Event Pros Take Action

Message from Dave

Today I have a little bit different type of post -- less of a guest blog, more of a story about what an amazing group of event professionals are getting ready to do. In 2011 this group traveled to New Orleans to help families STILL in need of shelter from Katrina and this year from July 17-20 they will be doing it again. This is the story of why this group donated blood, sweat, tears (of joy) and money in 2011 and why they are doing it again. It's also the story of how you too can become involved in an experience that alters not only the lives of others, but your life too. We here at AOO Events support their efforts and hope you will too.

David Merrell

Owner/Creative Director, AOO Events, Lead designdawg

A Make-Over with a Mission to Give Back

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, devastating communities and changing lives in an instant.  From the damage, millions of residents were displaced and thousands of homes were destroyed. Six years later, people are still struggling to rebuild their lives and there is still so much to be done to repair these communities. 

  

2011

In spring of 2011, a group of event professionals came together in an unprecedented way to make an impact on communities in need. Founded by Susie Perelman and Stacey Mehalik of Mosaic, Inc., Event Pros Take Action (EPTA) was born, and their first mission took them to New Orleans four months later to help this community rebuild. For three days, a group of event professionals volunteered their time and money to paint, spackle, and dry wall homes that were being rebuilt by New Orleans-based St. Bernard Project. Because of EPTA’s dedication to helping the residents of NOLA, the group set out to make an even bigger impact on this community.  Prior to their arrival, folks in the event industry donated and shipped close to 15,000 products (china, glass, silver, tablecloths, napkins, carpets and more) which eventually found their way to close to 250 homeowners.

In addition, EPTA created a Designing Digs program. Two well-seasoned “Design Angel” event pros, Mark Wells of Hello-Florida and Richard Carbotti of Perfect Surroundings were able to make dreams come true for two special NOLA families. With donations from AFR Event Furnishings, these lucky homeowners received bed sets, sofas, chairs, coffee tables, flat screen TVs and so much more. 

When they arrived in NOLA, EPTA volunteers set to work moving in furniture, laying carpet, hanging pictures and creating dream homes for these families. Their fantastic team worked tirelessly in the rain and sweltering heat to create beautiful, welcoming safe havens for their worthy recipients.  At the end of the mission, EPTA welcomed the Jones and Green family home in style with ribbon-cutting celebrations, complete with confetti cannons and grilled oysters served up NOLA-style, created by local celeb chefs.

Through this process, EPTA has learned that losing a home means more than simply losing a house. A home is a safe haven, a place of comfort and warmth. Rebuilding a home means more than putting up walls. Families need to feel that they finally have a refuge from life’s storms. They need an environment that welcomes them at the end of each and every day. 

2012

EPTA returns to NOLA this July 17-20 to continue its good work. It's joined this year by many new and returning event professionals and will be working with St. Bernard Project to complete the homes of the Rose and Carriere families. Here are two videos of those families:

While their homes are still in the initial stages of the rebuild, EPTA is committed to bringing these families home this summer.  

This year, the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) will also get into the act. The NACE Experience! will be held in New Orleans and has made provisions for its attendees to pitch in during that time, with a “stay and work” program.

Anchor Sponsors

AFR Event Furnishings not only has also presented EPTA with a check for $20,000 this year, but, as they did in 2011, it has provided all the furnishings for the homes, including tables, chairs, bed sets, sofas and even flatscreen TV’s. Other significant contributions were made in 2011 by Larry Green of Rentals Unlimited, and Mosaic Inc. both of whom are once again donating time and money this year.

2011 - 2012 Donating Companies
(money and product) to date

A-1 Tablecloth

American Turf & Carpet

AFX Pro

Absolute CSI

AOO Events
Backdrops Beautiful
Bourbon Heat
Capital City Club
Event Source
EventWorks
Forte Events
Go West Creative
Hilton Riverside New Orleans
Hospitality Connects

Illusions Rentals & Designs
Intellievent

kool. Party Rentals
Liberty Party Rental

Mecca Communications
O'Mealia Special Events
Panache, a Classic Party Rental Co.
Premier Beverage
R & F Fabrics
Signature Destination Management
Someone's in the Kitchen
Taste Buds
The Event Production Company
The Occasion Palace
Verterra
VHVideo.com
Wilkinson Rhodes

Your name here! 

Thanks to photographer Lexie Cole Photography

Click here for a video about EPTA 

Click here to find out how you can get involved on-site, or donate goods or money


Note: EPTA's room block in NOLA at the Hilton Riverside closes July 1 so if you would like to be an on-site volunteer, make your reservations now for the best rate! Go to www.eventprostakeaction.org for more.

