Blooming Chandeliers Dress Event

Italian Renaissance gardens are a style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence.  They pull inspiration from classical ideals of order and beauty and offer an air of formality through the elements of symmetry, repetition and perspective.  The garden is intended to offer a pleasurable view from within the confines and beyond, affording visitors a place for contemplation and serenity.

Taking inspiration from the Italian Renaissance garden, Simmetrico, a design firm based in Italy, conceived an environment that exuded luxury through the integration of lush greenery and atmospheric natural tones.  The event, a private gala dinner located in Baku, Azerbaijan, offered a nature-filled destination for guests to escape and renew while on their journey.

Although the entire environment was covered in lush Mediterranean-style greenery it is the 24 floral chandeliers that welcomed guests upon their entry to the space.  With the complexities of the design to consider, Fabric Images Europe was brought on board to achieve the high quality and ingenuity that was required to bring the chandeliers to life.

The chandeliers were required to have a natural appearance while offering soft, color-changing lighting effects.  Oh, and wrap your mind around this…. The flowers were required to BLOOM in the opening of the event.

Engineering of the flowers had to be carefully handled.  With the diverse mixture of technical requirements, it was important that the structure be stable but not too heavy as to inhibit the required movement.  The structure of the flowers had the following conditions:

• Support petals
• Support RGB light fixture
• Hinge outward at each petal
• Incorporate pneumatic opening system
• Incorporate 2 silent compressors

These requirements lead to the use of a lightweight metal frame system where each petal support was hinged and suspended through an anchor system that tied into a pneumatic opening mechanism.  In other words, the blooming is driven by airflow and the ability of the petals to hinge.

Over the frame system, the petals are attached individually to each of the support arms.  To keep the overall weight down, each petal is formed using a specialized semi-gloss paper in white.  Anything heavier would have inhibited the smoothness of the opening movement.  After being fully assembled, each chandelier was packaged vertically hung within a large crate.

Once installed at the gala, the chandeliers were controlled by a dmx console in conjunction with the RGB light positioned in the center of each flower.  Hanging serenely overhead, the chandeliers added an enchantment to the environment with their soft lighting and careful movements.  

By embracing the challenges that came with the engineering and execution of the chandeliers, FI Europe was able to successfully present an immersive solution for the gala.