celebrating 10 years being an event designer

Louise and I AKA Lemonade and Laughing Gas at our first ever collaborative event with DDC on Brick Lane (2012)

How It all began…

To celebrate being in this industry for a decade now (WTAF), I thought I’d take a little trip down memory lane and explore how I became obsessed with designing events.

After I graduated from LIPA with my Theatre and Performance Design degree I knew I wanted to apply my design skills in a more ‘real world’ context than theatre. I wanted to design sets and experiences that meant something to people. I dabbled in this in my final year, creating immersive theatre, installation and live art that required people to ‘get in it’ rather than just sit and watch.

My final piece took place in a derelict restaurant I negotiated using with a landlord. I wanted to make spaces and experiences people could move through, interact with and play with. For me, that meant getting into events.

Merging theatre and event design

My first experience of work after Uni was as a Set Design Assistant for Masque of the Red Death, specifically within the textile department and it was perfect for a transition into the event world, as it was the perfect merging of theatre and event. Every night was a new experience and the set design was a huge part of creating those memorable experiences for people.

Starting my first events company at 28

After making some live and installation work as a solo artist, I met another kindred spirit - Louise Orwin; another artist that wanted to make work that engaged an audience in a visceral, impactful way. We also both had experience in, and a deep love of, hospitality. We were passionate about good food and drinks as well as just having general good times and nights out - as well as a solid work ethic and bravery for risk taking. Our company Lemonade and Laughing Gas was born in 2013.

Joining the london events scene

To begin with we collaborated with other London foodie companies like Disappearing Dining Club and Asparagasm, for whom we provided interactive one-on-one immersive theatre encounters, design touches and general weirdness, then as time went on we found our own chefs, set up our own kitchens in event spaces and very much NON event spaces!

designing for public events

Some of my favourite events were about taking blank, dry-hire canvases and transforming them into mini worlds through set design, styling and prop details, often incorporating bespoke makes my prop-making experience. We didn’t have huge budgets to start with so this meant being clever and resourceful - often spending time at Wimbledon Car Boot Sale (I miss you) to source authentic props and styling items.

Not for profit collaborations

Over the years we designed events on varying scales with a range of not-for-profit companies and charities like Lambeth council, Guide Dogs and Shelter to create meaningful immersive events to convey some of the experiences of their service users, not being afraid to push boundaries or experiment with new technology like 360 audio in the case of Guide Dogs (which we designed a blindfolded, guided experience with performers in Shoreditch, East London).

Brand collaborations

We also worked with brands who wanted to be part of our events and reach the audiences we were attracting, particularly drinks brands, including Barcardi, Wild Turkey and Peroni. Other brands we designed events for included Ocado, Google X, ITV and Curzon - each with a different brief, budget and objective.

styling london venues

Our events for the public saw us finding and transforming unusual venues that suited our creative briefs, like Limehouse Town Hall and the old BBC radio studios in Marylebone - using immersive set design and detailed dressing to transport people out of London into a 1970’s Rothschild party, a winter ski resort in the Alps, a Brazilian Carioca, and our final and most arguably our best public event- Small town America; Twin Peaks.

The owls are not what they seem

Inspired by Twin Peaks and a love letter to one of our favourite directors (David Lynch) we created the world of Double Pine View (see what we did there) in the old Guardian Newspaper HQ in Farringdon, London. This meant designing over 15 different spaces and areas including the infamous red room, Diner and Roadhouse bar. We sold over 9000 tickets over the course of our 3 month run and collaborated with Blanch & Shock to provide a three course meal to dining guests. We populated this world with talented performers, together with the audience who became the town residents, brought it all to life.

what 15 years troubleshooting event design looks like…

As an event designer there are so many things to take into account on a project, other than how everything looks - to name a few; atmosphere, purpose, logistics, budget, health and safety, quality and environmental factors. Thankfully my experience over the past 10 years has meant this is second nature to me now so any event brief that comes my way allows me to be creative, bold and ambitious (with all the necessary but least sexy stuff happening automatically in the background!)

Do you need help designing or visualising your event?

Have you got an interesting project brief you’d like some expert input on? When you design to put on an event as a company you may not have someone who specialises in spatial design specifically for events. That’s why, as well as taking on projects from the start for full event design, I offer Event Design consultancy and On-The-Day set up for help with styling and dressing.

Book a free 15 minute chat with me about your event via this link: EVENT DESIGN DISCOVERY CALL