Heart Foundation: Protea Power!

The floral design for the tables at the Heart Foundation event honoring Wolfgang Puck featured an unusual combination of white dendrobium and protea with a base of crushed red glass in an assortment of square silver containers finished with square frosted votives.

The five-by-eight-foot table was an unusual shape and we created a larger-than-normal arrangement on it. However, a pin spot wouldn’t capture the entire arrangement so we used a leko shuddered in instead. Perfect.

Here is another view of the same thing. You don’t always need a lot of flowers; well-selected containers and complementary votive candle holders can add a whole other dimension.

I shot the hour just before the event then gave the camera to Jahon because I knew he would capture different angles and boy did he. This is such a beautiful picture. It had nothing to do with the party but look at the texture in the protea and how beautiful a flower can be. Wow!

Adding white dendrobium orchids on top of the protea gave the design a whole different perspective.

The podium floral.

Very top photo: There was a sea of protea in our warehouse for a day before they went out to the job. Every time I walked by I stopped to gaze at these, and finally took this picture.

Heart Foundation: Chef's Night Out

This year's Heart Foundation was a tribute to Wolfgang Puck, chef/owner of Spago and mentor to many top chefs. To prepare dishes for the elegant sit-down dinner and hors d'oeuvres for cocktail hour, the organizers brought in Wolfgang's protege, all of whom have gone on to illustrious careers.

To create a unique culinary and educational experience during the cocktail hour, we designed special areas for each chef that would give attendees information on the chef and his or her dish and branded in the style of the invitation created by Bob Fryer of Pop! Ink LA.

Chefs included Richard Reddington of Redd Restaurant, Nancy Silverton from Mozza, Josiah Citrin, Melisse, Michael Cimarusti, Providence, Kazuto Matsusaka of Beacon and more.

Heart Foundation 09: The Beginning

The final product

The rendering

The inspiration

All great events begin with the invitation. In the case of the 2009 Heart Foundation Annual Event, that would be an invitation designed and executed by Bob Fryer, Pop! Ink Design Studio.

We've worked with Bob on this event for the past four years. He always comes up with the perfect branding for the event. From the save-the-date card and invitation to the programs and tribute books, Bob creates memorable imagery. Over the years it has become increasingly easy to work with him. Largely because his design is edgy and I identify with that. But also because he brings me an idea, and I can carry it through the entire event as you see here.

This year Bob's save-the-date card for the Heart Foundation's tribute to Wolfgang Puck featured a fluent and contemporary design that was easily reinterpreted through our 3-D design. As soon as I saw it I immediately knew I had my inspiration for the stage design AND tabletop design. Check back with designdawgs in a few days for more on that!

We Won!

The Winning Event: The Marriott Masters Un-Tradeshow

Last night at the BizBash Event Style Awards, AOO Events was honored to receive the award for Best Corporate Event for the Marriott Masters' "un-tradeshow" event. We were up against some very impressive competition so the award was that much sweeter. Thank you Marriott Masters for your support and for having the confidence in our production and design capabilities!

Trends: A New Meaning for "Corporate Merger"

A trend we have seen at the corporate events we design and produce these days as budgets tighten up is that while the sponsors are still there, many complimentary brands are teaming up to sponsor one event. This is what two food and beverage giants did for an event during the Western Association of Food Chains, a conference that was held this year at the Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix. Great hotel by the way, worth checking out.

As the designer, we just needed to be more sensitive to equal placement, meshing logo colors with the event design and sending the right message for all involved.

This event featured a desert oasis theme, a simple design that played off of the rich geographical characteristics of the desert.

This is a shot of the stage looking back in the room. To create interest, I designed by using a lot of gobo projections of trees. The ones on the dance floor are in focus to create this area as a point of interest while those on the wall are not in focus to create a breakup pattern while still enforcing the natural wilderness type of environment.

Here is a shot of the room from the entrance (more or less). The large, colorful desert photos are a simple add-on. If you have themes that you are requested to do more often such as the desert, beach or winter (depending on where you are located), consider buying stock photography. Often you can find it at a decent price online. Purchase is at a resolution that is high enough to maintain clarity once it’s blown up.

And actually, these photos look inner-lit but they are front lit with a leko, shuddered in to just hit the picture and not “bleed” light onto the frame. With the right lighting, these simple details become a major décor element.

These photos also show how we saved additional money by considering the ballroom’s existing color scheme. It may not always work out, but if you can, designing décor to the colors of the ballroom can make the most of the space and the budget.

All The Stage is a World

Stage treatments. Just as the writer faces a blank page and is faced with all the possibilities of how it can be filled, so do designers look at a stage. Of course, we also have parameters of budget, logistics, use (will it be used just by speakers, by speakers and entertainment, and so forth).

But this stage treatment came with a little added pressure -- it was for the International Interior Design Association annual awards at the Century City Hyatt. It had to be creative, stylish and worthy of its audience.

The end result was a stage design inspired by the design work of Jonathan Adler with repeated textures and bold colorful patterns. I’m most proud of this stage because when I showed them the first rendering they loved it and that was it. And that is not an easy thing for a committee of interior designers to have no objections!

The stage was stylized yet not corporate. The LED up-lighting allowed us a lot of flexibility in building looks for the show. Here is another color variation of it.

On the tables, Zaid from AOO created an explosion of hot pink and orange floral on a bed of clear crushed glass. Again, using the style of Jonathan Adler as inspiration, the flowers were presented in round, flat white "pods" that were actually plastic. Using this material gave us the ability to create a more stylized piece and we didn’t care when they all walked with the guests at the end of the night! Here's a quick snap we got before the tables and lighting were set.

AOO Nominated for Two BizBash Awards!

Heart Foundation, 2008, a BizBash Event Style Award nominee

Last week, as my team and I were in production for this year's Heart Foundation event honoring Wolfgang Puck (more about this event later) we learned that AOO Events has been nominated for the BizBash Event Style Award for last year's Heart Foundation event we produced honoring Berry Gordy! The event was nominated in the category of Best Entertainment Program or Concept.

We also learned that AOO is nominated for Best Corporate Event Concept, Under $50,000 for our un-tradeshow for the Marriott Masters in Arizona.

Marriott Masters

A custom bar at Marriott Masters.


Low-impact decor was used to reflect the desert surroundings. Photos by Rand Larsen

The BizBash Event Style Awards honor the best in event creativity. The Los Angeles awards take place June 11 in conjunction with the BizBash Event Style Expo at the L.A. Mart.

Wish us luck!