BEHIND the SAPLING
In 2019 I was invited to participate in the New York Botanical Gardens annual Orchid Dinner… a legendary event held at the Plaza hotel. The task at hand would be to create a centerpiece and table scape for one of the dining tables at the event. This seemed like a fun, outside of my normal ‘box’, type of opportunity, and as it was just one night… it seemed like the perfect amount of extracurricular time commitment to try out some fun ideas I had been thinking about…
Its funny how the things that seem ‘so simple’ and ‘easy’ can sometimes wind up the ‘most complicated’ and ‘all consuming’… this project would be all of that and more!
It started innocently enough… I was in New York in the fall and had been connected with a friend from Californias ex colleague and friend, John Tiffany, who, she told me ‘I simply HAD to meet when I was in New York next’… Connecting over lunch… we immediately hit it off. He was wondering what kind of things I had in the works and as I had recently learned of the NYBG Dinner opportunity he regaled me with tales of Orchid Dinners of the past and enlightened me that THIS event really was the start of the NY social ‘season’… and wouldn’t it be wonderful to see something unique and different this year?
I then described what I had been thinking… knowing that the event would be held in the Plaza’s massive and beautifully ornate banquet hall, I wanted my table to feel like it was an environment unto itself, organic and ever changing …. under a ‘canopy’ of light that would transition through the full spectrum of colors, in which the people seated at the table would feel like they were experiencing something totally unique within this fabulous and decadent event… and although I never like to exclude; anyone not seated at the table would feel a little like they were missing out on the secret…
I described this at length, sketching a quick illustration of the sculpture to show him… yet bemoaning the fact that there were significant ‘problems’ with my concept, namely the sheer gravitational limitations of something as large as what I would need to create this ‘canopy’… oh and: Power Source, Weight Restrictions, and… TIME it would actually take to develop this! With, what I can only describe as a ‘knowing confidence’ John smiled and said: ‘I think I know who can pull this off’. And with that, we were off and running on a design adventure that was more fun, more entertaining, more inspired and… more EXPENSIVE than I could have ever imagined!
-original concept sketch of the Sapling and its scale relative to the table.
-original concept sketch of the Sapling and its scale relative to the table.
“I think I know who can pull this off..”
Bob Standlee and Alex Tapia of Sclptech, in Los Angeles, became my co collaborators and John Tiffany became our Task Master… dutifully minding the excruciatingly tight deadline we were under and managing the process in its entirety…
One of the first ‘digital renderings’ of the sketch I had done… SO exciting to see….
We had spent a lot of time in the ‘rendering’ phase… in a conversation over the phone, someone mentioned the ‘Sapling’ in the context of a ‘centerpiece’… which caught me by surprise… I started thinking: wait… but the Sapling is supposed to be a CANOPY that spans like an umbrella over the whole table… I remember I was in the school drop off line, pre 8:00AM, and as the kids hopped out of the car, it occurred to me that I needed to re-iterate the ‘size-intent’.
I realized a trip to the hardware store was a necessary detour on my way to the studio that morning!! We needed to make a ‘scale model’ of what was in my head… a little chicken wire and papier mache.. and the AP team was detoured on a ‘crafting expedition’ to create a model representing the size and scale of the fixture to properly communicate to our engineering team our ‘Design Intent’….
Needless to say… they picked up what I was putting down…
Modeling in clay for manufacturing began….
-AP Rendering for NYBG Orchid Dinner event committee
The day of the event, we were told we could begin set up at 10:00. I cruised the room to check out what the other designers were up to and was flabbergasted to see the sheer amount of floral, branches, structures, pergolas and the like that were being installed! Huge teams of people surrounded each table, and I would be lying if I didn’t feel like maybe I was in over my head!
However, our concept was really quite simple… and portable! the majority of the ‘structural work’ for the arrangement was done up in the hotel suite.. Since the entire concept of this design was centered around the play of light and color, our table was all white. White chair cushions tied with white silk ribbon and a gorgeous ‘white on white’ hand painted Porter Teleo table cloth in their pattern ‘Tangled’. When we made our way down to the room to set these (very simple) items up, without the Sapling, there was undoubted ‘side eye’ at our display, or lack there of! I definitely got the sense that these Orchid Dinner design veterans were feeling a little nervous for me… and possibly a little sorry for me that I might have missed the memo that this was definitely a ‘go big or go home’ kind of affair!
-Cheri Mimm of IXIA SF created the branches sculpture… all of our orchids would be wrapped within this foundation
“With the table set and ready with linens and porcelain, it was time to bring down the Sapling...”
The Sapling had been engineered to fold in on itself like a Pod, for safe transport. This also allowed us to navigate through elevators and service hallways… all things that we had to consider, in order to navigate the hotel and the event.
The original version had a hammered cast bronze stem and weighed in at approximately 130lbs… which we knew would need additional table support, but were uncertain if that would be allowable… as we got closer to the event, I received paperwork indicating that, in fact, our centerpiece could not exceed 25lbs! Oh lord. Ever the rule follower, I had to go back to the team with this very unfortunate news… The unbelievable magic and tenacity of the Sculptech team was undaunted, and they shifted course and re cast the stem in carbon fiber, which, allowed the ‘event Sapling’ to clock in at a slim 21lbs… amazing.
-the Sapling donning its Orchid dressing, on its way to the ball!
-Cheri Mimm placing the final touches on the centerpiece.
I had had a ‘brilliant’ idea for translucent napkin rings in the shape of rocks about three weeks before the event… Bob had thought the idea was worth exploring and got to work right away casting and fabricating them. They were to be reflective and organic in shape and totally over the top cool (which they are) however, a shipping snafu left us without them on the ‘day of’! Ever one for a pivot, we fashioned these napkin rings out of remaining branches from the centerpiece and intertwined a single orchid flower in to each. As stressful as the shipping snafu was, as in most cases where ‘you just have to figure something out’, these napkin rings, with their rough yet elegantly refined vibe, were the perfect touch!
-white on white on white on white… the perfect backdrop for the Saplings light display
-Jen Latimer and Cheri Mimm finalizing the details
-The Sapling, NYBG Orchid Dinner, 2020
ADDITIONAL MEDIA: video of sapling unloaded /
Concept description - white
Process description -
OFFICE PHOTOS - CHICKEN WIRE
BOB STUDIO PHOTOS
Description of event Set up and big reveal: