I was reminded today of an odd project I did years ago for Eva Longorias restaurant Beso in Hollywood. This 10 x 12 graphic at the top of the stairs came to me as PNG file with the request that I design and fabricate this huge back-lit installation for them. The graphic was beautiful but trying to bring it to life in this form took quite a while! I researched many methods of enlarging and finally worked with the graphics department at Rose Brand to realize this print as a digital print on muslin. From there, I created the 10 x 12 sub frame to stretch the muslin on. It was a wonderful high contrast print but as soon as I put even illumination from the back, it made the dark areas light up and become very unattractive. I worked for several weeks testing every type of illumination and dimming configuration to try and create the look I wanted but to no avail. It just didnt have the contrast or warmth that I really wanted this piece to have to serve its function in the restaurant. My final answer was to carefully draw with rope light just in the areas behind the amber sections of the picture. It was a painstaking process to get the spacing of the rope light just right so as to create a glow but not so much to bleed through on the other areas. We then covered the back of the entire print with an amber diffusion material to warm the light and added a self-contained dimmer to adjust the level on-site to blend with the other architectural lighting. This was followed with a beautiful walnut frame and other finishing details. Then, of course… I had to get it there! We had to use a stake bed truck as a box truck was too small. We wrapped and protected it with every thing we could to make sure it made the trip from LAX to Hollywood without a scratch. It only fit to the front door at an angle and then we had to make a very tight corner to get into the main area and up the stairs. Then it involved several hours rigging and bolting it to the wall to be secure. Once we lit it up and set the level, it became just as magical as I had dreamed. Strangely enough, the interior designer gave me this project not as a producer, designer, scenic fabricator or even rigger… but simply as someone that solved every problem he came to me with. It reminded me that every project is the same. We simply solve the clients problems and try to bring their visions to life!
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 04:37:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015