Shedding Light on the Latest in Decor
Walk into a party and in the first room billowy clouds float along an azure sky. In another, snowflakes stand out against blackness. And in another, rain forest foliage throws patterns on the walls.
Just as prime rib and baked Alaska are passe fare, so are static spotlights and mirrored balls outdated light motifs. Even laser lights are considered yesterday’s effects.
These days, the well-designed party is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting that can transform a ballroom into a jungle, a tent into a spaceship or a living room into an ice palace--and can cost up to five figures. And along with the caterers and florists, lighting designers are considered essential components of most major fetes.
“I’m seeing more people spending less on props and more on lighting,” says Criss Anders, director of lighting and technical services for Los Angeles Party Designs. “It’s a clean look, and you have the capability to change the room with the touch of a button. You can’t move a prop around.”
Designers like Anders talk about “choreographing” lighting--using instruments to move and change the effects. For a launch party for a new soft drink, she created a futuristic theme with clouds and planets, changing the look in every room. “That way we built up the anticipation level.”
Innovations within the last two years include computerized devices that can be programmed to move lights around a room, projecting different colors and patterns.
This technology has helped lighting designers tackle one of their biggest challenges--transforming a familiar, often bleak space, like a ballroom or tent, into something dramatic and different.
“I like to be dynamic,” says David Clayton Smith, owner of Towards 2000. “What makes an event interesting is the progression that happens throughout the evening. I like to think about where the guests just came from, what did they see--a high-energy film or a funeral? I like to meet their moods when they walk in and try to do things throughout the event that change to make it interesting.”
To do this, he can re-create the lighting of an entire day, from sunrise to sunset to night. He also can create the look of rain and clouds, and for a ‘60s theme party he may project moving psychedelic patterns on a wall.
It’s all part of making a party a series of changing tableaux, a trend that party planners predict will grow stronger in the ‘90s.
Raymond Thompson, owner of Images by Lighting, once had guests drinking cocktails in an “arctic cave,” with a dark blue sky and snowflakes, and dinner in a Brazilian forest with primary colors and tropical plants projected on the walls.
At last year’s Dinosaur Ball hosted by the Museum of Natural History, Thompson sent washes of different colors over the inside of an all-white tent.
“The guests didn’t really notice it at first,” he recalls, “but they started to catch it on the third color, because it really went from stark white to all these colors.
“When people start getting into choosing lighting for a party, I ask them what colors they want (to set the mood). Blue is going to make them cool and quiet, red and hot pinks will make them more excited.”
While lighting designers don’t want their efforts to show, they do want their effects noticed and appreciated. But that doesn’t always happen.
“Sometimes I don’t think people realize how different it would look if we turned off the specialized lighting, just how flat it would be with the house lights,” says Smith of Towards 2000.
What will future technology bring?
Smith predicts that events will encompass virtual reality, elaborate soundscape systems and interactive dance floors that change as people move.
Anders sees the equipment itself becoming more “refined; I see the rigging done in a decorative fashion, so that it becomes a part of the room.”
“Sometimes (creating effects) is more simple that people realize,” says Smith. “Creating a sunrise doesn’t require heavy-duty technology. But instead of a big, boring hotel ballroom wall, we can make it more interesting with a lighting treatment.”