GUEST BLOG by Doron Gazit

Doron Gazit is the owner of AirDD. No doubt you know about his collection of illuminated inflatable designs as his company has been a staple of the industry since 1986. But what you might not know is that all those designs originate from Doron's artistic vision and that his inspiration comes from nature. His body of work was awarded the Special Events magazine Gala Award of Excellence, and he himself was inducted to the Event Solutions Hall of Fame. His Airtubes have been on the cover of Smithsonian magazine, and Doron was a featured artist in The Festival of Lights in Jerusalem as well as one of the intrepid (and dusty) artists who trek to the desert every year for Burning Man where he does his research and development! From the very beginning, Doron has followed his passion for "air-chitect." Not only has he made sustainable business out of it, he's added light and illumination to many of this industry's events. Glad he's now part of the design dawg pack!
David Merrell
Lead designdawg, Creative Director and Owner, AOO Live and AOO Events

Environmental Art: On the Asahi River, Japan

Raw Spaces

 By Doron Gazit

All my life I have looked at raw spaces – from the desert and ocean where there are no borders to empty airplane hangars with soaring ceilings and barren walls. To me I see possibilities in these spaces to create art with what is there – air. The space becomes my canvas, Airtubes are three-dimensional lines and the Hi-lights are the dots that make up my three-dimensional "paintings."

When I started Air Dimensional Design, now AirDD, in 1986, I had already been "sculpting the wind" for years, making the invisible visible using what became our Airtubes. I simply did what came naturally to me and what I loved doing. I thank Dave for this opportunity to be a guest design dawg and reflect on what I do. When I look back on it, I see I was very fortunate to be able to turn my personal art and passion into a viable and successful business but also a design that has been part of so many amazing, international events.

THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT

Architecture + art + space =  AirDD at its best. I want to share some of the events that helped define AirDD as well as push us into new directions.

 A commissioned piece done in Dubai. I call the 10 75-foot-tall towers "Flowers at Sunset." Using a total of 2,000 feet of Airtube, it was a time when architecture and Airtubes met in the most dramatic of ways.

This was a lifetime ago, yet to me it feels like yesterday! It was an event on a dry lake centered around a performance by the great tenor, Pavarotti. There was nothing --nothing--here! To give the space vertical elements with abstract musical notes. I used the Airtubes with scaffolding as an architectural elements.

Here Airtubes played off the color and linear structure of the green building (there is a red, blue and green building) of the iconic Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. This was called "Playground for the Wind" because the wind moved in and around the Airtubes, animating them in a beautiful dance.

I want to take a moment to thank clients like this who love environmental art such as this and have been able to see how there is a place for it in event design.

The opening of the Fuji Building in Japan.

The next thing...To complement Airtubes, which are one long three-dimensional line, I began to play with shape. From this came a collection we named Hi-Lights. This collection of about eight different design subsets has allowed me much freedom to explore shape, light and lift, and again I've been able to explore my passion for this form of "air-chitecture" both professional and personally; yet always as an artist.

For many of the designs in this collection, nature is my inspiration. Below is a progression of photos that I think visually mirrors my journey as a designer and an artist.

It begins with Airtubes at Burning Man where wind, nature and people interacted, creating an environment for the wind to manifest itself physically. The next photos is of an Airtube in the Burnt Carmel Forest in Israel and then an Organic Hi-Light in the same location. Finally, the organic, lighted shape takes its place amid the architecture of ancient Jerusalem.

COMING DOWN TO EARTH

Of course, my greatest satisfaction has been bringing my art to our day-to-day lives, our celebrations and special events. It's about bringing lightness, color and humor to raw spaces -- urban, heavy environments -- in order to define a space and create a focal point of beauty upon which the eye can rest.

The visual impact of three-dimensional pieces is very powerful. Because of this, with less you can do so much more.

 
There have been events we’ve done at which the only design element is several Organic Hi-Lights hanging in a warehouse. Just that is a statement unto itself. Here the Organics (Lilia, Medusa and Spring) were the perfect way to transform an airplane hanger into a more intimate space during a trade show.

Here they are being used at a Bar Mitzvah designed by Jonathon Reeves, International Event Company, as part of the overall design.

