Backdrop

Progress

Hi everybody,
Thank you Liz and Natalie, it looks great so far.

I will get the green food dye for Thursday. I have the spray in my office and I will bring it upstairs today. Rita also helped to make some paper poppies for the tables.

Annie will be finishing the backdrop drawing by tomorrow and post it on the blog.
Emily could you take it from the blog and put it in the power point?

I am picking up the tableclothes and the chargers from the Fairmont hotel tomorrow evening because the overlays are coming tomorrow from BBJ.

I think we are in good shape for Thursday, thanks everybody for doing a great job.
We are still meeting at 10:00 in room 106 to set up.

I want you guys to handle the presentation, they are your ideas.
Figure out who will start the presentation.
After Thursday, and once we get the okay for everything, it is full force production time.
Let me know if there are any questions.

Demetra

Status of Center Pieces

Hi All,

Liz and I were able to get a great start on the center pieces this afternoon. Both pieces are in our workspace (room 525).

Remaining work:

Candle Center Piece:
-Add green food coloring to each bottle (water has already been added)--should be done Thursday prior to presentation

Branch Center Piece:
-Spraypaint the branches with the gold spraypaint (spraypaint is not in 525--hopefully someone purchased some over the holiday weekend)
-Add green food coloring to water in vase (optional)-should be done on Thursday prior to presentation
-Add "flower balls" to base

Optional:
-Add green LED lights (that are able to be in water) to vases and branch vase (currently we only have red ones--if someone has green or can get green, I think this would be best. Otherwise, I think we should leave it as is.

For set-up on Thursday from 10-12:
-Set-up place-settings and tables in room 106
-Transfer center pieces to room 106
-Add green food coloring to vases
-Review PPT presentation and flow of presentation (who is saying what)

I will not be able to assist on Tuesday or Wednesday because of classes. However, I will see you all on Thursday at 10:00.

Thanks,
Natalie

Meeting this week

Hi everyone,

I can meet Wednesday from 1-4pm if anyone is available then? Won't be able to meet Monday or Tuesday as I have work in the mornings and class in the afternoon / night.

Annie

Meeting Tomorrow (Monday)

Hi All,

As I mentioned in an email last week, I am available to meet tomorrow (Monday) afternoon before 5:00pm. (I was thinking 1-4 in order to give us time to make the center pieces)
Please let me know who can make it and if this is a good time.
Thanks,
Natalie

Availability

Hey all!  I am available to help set up/prep on Monday before 5 pm and on Thursday morning. Let's coordinate and set some times to meet. Happy (early) Thanksgiving! - Jaclyn

Table Center Piece

Emily, My center piece is attached in color, for the PPT presentation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Natalie

ORDER

Harrington is ordering most of the stuff for us.
I have not ordered any emerald gems because I could not find any online, or they were too expensive. If you find something forward it to me and I will order it.
I’ll try Michaels this weekend.
I will pick up the food coloring .
Emily or Gloria can you buy the gold glitter spray – let me know.
Annie did you pick up the Styrofoam balls and the fabric, please let me know, otherwise I need to order them.
Please start communicating through the blog for times to meet so we can start putting the stuff together.
We should have the order early next week.

Great job everybody.

munchkin land

Thinking about the Chefs' Focal Point:

To accommodate the number of chefs' stations for which the guests can vote, mailboxes could line the platform with a few larger sized munchkin houses in the center (maybe these actually are raised by the platforms we found in the mezzanine). Giant lollipops hold a gold banner that could read something like "VOTE for the best food in Munchkinland". We could also recreate the oversized fake flowers that exist in this scene of the movie. There's also potential to add the yellow brick road to the ground of the platform. 

 For the staircase, I added a tornado swirl at the base since we talked about that change in the last meeting. We could use the mesh from the mezzanine along with some of the white fibers and stuffing for  clouds. Perhaps we spray paint some of the stuffing gray since it is a storm.

Emerald city sketch

Imperial Ballroom 2009 event

CFF site

Here is their site about the event.
http://www.grandchefsgala.com/

Lollipop Voting Center

This would be Yellow and Gold Ribbon and Fabric Twisted and Swirled together Starting at the Yellow brick road motif center. I would extend to the ceiling in an elegant way supported by the large lollipops which double as signage to direct guests and voters to the voting boxes located here.

