Spring into Spring with a Quick Look at some of the World s Top Event Florists

EVENT DESIGN
Spring has definitely sprung, and with it, stunning spring collections from the world s top florists.
Jane Packer, UK / New York / Asia
The company that rose to fame under the stewardship of the late great Jane Packer, whose arrangements graced the Duke of York s wedding, is now offering their spring line. The international brand, which even includes a florist academy, offers corporate and event bouquets in London, New York, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
L Artisan Fleuriste, Paris
About as French as French can be, L ARtisan Fleuriste offers top-notch event design in Paris.
Hollyflora
Based in Los Angeles, Hollyflora is a gorgeous studio that provides arrangements for events of all sizes. Aside from more traditional bouquets, they also do locally-inspired cactus arrangements suitable for a West Coast dessert vibe. Check out their inspiring Instagram feed for more spring arrangements.
Thierry Boutemy, Belgium
Beloved by the wealthy, Thierry Boutemy is responsible for the flower arrangements in Sofia Coppola s 2006 film Marie Antoinette. The above picture isn t of his spring line artists like Thierry need not post such trifles but we love how it underscores his incredible event design skills.
Landet Jarna
Staying in tune with the seasons is of supreme importance at Landet Jarna, where the florists only source wildflowers from the woods around Stockholm. Gardenista.com explains, The Uggla sisters opened the shop in response to the lack of local, seasonal, pesticide-free, and fair trade flowers (and wondered why, when so much attention is paid to these traits in the food industry today).
The Set Designs of Adolphe Appia

EVENT DESIGN
In every industry, once in a long while, a genius comes along. Born in 1862, Swiss painter Adophe Appia was among the new wave of set designers to reject then-standard 2D perspective backdrops in favor of creating 3D pieces because he believed that shade was as necessary as light to form a connection between the actor and the setting of the performance in time and space. Through the use of control of light intensity, colour and manipulation, Appia created a new perspective of scene design and stage lighting .
Wikipedia goes on to say, Directors and designers have both taken great inspiration from the work of Adolphe Appia, whose design theories and conceptualizations of Wagner s operas have helped to shape modern perceptions of the relationship between the performance space and lighting. One of the reasons for the influence of Appia s work and theories, is that he was working at time when electrical lighting was just evolving. Another is that he was a man of great vision who was able to conceptualize and philosophize about many of his practices and theories.
The central principle underpinning much of Appia s work is that artistic unity is the primary function of the director and the designer. Appia maintained that two dimensional set painting and the performance dynamics it created, was the major cause of production disunity in his time. He advocated three elements as fundamental to creating a unified and effective mise en scene:
Dynamic and three dimensional movements by actors
Perpendicular scenery
Using depth and the horizontal dynamics of the performance space
Considering the event industry s current 3D set design trends, we thought we d look at work by one of the men who revolutionized stagecraft and was at the forefront of creating some of the same effects and techniques we use in stage design today. Most of the photos and illustrations below were made or taken between 1917 and 1930.
You can see the strong use of light and shadow from these images, and indeed, Appia was one of the pioneers of using lighting to create depth and illusion, rather than to simply illuminate a particular area of the stage. Event producers today particularly those who do set design or manage set designers reap the rewards of Appia s work.
Throwback Thursday: 5 Vintage Stage Designs & Sketches from the Good Ol Days

