This week's roundup includes Rapt Studios' smartphone-free dinner table at Diffa's Dining by Design in New York, the North American debut of composer Max Richter's overnight concert Sleep at South by Southwest in Austin, an interactive '80s-theme basement at the Ready Player One Challenge in Los Angeles, and Honest Tea's retrospective exhibit at the brand's pop-up museum in New York.
Diffa’s annual Dining by Design fund-raising event took place March 22 to 26 at Pier 92 in New York. Partnering with the Rug Company, Rockwell Group created an elliptical curtain made of 400 strands of hand-dyed, blue ombre carpet fibers, showcasing the Lola rug designed by David Rockwell and his daughter Lola.
Honest Tea hosted a pop-up museum March 27 at Foley Gallery in New York to celebrate the brand’s 20th anniversary and new line of glass bottled teas. The pop-up, which was produced by Trifecta Studios, featured retrospective displays including a wall that showcased retired products.
To promote Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi film Ready Player One, Warner Bros. partnered with Experiential Supply Co. to build an interactive maze in an outdoor space on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. The ‘80s-theme experience, which is open through Sunday, features a 40-foot depiction of the stacks—a series of vertical trailers inspired by the movie.
One room asks guests to search for clues in a Rubik’s Cube-inspired space—which also proved to be a popular spot for selfies.
Another space is inspired by a basement in the 1980s, an era the book often references. The room has old-school gaming systems for guests to play, plus wood-paneled walls and other retro details.
Rapt Studio created a device-free dinner table, complete with smartphone storage, a revolving tabletop, and a dark gray palette.
For its booth, Arteriors created a luxe, sexy aesthetic inspired by the scarab, a sacred status symbol that has been used in design for centuries. Custom wallpaper and a trippy triptych, along with black lacquer seating and branch-esque lighting fixtures, offered an edgy take on the nature theme.
This year’s South by Southwest took place March 9 to 18 at venues throughout Austin. The festival arranged for an overnight slumber party and concert premiere for the North American debut of Sleep by composer Max Richter. Participants listened to the live performance while falling asleep in individual beds provided by Beautyrest, complete with eye masks. The mattresses were donated to Austin charities.
Mars Chocolate partnered up with Collide Agency to create candy-theme activations along Austin’s Rainey Street district. The Maltesers house resembled an arcade fun house, from the lit-up games using the malted candy, a room with rotating reflective balloons, to sideways-room photo opp.
Gatorade’s G-Store invited visitors to explore the sports beverage’s other edible products through an iPad tour. Afterward, they were given access to a secret stockroom that showcased Gatorade’s sports technologies, from exercise tracking to basketball simulations.