Square Table Ideas

Red Poppie Balls of Various Sizes with Branches and Many Green (Emerald) jewels hanging and glistening off the branches

Table Ideas

Meeting

Hi everybody,
Thanks for coming to our meeting today. I think we have some really awsome ideas.
I will talk to Amy about the center piece and if it has to be a "voting area" at the same time.

I am posting the sketches that Brian Naglich did, wonderful job Brian.

We will meet next Thursday, October 21, in room 106.

Demetra

Great posts

Great posts everybody, keep them coming.
Demetra

Meeting

Let's meet next Thursday, October 14, room 106 at 12:00.
Everybody please bring your sketches so we can brainstorm...
See you then
Demetra

staircase and chefs' room

I like that the ideas for the main ballroom focus on the actual Emerald City theme. So I was thinking that maybe we could touch on other parts of the story in the surrounding locations.

Staircase: Perhaps setting the tone for the Wizard of Oz theme, we could create clouds that wrap the staircase like a tornado and then have a mini-house extended into the air at the top of the staircase.

In the ballroom where the chefs set up, there is a table on which the focal point must sit. Because it is in the center of a busy room, it has to be somewhat substantial to stand out. Maybe creating a scene like munchkin land with the lollipop kids would be interesting. This is also where people cast votes for the chefs - we could use fake flower petals (or lollipops) for voting markers and tiny mailboxes for the containers.

Tin man

I found these instructions online about how to make a tin man...may be helpful if we need to :-)


Tin man instructions

Graham Rawle’s Wizard of Oz collage

This artist has been working for two years on his version of the Emerald City. Pretty amazing detail, check it out!

Graham Rawle’s Emerald city

Conceptual ideas

The Wizard is a really interesting character and probably one of my favorites. As the ruler of the Land of Oz he used magic and trickery to present himself to the people in many different forms.

I really like the part in the book (which doesn’t make it into the movie) where the wizard admits that the Emerald City is not actually Emerald. In order to protect the people from city’s splendor he convinces them to wear Emerald tinted glasses.

This use of magic and trickery could be an interesting concept to focus on. We could create a yellow brick road through the hallway, which could lead up to the city inside the imperial ballroom. The city could look emerald from the outside, but on the inside it could be vibrant, colorful, and magical.

Idea 1

We could create centerpieces out of tiered potion bottles filled with rainbow colored liquids (kind of like a cupcake tier but without the stand). We could use LED lights to make the liquid glow.

Sketch:



eBay sells small reasonably priced potion bottles that could work for this type of thing:




We could use more interesting shaped 'magic' bottles as accents throughout the venue. For example, on the auction or buffet tables:




Idea 2

We could create chandeliers or light accents from old glasses lenses. We could use green led lights to make these look green tinted. The lenses would reflect the light and create a really interesting effect.



There is a London based designer- Stuart Haygarth- who does something similar to this really effectively:



Idea 3

We could create a scene on stage with the wizard and his hot air balloon, illustrating the final part of the book where the wizard leaves the Land of Oz. This balloon could be multi-colored and 'magical' looking.





With this scene we also have the option of creating the rest of the characters...maybe waving goodbye?

Prefunction area -International Ballroom

Prefunction area- Imperial Ballroom

Main staircase- first level

International Room

Fairmont Hotel meeting

Natalie, Desmond (new member of our team) and I met with the catering director Wayne and Kim from CFF on Thursday at the Fairmont Hotel. It was a great meeting where Wayne answered a lot of our questions. He showed us the linens that he uses, the black will work but we have to look for an overlay elsewhere.
There is no problem with storage rooms.
As far as setting up the day before, we will know one month in advance if the rooms are available.
We will work with their lighting designer once our design is more formulated.
We could do something at the grand staircase.
We will be dealing with two rooms. The International Ballroom where we will design the central piece as well as the hallway (mostly walls-they need the floor space).
The Imperial Ballroom where 50 or so tables will be set up for dinner. In the front of the room at the entry points they will set up auction tables as well as a bar. The back part of the room has the stage, so we need to think of a backdrop related to the concept. I will show you the floor plans at our next meeting.
I am posting some pictures of the spaces that we visited.
The budget questions were not answered, I have to talk to the CFF people.