EVENT DESIGN
Stage design has come a long way in the last century. We dug through some cool online libraries and put together a collection of vintage sketches photographs showing stage setups and backdrops from the last few hundred years or so.
1620: Il Solimano
Designed by Jacques Callot for Act IV of the opera Il Solimano, this 400-year-old design shows where the stage stops and the backdrop starts interesting!
1815, Mozart s Magic Flute
One of the most impressive incunabula of the intellectual enthusiasm in the Romantic period for the Orient (and especially for Egypt) was [Karl Friedrich] Schinkel s stage design for Mozart s opera The Magic Flute. For the Queen of the Night it shows the Egyptian starry sky.
1873: The King Has Spoken
Look at this one! Property of the National Library of France, this image shows a beautiful stage design done by Charles-Antoine Cambon for opera Le roi l a dir ( The King Has Spoken ). This is right around the time that Adolphe Appia and other cutting edge set designers of the mid-1800s began abandoning 2D perspective backdrops for 3D.
1930: The Tsar s Bride
The stage designs of Ivan Bilibin are instantly recognizable for their Art Deco style with heavy Russian overtones. This set design was done for the play The Tsar s Bride , this particular set being The Tsar s Chambers . Bilibin s work is worth delving into a little more deeply if you re interested in antique set designs; here s a digital archive of some of his work.
1941 Anti-Nazi Rally
Here s one for the history books: Churchill and Stalin team up against Germany in the backdrop of this 1941 stage. Guests seated on stage in front of a backdrop of giant posters at the Aid to Soviet Congress, Brisbane City Hall, October 1941. Three thousand people attended the opening of the Aid to Soviet Congress, organised to support closer military, cultural, trade and diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. A collection raised 155 pounds. Speakers at the Congress included Mr G. C. Taylor, MLA, President of the Australian-Russian Association.
5 Inspiring Examples of Event Signage Design

EVENT DESIGN
We re loving this: Founded in 2003, Defqon 1 is an annual large-scale music festival held in the Netherlands and Australia. For the 2014 festival, the Defqon 1 organizers asked creative collective Wanprestatie to make a series of hand-painted signs for each area of the festival. They did a stunning job. Check out the making of video and the aftermovie:
Here are 4 more examples of beautiful, creative event signage to get your juices flowing:
National Innovation Summit Signs, Gleren Meneghin
Here s a pixel-perfect example of highly corporate design perfectly executed.
NYC Design Week series, Jous Lara
If you re doing the signage design for NYC Design Week, you will be judged. Designer here did a great job of creating a visual identity for this event that is eyecatching, meshed with the surrounding environment, and communicated the event message.
Extreme Barcelona Event Signage, Mark Brooks
Love this event signage design: right on-theme, though certainly extremely labor-intensive to illustrate.
Jewish Culture Festival, Studio Otwarte
For the 2013 Jewish Culture Festival, Studio Otwarte did a gold-trimmed-on-white series with vintage photography.These guys nailed it, and one picture really can t do this justice. Don t miss checking out the rest of this stunning series.
Event Design Mood Board: Art Deco

EVENT DESIGN
If you love the 1920 s as much as we do, you ll recognize the intricate geometric patterns and glittery, high-contrast colors of the art deco style. After such a long period of single color, flat design , we find the ornate detailing refreshing.
Lighting
Chandelier by Hector Guimard
This gorgeous piece is available via Westland London.
Vintage Fixtures
Take a look at more art deco lighting antiques at Deco-Dence.
Interiors
Cruise Ship Stairs
This post comes to us via stair-loving blog Trying to Balance the Madness, and shows the interior of the SS Paris cruise ship in 1921.
Interior Stairs
From the Wedding Style Inspiration Board at Brides.com comes this stunning shot of a beautiful art deco event location, with intricate flooring inlay and ornate banisters.
Food & Table
Cup & Saucer
Deco Teacup and Saucer ~ an intricate set of emerald green with silver accenting. Tirschenreuth, c1927.
Colorful Art Deco Cake
This incredible work and many more can be viewed in the mind-blowing portfolio of Olofson Design (London).
Plates
The Essex collection from QSquared of New York has these opulent art deco banquet plate sets in gold and black.
Think Like an Interior Designer: Five Tips to Make Small Event Space Look Bigger

