Event planners always find ways to turn the humblest of ideas into the most exciting and breathtaking installations. Matthew Parker Events created this stunning room for a non-profit arts group called ArtsFund in Seattle. Their annual party was held at the Experience Music Project, so Matthew drew inspiration from a local company (and one of the biggest contributors to ArtsFund), Boeing. Over 1,000 paper airplanes were made using recycled newsletters from the offices of ArtsFund and were hung on monofilament line from the balcony to the stage. I love how much this feels like a child’s dream come to life. I would have killed to have this hanging on my ceiling growing up. You can check out more of the event at Matthew’s website right here. I’d love to see this concept on a smaller scale for everything from a child’s birthday party to a backyard wedding. xo, grace
More images after the jump . . .
20 Comments
What a great idea for a kids room. What is it about taking a simple well-known object and turning it cool again that intrigues me so?
Oh my gosh, that’s overwhelmingly beautiful and creative!
We did a similar installation when we were closing on of our shops. We didn’t want to leave the windows bare and empty. It made a potentially sad event, very festive.
Holy Cow – I’m not sure which part I find the most dramatic! The lighting, the amount of paper airplanes, or the man-and-woman hours it took to do all of this.
Still, I love the concept – airplanes flying toward a single point and being sponsored by Boeing!
that is soooo cool and creative — love it!
Love it! It’s such a simple idea but when it’s multiplied it looks fabulous! Beautiful!!
Holly shenanigans, this is genius!
There is an amazing display at NCMA in Raleigh. It is an airplane made of animatronic butterflies that slowly flap. Each butterfly is either modeled after a real butterfly or designed with images of aviation symbols. Following the airplane are flowers. My description could not possibly do it justice, you should check it out!
Awesome! I could even see this being used for an Air Force retirement party!
I agree, I think this idea is perfect for a child’s birthday party!
I totally did ths on a smaller scale for my son’s first birthday…
http://lifeat1521.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-past-saturday-bennett-turned-big.html
It was a lot of folding but it turned out great and was free! You can’t get much better than that!
I love the shadows cast by all the airplanes. What a clever idea!
Thank you all for the love! A few details: It took about 2.5 hours to fold 1000 planes with about 10 volunteers. It then took me about a week to attach them to the fishing line by stringing the line from my front door to my back door and using the Scotch Advanced Tape Glider to attach the planes to the line. I made garlands first with about 20-25 planes each. We installed each garland to the balcony and then strung them to a point on the stage nice and tight. About 50 in all and took about 3 hours. I worked with the EMP to light it, and that really made it come alive! Thanks again for the feature, my website has never seen so much traffic!
I had so much fun shooting this…!! Matthew, you’re a genius!
This is amazing! So beautiful.
This is such a cool idea and one that could definitely be utilised for any party!
Thanks for the inspiration Matthew!
Andrea x
All i can say is WOW….very unique for a party set up but it brings life.. nice i love the idea…
I have seen this artist called Dawn, and I fell in love with hers airplanes. When I saw this post I thought it was hers, take a look: http://www.dawn-ng.com/new/paperplanes/1.html
What a brilliant idea Matthew. I love it! Bravo!!!!
How did you transport from you home to the place without getting them all tangled up?
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