Designs Eclectic
With a new season come new ideas. Find out what’s on rental professionals’ minds this spring — and on their tabletops
by Pat McCarrell | Published in March 2008 Focus on Event Design
The term “green events” continues to gain market share in the industry lexicon, and tabletops seem to be among the easiest places to start greening.
Daryl Aken, who added the “sustainable” to his company’s name, Girari Sustainable Event Furnishings, about two years ago, believes any hue of green is in.
“It’s on everyone’s tongue,” says Aken, who readily admits his personal and professional bias. “Two years ago it wasn’t even an option. Now, every event needs to keep it in mind and be as green as possible.”
Last fall, he created the Girari Glass Tabletop Shootout, inviting designers to give it their greenest.
Alice Chalier, whose creation won second place, says she took the green theme as far as she could. Among her ideas: creating votive candle holders — soy candles, of course — from recycled tomato paste cans, and making pillows out of recycled newspaper with tassels from an unused curtain.
All of these elements may not translate well to an event for 1,500, but Aken says one point of the contest is simply to raise the industry’s level of consciousness of green events.
Another notable idea that could easily become a trend involves not so much a design issue as a service issue.
The expedient practice of turning to the catering and event teams of a hosting hotel for a turnkey banquet on short notice no longer has to run the risk of unexpected colors or themes thanks to a recent innovation by Hyatt Regency Washington, D.C., and its off-site catering company, Monumental Affairs.
The hotel and its caterer have created the Monumental Affairs Design Center inside the Hyatt, a kind of showroom where event planners can preview and make selections for site locations, linens, china, glassware, floral arrangements, invitations and more.
The event needn’t be held in the hotel to use the design center, which features samples from Party Rentals Ltd.
Meanwhile, tried-and-true elegant, gold and silver textured linens with bone-white china and colored chargers providing contrast are as prevalent in corporate settings as ever.
“The larger corporate events seem to focus on the spectacle of a grand event, rather than on highly designed individual tabletops,” says Jay Cooper, marketing director at Ducky-Bob’s Event Specialists, a Classic Party Rentals Company. “The events for our high-end retail customers focus on design and style details, and feature specially selected fabrics and best-quality tabletop wares.”
About the author: Pat McCarrell
Pat McCarrell was formerly the publisher and editor of Event Solutions magazine.
Contact: editor@event-solutions.com