Can everybody meet this Thursday, same time in room 106?

Additional Ideas:

Incorporate horses? Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Lion are taken into the Emerald City via horse and buggy. The horse keeps changing color. Is there something we can do with this?

An idea to use a large, tall glass vase and use it as a dimly lit lamp. (it's possible, I saw something like it online). Incorporate an emerald green lamp shade and emerald beading.

An idea in the main ballroom to drape emerald green fabric from the ceiling to give the true feeling of being engulfed in an emerald room.

Concept 3: A more modern take on the poppy. Uses scientific test tubes as individual vases for each flower to form a single, large vase, the center of which will be filled with emerald cubes. Each individual vase will be tied with an emerald ribbon.

Concept 2: Incorporate decorative "sticks" to look like trees from the woods since Emerald City appears as Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Lion exit the woods on their journey.

Small leaves will be on the branches. Emerald colored shiny beads will be draped over the branches and will hang off of the "trees" like Christmas tinsel. Votive candles will also be placed on the tables.

Concepts

Concept 1: Emerald colored votive candle holders hung from ceiling/poppy floral bouquets. Will emit emerald glow throughout the room.

Thursday

Hello Felllow Designers,
My Firm just got a job that i need to work on Thrusday morning before my class so i will not be able to make it to the walk thru of the Fairmont....:(
Take lots of pictures...please and thank you!!

LONELY

Anybody out there?????

Thursday meeting at the Fairmont Hotel

Hi everybody,
Amy Petterson has arranged a meeting for us at the Fairmont Hotel with the Catering Director Wayne Harth on Thursday, September 30th at 10am. We will meet him on the 4th floor/catering office. Amy's colleague Kim Mills will be taking her place in her absence. She will be able to answer any of our questions related to the event and the budget for décor. Please email me or answer in the blog so I know who is coming.
See you there
Demetra

Meeting minutes

Demetra presented this year's theme- Emerald City, Wizzard of Oz. Inspirational images were shown to the team as well as pictures from the 2009 gala decor which was designed and installed by the Harrington team.

Jaclyn Moser who was part of last year's team was very helpful in the discussion.
Questions to ask the CFF committee:
Color of table lines that the Fairmont Hotel has,
Storage rooms available before the event
Check the rooms schedule, it is key for setting up and taking down the intallation
How do we transport the pieces
Ask who the lighting designer is and work with him before the event to ensure good lighting for the installation
Budget questions

Demetra will contact Amy Pattterson, Associate Executive Director of CFF to arrange a meeting for Thursday, September 30th, at the Fairmont Hotel to see the spaces and have a conversation concerning the above items. Best time for us is Thursday mornings.

If we meet next Thursday at the Fairmant Hotel, then our next meeting here at school will be on Thursday, October 7th in room 106. In the meantime everybody has decided to look for inspirational images and come up with sketches for our next meeting.

Again, I want to thank everyone for attending and thank you for your time
Demetra

Great Meeting

Great meeting everybody. I will compose the meeting minutes tomorrow and put them on the blog.
Jaclyn, thanks for your input.
Demetra

Emerald City examples

Emerald city image

Emerald City images

Kick-off meeting

I have talked to many of you about this upcoming exciting project for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which will take place January 28th, 2011 at the Fairmont Hotel . Harrington was the team that put together the event design and decorations for the 2009 gala.
Every year the CF Foundation holds their grand chef gala in order to raise money for the organization and at the same time it honors chefs for their culinary excellence.
Last year’s team had a lot of fun putting this together, and I am hoping that we will do the same this year. It will also look great in your portfolio.

This year’s theme is Emerald City –Wizard of Oz. As interior designers this is a very exciting theme and concept. I have done a quick image search which I am including as part of this email. I have the floor plans of the two rooms that we will be working with.

I am also including their announcement for the gala event.

I am available on Tuesdays until 4:00 and Thursday all day. Please let me know of your availability so we can meet next week.
If everybody can make it on Thursday, that will be great. Let me know if you want to meet at 12:00-1:00 or after 5:00.
Their next meeting is in October and I would like to present some thoughts to them.

I am really excited to work on this project and hope to see you next week.
Happy dreams…