EVENT DESIGN
Not everyone can afford the event space of their dreams, but with a few simple tricks based in the science of depth and size perception, you can make the most of an undersized room.
Hide the corners
Corners define the boundaries of our space. Place (simple) displays in the corners to trick the eye into glossing past these.
Use Colors to Push and Pull
Use color to deal with an irregularly-shaped space. You ve probably heard that lighter colors make a space look bigger, while darker colors make a space look smaller. It s also true that warmer colors look farther away, while cooler colors draw a plane close to the eye. As David Kent Ballast says in the Interior Design Reference Manual:
These principles can be used to modify the spatial quality of a room. For example, a long, narrow room can be widened by painting the end walls with a bright, warm color and by painting the side walls with a lighter, cooler color.
Less stuff, but bigger stuff
You d think small design accents would make an event space seem large in contrast, but they actually just create clutter. The best thing to do if you don t have a ton of room is to choose a few well-placed larger design elements and furniture. For example, go with six larger tables instead of ten smaller ones, minimizing centerpieces, or a single, striking accent display rather than several.
Draw the eyes upward
Heighten low-ceiling ed rooms by painting or decorating the ceiling with lighter colors or patterns (ever consider wall-papering up there?).
Spread the light around
A single light source in a room creates a single centralizing point, almost like a spotlight, which can make a small space feel even smaller as parts of the room fall into semi-shadow. Instead, use several sources of light spread around the space to pull the center of the room out to its own edges.
Event Theme Design Inspiration: Stained Glass

EVENT DESIGN
This week, we re inspired by the incorporation of stained glass into spacial and event designs. The design world went pretty single-color for a while there, but we re seeing (and loving) a lean back towards more vibrant, daring palettes. We ve collected a little mood board of beautiful images with inspiring prismatic decor.
Monumenta 2012
One of Paris most expansive art events, Monumenta is an annual exhibition that challenges artists to execute their vision on the grounds of the 145,000 square-foot Grand Palais. The chosen artist for 2012, Daniel Buren, created a gorgeous stained-glass landscape, reflecting the light of the building s dome skyward.
Tom Fruin s Stained Glass House (via Colossal)
Art blog Colossal featured this October, 2014 work by installation artist Tom Fruin, who created a plexiglass house as part of a performance installation under Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Sugar House
A similar project to Fruin s was undertaken by artist William Lamson, who created a solarium using panels of melted sugar.
Standalone Window Backdrops
We don t do a ton of weddings around here, but this gem from Southerweddings.com is worth the deviation. We could see these standalone windows in use for both outdoor or indoor spaces.
The Glory Window
From Wikipedia: The most prominent and recognizable feature of Thanks-Giving Square [in Dallas, Texas] is the Chapel of Thanksgiving , a small, spiral tower that features an enclave for prayerful thanks. The entrance to the chapel is at the end of a 125-foot (38 m) bridge that runs over a cascading waterfall. Inside the chapel, the spiral is topped with stained glass Glory Window , one of largest horizontally mounted stained-glass pieces in the world. The window was designed by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France to feature brighter colors as the spiral reached its apex, becoming brighter as it reaches the center.
The Mirror Woman (pic via Buzzfeed)
From Juxtapoz: South Korean-born artist Kimsooja has had a long, intense career full of installations, performances, photography, videos and site-specific project. This particular installation from 2006 is at the Palace de Cristal in Madrid. Exploiting the structure of the building while also leaving it intact, Kimsooja installed a mirror on the floor to multiply and unify the original architectural space. A translucent diffraction grating film also covers the glazed dome and wall of the crystal palace. Awesome.
10 Jaw-Dropping #lightingdesign Instagrams

EVENT DESIGN
In real estate, we all know the magic mantra location, location, location. In stage design and event production? It s lighting, lighting, lighting. Lighting is a totally transformative art. Need proof? Check out these ten jaw-dropping #lightingdesign Instagrams from the last two months.
This stunning cloudscape:
This melancholy reminder that Less is More:
This Studio boardpr0n shot:
This very celebrated couple:
This explosion of lasers:
This extraterrestrial club experience:
This trailer transformed into high art:
This rehearsal:
This spotlight rainbow:
This bridge to nowhere:
A White (House) Christmas: Decorating Tips from the First Family

