DesignSPARKS & Highlights: Chicago

Resolution Productions Group in Chicago is a full production digital studio and event space. It was also the perfect place for our DesignSPARK Networker last Wednesday evening. With three stories of production space, the venue was a beautiful working studio offering video production, postproduction, distinctive design and execution of live events. You can find out more about this amazing venue here.

With a blank canvas and a little inspiration, event professionals make magic, and that is exactly what we wanted to encourage with our Chicago Networker. We wanted people to experience the studio and its production capabilities while showcasing our furnishings. With such an unusual venue (and fabulous furnishings) all we needed were some magic makers, and we found five of them that brought the event to life with creativity and design.

To highlight the major areas of the space (and several of our new furnishings), we created four settings to highlight some of the different production spaces that the studio offers to its clients.

On the second floor, in the “Secret Garden,” we used the Chateau Collection with Hex and Rose Phoebe Tables along with a Whisper Banquet and brightly colored accent pillows. In actuality, the space was a green screen room where guests could sit in front of a green screen set and learn exactly how the technology works. It was a green screen to a magical garden in 3, 2, 1…

In the Apartment Set on the second floor (a studio used for a TV production set), we created an Irish Pub. We used the Winston Collection mixed with Ashbury Tables and Elio Chairs to create a pub style ambience. Kaiser Tiger served beer and delicious sausage tastings from the kitchen and bar area that were just delicious.

On the third floor, we featured the Metro Collection mixed with the Chandler Collection, Zambia Cube Ottomans, and a Black Crystal Bar Surround to create a Groupies Hair Band Lounge. Who doesn’t love a glass of champagne while listening to some great rock and roll?

If awesome, rocking hairbands were not to a guest’s taste, they could check out the Ultra Lounge. The room, draped in white, was uplit in deeply saturated hues of magenta and royal blue. During install, we used a time-lapse camera to record the set-up, and then edited the footage and looped it on a large screen for guests to view while relaxing in white Empire Chairs interspersed with our new Hylton Tables. A lounge with Continental Curved Benches and Lit Cubes combined with Cocktail Tables and White Equino Chrome Bar Stools in the back of the room provided a general session styled set-up. With the smooth sounds of a DJ and chilled white wine, it was the ultimate spot to “chillax.”

After the VIP tours, we opened the Main Stage area so that guests could find some inspiration and network in the Design Lounges our five magic makers had designed and created. To make the evening more enjoyable, we paired a caterer with each of the designers. So that everyone could identify the products used, we loaded iPads with images of the featured furnishings used in each area along with the menu and specialty drinks produced from American Harvest Organic Vodka or Casamigos Tequila. Long story short, the night was deliciously beautiful.

Revel Décor created an amazing all white custom draped design vignette using white Shanti Bar Backs, Whisper Benches, and Cubed Ottomans and Hex Tables. To warm the space, Revel layered in Rectangle Memphis Pub Tables and used Zanzibar End Tables to create some “table chandeliers,” which cast diamond shapes throughout the area. Moroccan candle lanterns, silver pitchers and grapevine spheres finished the setting in perfect detail. To carry through the Moroccan vibe, Limelight Catering served Jalisco High Tea, Pita & Crispy Zaatar Rubbed Flatbread, Goat Cheese and Red Pepper Dip, Edamame Hummus with Toasted Sesame, and Roasted Carrot and White Bean Dip.

Platinum Events and Marketing worked their magic creating a 22’ tree with our Elio Chairs and Marcus Bar Stools. Adding some greenery and floral and utilizing Umber Bars and Marcus Stools for seating around the base; the vignette showcased some of our furnishings in a very innovative way. Paramount Catering served Pork Belly Lollipops with Orange Supreme, Blossoms Beet Salad, Grilled Shrimp and Summer Gazpacho. Can you say, YUM?

Dark Umber Bars matched with Espresso Shanti Bar Backs were the mainstays of the Kehoe Designs area. New Wooden Butterfly tables were combined with brightly colored Phoebe Tables and topped with turquoise and lime green votive candles. Kehoe logo bags were interspersed with succulents in complementing ceramic containers and placed in bar backs for a great branding idea. Tasty Catering lived up to their name with a sumptuous menu including Chicken Mojos, Coconut Crusted Shrimp, Crispy Olive Manchego Bits, Chorizo and Fingerling Potato Skewer, Carnitas Flatbread, Veggie Flatbread, and Fish Tacos. Our mouths are still watering for more as we write this!

A simply exquisite Pink Orchid Chandelier took center stage in Ashland Addison Floral & Event Décor’s design. To create the grouping they used the Plaza Chaise, Whisper Bench Ottoman, and Whisper Cubes with Zanzibar End Tables. To create multi-tiered serving stations, they used dark wooden Hayden Tables with matching benches on top for a perfect solution. Food For Thought served Tenderloin with Black Bean Puree, Pineapple Meringue, Housemade Tortillas, with Queso and Guajillo Sauce. The specialty drink featured Tequila, Roasted Pineapple Shrub, Sorrel Agave Syrup, and Fresh Lime Juice, and a Pineapple Shard garnish. One word sums up these magic makers. Divine!

Debi Lilly: A Perfect Event designed a chic, elegant space featuring our mirrored front Provence Bar and matching Bar Backs. To flesh-out the setting, she used silver Zinc Pub Tables surrounded with Ghost Chairs combined with Whisper Round Ottomans, topped with layers of flower petals, and rectangular silver trays with glowing votive candles. The white floral in this space was beautiful in silver colored glass urns and containers intermixed with vodka displays and flower petals. Pure Kitchen's menu was all flower power and was comprised of a delicious array of delicacies such as Lavender and ver Jus Braised Pork Belly, Buzz Button Intermezzo, Ginger Bang Bang Cocktail, Sous Vide Candy Cane Beets and Goat Cheese Pudding (with five different edible flowers). It was flower power on a whole new level!

Other main room groupings included a general bar area with the Regale Collection and the Essentials Charging Station combined with Sophistication Collection and new Spectrum High Top Tables and white Criss Cross Stools.

Before the end of the night, votes were tallied to name a Design Challenge winner by popular choice. Congratulations to our winning team of Platinum Events and Marketing (décor and design) and Paramount Events (catering) for the big win! Each company took home a $500.00 AFR Gift Certificate.

The variety of entertainment throughout the evening maintained a high energy vibe including a DJ Percussionist, jugglers, hand balancing act, spoken word artist/singer, dancers and more. Different artists performed in each room, which provided a great flow of entertainment throughout the evening.

One of our favorite showstoppers of the Networker was the LED Octogon Tower provided by Resolution Productions Group. They are awesome. Standing 8’ 6 ½” tall, the tower displayed AFR products, event pictures and networker sponsors in high resolution. The images looped continuously throughout the evening and could be seen on the tower as well as flat-screens hung throughout the venue.

The winner of the TSE Full Conference Package to the 2015 The Special Event Conference and Trade Show was Vida Talandis, Event Specialist Manager at First In Service Events. Congratulations! We’ll see you in sunny California in January, Vida!

The Chicago Networker was truly a successful team effort thanks to our generous partners and sponsors!

If you have not registered for our Connecticut Networker yet, you can click here and take care of that! We know that you will not want to miss it!

Please join in the AFR tour conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the official tour hashtag: #afrTOUR.

< Return to Category Home