 1 AM.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado
Penalver worked with freelance art production designer Tom Criswell on the decor, softening the L-shaped industrial space by draping the cement walls with white silk, backlit with soothing blue and green projections. Steel poles in the middle of the space were wrapped with spandex cloth dyed to suggest Roman columns, with lights inside timed to change color every 40 seconds. The same high-tech flicker was mirrored by shifting lighting inside the food stations and cocktail bars. The concrete floor was covered with thick carpeting cut to fit around the poles. Lounges were set up with plush love seats, overstuffed armchairs, and acrylic-cube coffee tables illuminated from within. A blue spandex tunnel-built to look like an enormous optical fiber, and covered with gobos of the companies' logos-hid the raw ceiling and walls in the hallway leading into the warehouse. At the other end of the tunnel, enormous electrical power breakers and other Unitek and ECG products were displayed on pedestals under glass like precious jewels. Projections of complex numbers ran Matrix-like across the wall behind the displays.
After an hour or so of mingling, all of the lights dimmed except for a single spotlight. A tightrope walker performed as a musician played a solo on the bandoneon, followed by a performance by a fire dancer. Afterward, corporate representatives screened videos and delivered speeches on a stage surrounded by eight models who had registered guests and handed out name tags earlier. At the end of the last speech, an "inter-actor" dressed as a waiter from troupe CircX dropped a tray on another performer dressed as a guest, earning a rebuke from a third member of the troupe—another waiter, who had been loudly berating the first throughout the evening. Indignant guests surrounded the bickering waiters until the performers broke the tension by breaking into song and taking the stage. The band Miami Nights followed the singers with a set of Latin jazz and salsa. The event, scheduled to end at 10 PM, continued until 1 AM.
—Celeste Fraser Delgado
At the Unitek opening event, "Inter-actors" from CircX, dressed as waiters and a guest, broke into song.
Steel poles were wrapped with spandex to suggest Roman columns, with lights inside timed to change color every 40 seconds.
