Campari & SKYY Spirits Event at the Empire Hotel Rooftop
Now that a year has passed since Campari’s 150th Anniversary Party at the Bowery Hotel (part 1 part 2), the liquor’s parent company SKYY Spirits came back to us to design another branded party - this time at the Empire Hotel Rooftop. Hosted by SKYY Spirits for Impact Magazine, the industry event welcomed executives for all major spirit companies including Campari’s top management from Milan. Given the in-the-spotlight spirit of the evening, the design called for luxe and very beautiful flowers, so we chose none other than orchids and lilies.
Our front bar arrangements consisted of red lilies with plum cymbidium orchids, red mocara and James Story orchids. Our team styled the bar with cymbidium heads, Campari and SKYY Infusions bottles along with custom menus offering the famed Negroni and Aperol Spritz cocktails.
We carried the cymbidium orchids up to the gold wire lighting fixtures as decoration above the bar. The six balls studded with white cymbidium and lemon leaves exceeded our expectations based on a trial on a single fixture – almost butterfly-like, the dozens of orchids appeared to flutter with the lights on!
The smaller arrangements for the low cocktail tables combined various types of red and golden-hued orchid stems in line with Campari's signature coloring.
The choice of florals worked well in the outdoor terrace whose tropical greenery suits the exotic appeal of orchids & lilies.
For the terrace bar, we kept the same combination of flowers but altered the hues. Here a detail of white lilies, white cymbidium orchids, red mocara and James Story orchids is a great example of how lilies and orchids share complimenting texture and lines.
Overall, we were happy to please the party’s host and surprise the venue itself by the transformation of the space. The success of the design can be attributed to an elegant & consistent visual scheme without over-branding a label familiar to all in attendance. We're always grateful to work along that fine line between the obvious and the unexpected when it comes to flowers.
-Parker Voss
Campari 150th Anniversary Party: Design & Planning
Negroni? Campari & Soda? Campari & orange juice? Which is your favorite Campari drink? I am a sucker for a Campari on the rocks with a splash of soda and orange...always delightful on a hot summer day like today...
I'm regressing now! Back to the topic at hand - Campari! Dating back to 1860, this aperitif is one of the most recognizable in the world, primarily due to the brand's beautiful advertisements that have been captivating consumers and art collectors alike for over a century now. This past May, Campari celebrated their 150th Anniversary at The Bowery Hotel and In Bloom New York was asked to create the flower displays as well as the environmental decor for the fete.
The evening was produced by the Art Production Fund, with a special musical performance and never-before-seen works of art by Kalup Linzy. Co-hosting the event were mixologists Tony Abou-Ganim, Jacques Bezuidenhout, Marco Dionysos, Francesco Lafranconi, Lynnette Marrero, Eric Alperin & Allen Katz as well as Manhattan Cocktail Classic and United States Bartenders' Guild.
There were a many elements that we needed to design for this event including bar displays, floral decorations for their vintage advertisements, a large-scale logo for stage backdrop, a photo booth display, one significant entry table design as well as several table centerpieces. We knew we wanted to create something entirely new and fresh while still maintaining Campari's classic brand and image.
Our immediate inspiration came from an antique birdcage at our hands as well as Alexander Mcqueen's 2008 Spring/Summer Butterfly headdress. We wanted there to be whimsy and also an element of darkness in this Campari garden.
First, we began brainstorming for the main installaion that would set the mood for the additional design elements. Envisioning the large antique birdcage coupled with a mannequin on display, we quickly put together a mock-up to get a feel of the layout. We conceived this display based on the image of a beautiful woman who lives in a garden with hair of butterflies and dresses in a bodice of flowers. Reaching out, she embodies an eternal desitre for this bottle housed behind the overgrowth of the antique birdcage.
As for producing this imagination, we first needed to create the bodice for the mannequin. After mapping out the pattern in pencil, we individually hot-glued every petal and ruscus leaf onto the heart shape-leotard. We simply used two elements to keep the design clean and fresh: dark green Italian Ruscus and red rose petals.
