Behind the Scenes: Pic n Mix Party Design

I have spent the past week creating an event design with fellow theatre designer Philippa Thomas for Bath University.

Kola Kube table

The joy of working with Bath Uni is we were to set the party in a newly built theatre space, meaning fantastic potential for lighting and suspending from the rig.

Our only rule was that each table was to be themed around a sweet. So off we went!

Liquorice Allsorts Table

Philippa and I developed a  Pic n Mix Pinterest Board around the idea, simplifying the shapes and colours of some our favourite childhood sweets. This resulted in a geometric approach and a colour pop palette.

We needed to create height in the space, but also had to not  take up too much space on the rather small tables. Therefore, we opted for over sized spherical balloons and decorated garlands that would stretch far up in to the rig. For a contrast, we also designed a few tables with suspended garlands that cascaded down and hovered above the tables.

Love Hearts Table

The challenge was creating a strong enough design with just the tables and space above them as our canvas. On a past event design, I discovered the effectiveness of doing away with table cloths and emphasising the sharp edges of bare table by edging them with coloured wash tape. Philippa sourced appropriate coloured/patterned tapes to match our sweets.  My particular favourite was the black and white Liquorice Allsort edged table.

Gobstopper Table

As a stationery designer and watercolour artist I was really excited to get started on the place cards. Phil had the bright idea of keeping the folded card as a circle to follow along the theme of the sweets' shapes. It also allowed the place card to rock back and forth which everyone enjoyed! I worked on a kaleidoscopic pattern using basic watercolour shapes and arranging them into a pattern. Once I had printed and cut them out I finished them off with some hand written modern calligraphy.

We tried out different techniques in creating our garlands. The quickest method was to run the card pieces through the sewing machine and allowing the thread to sew itself through creating the string.

We also created garlands by knotting piece of ribbon together and adding trinkets of raffia, cut out paper and more ribbon! It was all about creating a rich texture so the balloons didn't just take centre stage.

We also sprinkled themed confetti over each table to break up the whiteness. We were so lucky to have hexagonal tables, a perfect compliment to our theme!