EVENT DESIGN
You think you ve got it bad doing the interior d cor for your holiday event the White House has a dozen rooms that it needs to decorate each Christmas, all of which will be toured by tens of thousands of guests, not to mention top-level media. The first lady and her decorators, however, have always proven up to the task, and this year was no different.
Based on the theme A Timeless Tradition which aimed, according to the White House s official website to inspire visitors to celebrate long-held traditions while also creating new memories this year s holiday d cor features 12 spectacular rooms of Christmas spirit, dreamed up by First Lady Michelle Obama in conjunction with Boston- and New York-based event design company Rafanelli Events (nice job, guys!). Read on for tips on how to curate a stunning holiday display.
Photo: The Washington Post
Involve the Community
For a venue like the White House a public institution as much as it is a private home it s only appropriate that the d cor include members of the community. The White House achieved that this year by hanging 8000 paper snowflakes hand-cut by Washington DC students from the ceiling of the East Colonnade. Best of all? The kids wrote their education aspirations on each one.
Photo: Michael Blanchard
Personalize the Decor
Avoid making your event look like an upscale department store by personalizing elements of your d cor. For example? This year, the White House features larger-than-life dioramas of the Obama family s two dogs, Bo and Sunny, spun from thousands of feet of knitted yarn. Who would ve thunk family pets could be so impressive?
Photo: Michael Blanchard
Incorporate seasonal elements
We know, this one sounds kind of duh, but when you re decking the halls with spools of electric lights and plastic holly (which, by the way, you should never use), it can be easy to forget. Natural seasonal elements are a great way to create bold-colored accents without going over the top. This year, the Red Room, according to boston.com, features apple wreaths, red cardinals, crisp golden oak leaves, and a garland. Of course, let s not forget the other obvious pics for natural highlights: pine wreaths and poinsettias.
Photo: Sacbee
Make It Delicious
What s better than Christmas d cor that represents the aspirations of schoolchildren or the beauty of nature? Stuff you can eat. As the Starbucks cup debate has shown us, there s a diversity of opinions about what the holiday season does or should represent, but there s one thing nobody can deny: That it is, in large part, about stuffing your face. The White House got this one right by showcasing what is essentially the most magnificent cookie any of us has ever seen a gingerbread White House. Now if you can t manage something quite this impressive, try something a bit simpler; reindeer-shaped cookies may be a bit more your speed.
Featured image: Whitehouse.gov
High-tech prototypes: futuristic event design projects guaranteed to make you feel old

EVENT DESIGN, EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
As the maker revolution revs into high-gear, the future of spatial and experiential design is being built by small studios and labs experimenting with a medley of digital and IRL technologies. The results are pretty inspiring.
Cerebral Activations
Standing ovation on this one: way to integrate art, tech, and awareness-raising campaigns that add to an ambiance of empowerment rather than creating an awkward fundraisey vibe. Plus, this is so multi-disciplinary, we re not even sure what to call it. Art for a cause? Brand activations with lasers?
When a loved one gets cancer and you re not a doctor or a superhero you quickly feel like a bystander. And that feels S*! {04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3}# . With this punching bag we can step in the ring and join their fight. Punching cancer in the cells to raise funds for cancer research. Watch the film above.
Love. Check out more about this wicked project at interactivepunchbag.com.
Digital Wallpaper
The guys at Vienna-based design studio Strukt took projection-mapping small scale, turning an office into a digital disco after hours by projecting beams of light onto existing wall features. Naturally, Pac Man was also involved.
Or you could just, you know, turn the attendees themselves into wallpaper:
Interactive Flowers
Standard bouquets? What-ev-er. These two projects merge nature with interactivity. The first is a touch-reactive, Arduino-powered flower prototype that reacts to touch by opening and closing, much like the touch-me-not plant. The has been made using textiles and plastic parts. The second, Adaptive Bloom , is perhaps a little more avant garde a responsive art wall of floral radness.
Interactive Surfaces
Built for a Dresden exhibition all the way back in 2009, this interactive statistical strip merges physical design features with digital projection for flawless public data presentation.
On behalf of the German Hygiene-Museum Dresden, ART+COM has developed a statistics strip for the exhibition Work. Meaning and Worry to visualise and process large volumes of data and facts. Besides, seven interactive media stations with projections are integrated into the strip, where visitors can change different parameters by turning knobs and thus retrieve various data. 50 small monitors contrast the figures on the wall with individual perspectives: using touch screens, interviews with over 100 people are embedded into the statistics strip.