We built the boddice from the bottom upward with Italian Ruscus to achieve the effect of organic growth. Ruscus ended up being the perfect plant to achieve this goal.
Next, we added the rose petals one by one. Since the hot glue changed the color of the petal, we needed to ensure that we covered these areas by an overlapping petal. We initially thought to use silk flowers instead of fresh florals but decided against it, keeping in mind that we would have to house the mannequin in our floral refrigerator until the following day to keep the petals fresh.
The last element that we were able to prep in advance was the wisteria and branch design on the antique birdcage. We used branches varying in width, choosing the most twisted and interesting pieces.
Part 2 to follow with photos of the event!
Campari 150th Anniversary Party: Event Photos
Campari 150th Anniversary Party - May 16th, 2010
Due to the various, intricated design elements of this event, we split this posting into two parts. Part 1 focuses on our our design proposal and pre-event planning while Part 2 here focuses on the event production and final outcome. Below you will find full descriptions of each of the flower installations as well as images from the actual event. Enjoy!
Framed Vintage Campari Advertisements
For the anniversary party, Camparihad asked us to come up withan interesting way to frame their vintage advertisements. In keeping withthe theme of the evening, we thought it would be brilliant to frame each ad with ivy and grape vines. We placed the ads climbing up the entryway stairs and throughout the event space. The result looked extremely rich and inviting.
Main Design Element: Birdcage & Mannequin Display
Having prepped the mannequin in advance along with the wisteria vine framework over the birdcage, we needed to assemble the table as cohesive whole. We draped the 8' x 32" table with black linen from Party Rental Ltd, positioned the mannequin & birdcage and added the decorative elements. Additional wisteria and branches were added to the table.
Next, we covered the entire table and interior of the birdcage with fresh green moss. We used freshly cut rose bushes to drape the table and place as if climbing up the birdcage. The interior of the cage featured a large anniversary magnum bottle of Campari. For extra detail, we added fresh red roses to the moss, suspended red-painted birds gripping mini Campari bottles. We even added small touches of butterflies, which added a sigificant amount to essence to the display narrative. Beauty lies in the details! 
We added rose petal straps to the mannequin's bodice and formed her "hair" using butterflies, an homage to the late creative genius Alexander McQueen. In effect, we adeptly created the look of a woman lusting after this jewel-toned liquor. It was a pleasant challenge to incite "desire" without being to literal.
Bar Displays
For the two bars, we had envisioned displays consisting of the special edition bottles, a magnum bottle, gold candelabras, deep red candle sticks with tons of moss and red roses. We created a tight grouping on each corner which added to the ambiance of the evening event. Additionally, we mossed the back shelves of both bars to keep in line with our vision for the event design.
Stage Logo
The event found its focal point as the main stage, always packed with world renown mixologists and celebrity acts including the World Famous Bob, Miss Tickle, Kalup Linzy and a special guest performance by James Franco.
Since we knew the guests would be focused on the stage for the majority of the night, we wanted to do something extra special with the logo. Our friends at Coloredge Visual printed the anniversary logo on a 4'x4' gatorboard with pieces of cut vinyl that added a luxe quality to the signage. Adding our signature touches of floral to the logo, we created a 5' border using 500 stems of open red roses. The result looked stunningly beautiful and was extremely well received.
Photo Booth
The photo booth became a fun element of the evening where guests could dress up and take their photo against against a set we created. Guests decked themselves out all night in feathers, masks, hats and cigars. We thought it appropriate to incorporate the garden element into the photo booth set, so we designed an arrangement using thick wisteria branches, moss, fresh roses, and Campari bottles in a substantial black urn. It was important to make the elements - especially the Campari bottles - look as if growing naturally out of the urn.
Hope you enjoyed our recap! We had such a great time working on this project, it was very inspiring and we hope to work with Campari again! One last photo before you go... small centerpieces for the cocktail tables consisting of garden roses, Italian Ruscus and mini Campari Bottles.
Ciao a tutti!!
