Snapshot
Bringing the Outside In – and Vice Versa
Published in April 2010 event profile | Departments
The party was an event to launch COMMANDhOSE (comandhose.com), a line of nylon hose with “tattoos” imprinted on them. Guests included buyers from major department store chains across the country. The launch party was planned and coordinated by VOWS Wedding & Event Planning in Kirkland, WA.
“The biggest challenge was that this was the front yard of a couple’s house,” says Greg Olsen, international president and owner of Prop Gallery West (propgallery.com), which did the design and installation for the event. “The lamp posts, the hedges, the stone garden…all that we had to work around.”
Because it was Seattle in November, an outdoor event required a tent. Set-up and installation for the event took about four days.
• Posters were displayed around the tented space, to reflect the company’s branding.
• Lampposts and hedges were real, existing elements in the front yard of the client’s home. Instead of disguising them, Greg Olsen worked them into the design.
• Runways were created to let buyers see something familiar—and yet different.
• Curtains were a white satin, cut to size, hemmed and then brought to the event and installed in the tent. Romantic reds and purples were created with lighting, rather than fabric. LED lights turned white into the colors the owner wanted.