Spheres and Stars are two Hi-Lights that are used the most often to fill space above, or on the ground. as you can see from these two events designers love them for their shape -- a perfect amount of blank canvas for projections of design, or branding. The stars in the photo above shown at the annual show for the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) are actually one of our newer designs. Called Lotus Stars, they are more free form in shape.

Spheres by day

By night

Spheres,  and lots of them! This event, an awards presentation in honor of the designer James Watterson, used 80 Hi-Lights altogether. Spheres, Cones and Hydra trees illuminated in primary colors were the main design element.

Rising Stars -- Stars that appear to have "fallen" from the sky -- 

at the 75th Anniversary of the iconic Griffith Observatory.

One of my Burning Man creations using our 31-point stars in a 

new way to bring color and light to the desert.

Believe it or not, these Hi-Lights are actually on top of a "car" at Burning Man. 

Quite a sight to see in motion!

We continue to expand our Hi-Light collection based on client needs and what we see in the design world as well as nature that excites us. Always we look at the technical aspects of the products, refining them to offer brighter LEDs, quieter fans and greener options. 

Because if I can pass one thing onto all the artists in this industry it’s that creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum. For as much as I love to sculpt with the wind, being tethered to the earth by understanding business, abiding by a code of ethics and having the highest regard for quality workmanship has allowed my creativity to soar.

I hope that this post helps many of you in this industry see that you can be successful following a dream. It’s been a journey that for me, is written on the wind.

About Doron Gazit

Doron Gazit has been exploring the fluidity of motion since 1981 when he began capturing the wind in Israel and sculpting with it using air-filled three-dimensional tubes, first on a small, personal level in nature, then on a large-scale in urban settings. His work was noticed by international event designers which led to commissions for huge, temporary installations at major events such as World Expos and the Olympic Games in 1984. He began AirDD in 1986 and went on to do architectural installations on some of the world’s most significant buildings and landmarks.

As AirDD grew, Gazit continued to explore wind, water and motion in nature through intimate, interactive performance pieces. These art events involve wind, nature and people, giving all the to “play” with and “sculpt” the wind, making the invisible visible.

Gazit's latest venture is taking his lifetime work, Sculpting the Wind, and freezing it for all time, literally. His collection of lighted sculptures, called Frozen Flow, will be on exhibit for the first time at the Los Angeles Dwell show, June 22 - 24,  Booth 1225.

A Pre-Existing Condition Part Two: Dallas

Last week I showed you Part One of this two-city event designed by AOO Events that featured the same design directives, but in very different hotel ballrooms. Here is how we translated them to meet the goals in the Dallas ballroom, which was smaller and had much lower ceilings.

A palette of copper and teal
As it was in Denver, the color palette was copper and teal. However, in this ballroom we didn't have the luxury of intelligent lighting. With conventional lighting fixtures, attaining a true copper is more difficult so we opted for an amber tone.

Adding texture 
We still wanted to add texture with lighting on the wall. Working with the conventional lighting instruments available, I picked a birch branch breakup pattern and double gelled the teal to get this color.

Creating focal points
In the larger ballroom in Denver we had two focal points -- a central bar and the stage. In this smaller ballroom a central bar would have eaten up too much space. So our focal point here was the stage. The birch branches were still part of that design and were placed on a center credenza (pictured above).

Dealing with the unexpected
This time the client requested a large screen in the room. To integrate it into the design, we placed it over the bar and built around it using both the birch branch break-up pattern and the real thing on either side of the screen as framing. A custom shelf unit filled with birch bark pillar candles helped finish the vignette.

Using what you've got
This room has a bank of windows on one side dressed with sheer white drapes. This provided another empty canvas for me where more golden tones could be introduced into the design. This was done simply with up lights positioned between the window and the drapes.

Sheer genius
Not only was the space larger in Denver, but the ceilings were much higher. I made that space a little more intimate by added sheer fabric panels to create smaller lounge areas. Doing that in Dallas wouldn't have worked. It would have just closed the space in more. So those sheer fabric panels were re-purposed here to make a stage treatment Placing them at different heights created an interesting backdrop and by positioning them at different depths we were also able to hide lighting instruments between them.

Color blocking
Using the colors of the event I blocked the warmer and more inviting color in the foyer entrance that lead to the ballroom. Originally, I had lighted this with the teal in the foyer thinking that the amber tone would be better on the outside to draw one in, but it actually felt colder and less welcoming. A simple shift of colors changed that.

Mirrors...redux!
In Denver I used the existing mirrors as well. This image underlines why I love using them! For no money at all you have an interesting element that frames and reflects other design elements, adding depth and a sense of play.