© 2010 The official bi-monthly publication for wysiwyg Members

ISSUE 29 /March 2010

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Vivien-Virtual Event Designer and wysiwyg showed off their coop-erative capabilities in style to create stunning results for the most illustrious fashion event in Scandinavia – the ELLE Galan 2010 held at the famed Grand Hotel in Stockholm on January 29. ELLE Magazine is one of the leading fashion publications in the world, hosting some of the fashion industry’s biggest fashion shows worldwide. ELLE Galan features a fashion show and awards cer-emony, followed by a prestigious after-party celebrating the best of the best in fashion.

The 2010 celebration saw several paparazzi moments, including Hollywood starlet Hayden Pannettiere from the hit TV series He-roes, who was named International Best Dressed. Another inter-national icon, Stella McCartney won Best International Designer and her collection was shown on the runway. And the “Princess of Pop” Robin, was bestowed the honour of Style Icon of the Cen-tury. Even the stage design had people talking, with an eclectic

backdrop of scrap wood and metal, inspired by the mystical wood tower Nimis in Southwest Sweden.

Working a high-glamour and technically challenging show in Grand Hotel isn’t the easiest of jobs. The hotel opened in 1874 and was never designed for the range of events to be held within its walls. It required advance planning and a deliberate strategy to create the illusion of an ultra hip set design showcasing the latest in fashion inside a 135-year-old building.

Lighting Designer Mats Andreasson, Production Manager Ola Melzig, Creative Director Peter Andersson and Set Designer Åse Persson shared Vivien and wysiwyg files with each other to meet the demands of the layout, creating a striking design while saving loads of time and money.

Andreasson regularly de-signs with wysiwyg and knew it was fully compatible with Vivien having used this power-ful combo for ELLE Galan last year. “It was so smooth this year,” he explains, “we had the seating and catwalk layout from last year and we were using the same rig, so I had time on my side to work with the new set piece and experiment how the

Lighting Designer Mats Andreasson inside Grand Hotel with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden looking over his shoulder

Elle Fashion Gala - seating layout Elle Fashion Gala - photo

STRuTTING OuR STuFF FOR STOCkHOLM’S ELLE FASHION GALA 2010

© 2010 The official bi-monthly publication for wysiwyg Members 6

ISSUE 29 /March 2010

ELLE Fashion Gala 2010 - continued

lights would bring out the best in it. We were able to create looks rang-ing from ice glaciers to the look of the sun from The Lion king.”

Vivien solved one of the biggest challenges last year – a very strict chair count for a long list of VIPs, with exactly 855 chairs, all with good views of the catwalk. Whereas last year the team didn’t have a choice of chairs – they had to use the ones supplied by the hotel – Melzig made the chair layout to perfection using Vivien. This year, however, the design called for all white seating, so smaller white chairs were brought in. Again using Vivien, Melzig was able to perfectly calculate an additional 26 highly coveted seats around the catwalk. He explains, “It was extremely helpful to be able to use Vivien and its wizard to design the triangular seating area. With the exact chair size and catwalk dimensions, I was able to update the layout, and know with full confidence that it would fit perfectly and look great. I was also able to maneuver my point of view and confirm a good sightline for every seat.”

Happy with the updated seating layout, Andersson signed off on the design straight away, saving hours, if not days, of pre-plan-ning. With seating and catwalk in position, Andreasson imported the updated layout back into wysiwyg and easily designed the

lighting and rigging, knowing that every dimension was spot on. Said Andreasson, “I was really pleased with how nicely the files work back and forth together. It saved us all a lot of time, which I could put toward the design and how the different materials would behave with the lighting. Peter and Åse could also determine how the drapes behind the piece would compliment it best, and their best placement so it wouldn’t interfere with the models and award podium. It all proved incredibly valuable.”

CAST is experiencing great success introducing Vivien to wysi-wyg customers by pointing out Vivien’s strengths as a sales and planning tool that quickly produces a high-quality visual concept of the project/event, and the fact that it is fully compatible with wysiwyg which means that people do not need to redo the room space. Because so many professionals are frequently involved in both the lighting and overall space design, it is being bought more and more by busy wysiwyg users who use it as a tool to put concepts together, save serious time (and we all know, time is money) and to get business and concept approvals. Vivien - Virtual Event Designer continues to “WOW” the special events and meetings industry.

Rendering Photo