As visual thinkers go, interior design professionals tend to lean first toward color, more than either form or shape. Fusing light with color enables an emotional language within the built environment that we use to communicate a variety of messages, whether consciously or unconsciously. When it comes to having a good time and celebrating the season with 1,500 of your closest friends who all feel the same way about color, the place to be was the 2015 IIDA NY Color Invasion in New York City last Thursday.
“We we back to our roots this year,” said Brian Bates of Geiger International, co-chair of the IIDA Color Invasion Committee, along with Juliette Poussot from Gensler. “We wanted to create an experiential event that is all about color. Previous years have had some outrageous themes that didn’t really tie back into our industry.”
Taking place for the second year in a row at the former Tunnel dance club, located all the way in West Chelsea, this event could not have had a more fundamental theme or communicated a better realization of the color spectrum throughout the quarter-mile long party space.
“The design challenge is about being original and inspirational, as well as bringing in something new each year,” said Ms. Poussot. “We began working on this back in January.”
More than 10 months later, it is clear that all that hard work has paid off. The level of detail and execution at this event is second to none in New York.
“Broader themes about color came first,” noted Ms. Poussot, “but they were always aligned with the color spectrum theme. We want each color, or room, to be a different experience, with different emotional aspects linked to different colors.”
I appreciated the transitory aspect of each of the vignettes carefully placed throughout the area. Everything was elaborate and in place for one night only. This was about designers doing what they do, loving to celebrate design with each other.
A face painting station was close to the coat check and entrance. Even if you arrived without a costume, there was no excuse to jump into the festivities headfirst. The mystical entrance this year was in the form of a mist curtain containing fog and a cone of projected light, complete with evolving digital art, performed live just for the event.
“This is the portal for all the guests entering the space, but it also really takes advantage of the tunnel aspect of the building,” said Mr. Bates.
The elemental theme transitions into balloon art by Airigami, an artist collective that executes large scale balloon installations. Intricately sculpted flying pigs were populated around clouds of round white balloons of various sizes; even a strip of flying bacon was installed especially for the event.
“We created a few sketches of the balloon installation, but nothing too specific,” said Ms. Poussot. “We also used a lot of mood images to communicate each inspiration.”
The Airigami team arrived that morning and inflated and sculpted all balloons onsite.
The color spectrum aspect of the event began with red and was walked through several themes, Red Light District and Seeing Red (jealousy), to name a few.
“We wanted to create an experience – something you can interact with,” said Mr. Bates.
Even though elevated male and female dancers have been a vital part of previous Color Invasions, they were very well integrated into each of their respective areas this year – red exotic female dancers, yellow male construction workers and green wind tunnel dancers. Perfect for the season, a stilt walker dressed as a tree walked around the back very slowly. It was the perfect balance of emotion and sophistication.
Indigo proved to be the most challenging in the spectrum of colors for the Color Invasion Committee to agree on. It did, however, prove to be the best way for design professionals at the event to interact with the Color Invasion itself. Each Color Invasion Committee member was dressed up in costume as Indiana Jones. “All of this is based on a riddle that asks the question, ‘Where did Indy go?’” said Ms. Poussot.
She pointed to a lighted sign in the Indigo room.
“Who is Indy? We are. When the guests figure it out and find us, they can photograph one of the Indiana Jones characters and post it to Instagram.”
A host of furniture prizes were donated by sponsors and will be given out to the winners with the best photographs.
The Color Invasion is really more about celebrating people than anything else. As one of the only IIDA events throughout the year that does not have an educational component, it is also the best attended. Design professionals who work in this industry are the glue that holds all of what we do together. We celebrate design achievements and design milestones, but celebrating design individuals across the many strata of the industry is done only at Color Invasion, and even then, only if those individuals attend the event.
Just as with previous years, many conversations at the Color Invasion were about missing industry veteran Selena Thompson, who we lost to cancer several years ago. She pioneered dressing up in outrageous costumes for this event and is seen as just the type of individual who needs to be celebrated at Color Invasion every year. This was the first year I dressed up in costume since Color Invasion began, and I did it in honor of Ms. Thompson.
From its humble beginnings more than 10 years ago to the sold-out annual powerhouse it is today, the Color Invasion continues to evolve and maintain relevance to its core audience – creative individuals with a slightly twisted side to their personality. For me, the Color Invasion is a little bit like Saturday Night Live; the longer it goes on, the higher the production values get, but its still all about the characters.