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A Taste of Fairfield - Part I
BRG Happenings | PUBLISHED 09.25.17 | Jennifer Ventresca
If you are a Fairfield County local it is possible that you have already heard radio spots promoting the upcoming Taste of Fairfield event taking place on Sunday, October 8th at the Delamar Southport. You may have even heard "Black Rock Galleries" mentioned a time or two. Well, we are delighted to once again be a part of this fun event; the second Taste of Fairfield and our second year hosting BRG's "Fusion VIP Lounge."
Fusion VIP Lounge 2016
Our team thoroughly enjoyed planning for and decorating the Delamar's Folly Room last year; filling it with treasures from our showroom. We had a little over 900 sq.ft. to work with and had the added benefit of one "wall" being completely open to a patio overlooking the band as well as the multitude of food vendors set-up throughout the adjoining parking lot.
What's in a name?
Before the decorating began, we had to develop our plan for the VIP lounge. First thing first; naming it and developing a theme. We held an all-hands-on-deck brainstorming session to name the VIP lounge! There were a lot of creative names offered, but when someone mentioned, "fusion," we all felt that proverbial "aha" moment. "Fusion" encapsulated the vibe we wanted to create for the lounge: fun, funky, and eclectic pieces fused together for a cohesive lounge-y feel.
It turns out, beggars can be choosers!
It was no small undertaking as choosing the various pieces for our Fusion VIP Lounge required much collaboration between our managing partners, marketing department, and showroom team. Our event was spearheaded by Christie and Jennifer who cordoned off a section of our showroom's teal room for staging -- the dimensions were close enough to the the Delamar's space to be able to do a general lay-out of the furniture, art, lamps, decorative pieces, and accessories we planned to take with us; along with a handful of "extra" pieces to switch out in case a piece (or two) did not quite work on site.
This is where an eye for curation had to kick-in. With over 50,000 square feet of merchandise at our disposal, it was a little bit of a challenge to edit ourselves. We had to be very choosy about the pieces we selected. Also, we needed to pick pieces that (although they look completely dissimilar and incompatible at the outset) would come together in a fun, fresh way, and not create a clashing, thrift-shop feel.
Stage it, Wrap it, Ship it, Unpack It & Repeat!
Once those pieces were chosen, our warehouse team had to do a lot of heavy lifting to move those pieces into the temporary staging area. Sometimes, when those pieces arrived and were placed near the others, it would become apparent that we had to choose something else ... so back to the showroom it went. (By the way, our guys in the warehouse are stupendous; if we do say so ourselves!)
Once we had our final pieces selected, our team had the unenviable task of packing, loading, trucking, unloading, unpacking and placing our lounge furniture and decor into our Fusion VIP Lounge. We only had about a 90 minute window to unload the truck and remove it from the parking lot the morning of the Taste of Fairfield and our team handled the challenge beautifully. It took a couple more hours to unpack everything, place each chosen piece in its rightful place and clear way the packing debris.
We finished with some impromptu floral arrangements made on-site, using the various decorative urns, vases, and vessels we brought ... just in time for the the event to begin. The transformation was impressive.
Part II of A Taste of Fairfield ... coming soon!
Keywords: Taste of Fairfield, Fusion Lounge, vip lounge, Fairfield Magazine, TownVibe, Town Vibe, Delamar Southport