Designer Ivy Flores created this gorgeous installation with the ominous title, “A Scenic View of the End of the World.” The installation consisted of hanging strips of cotton scrim arranged within a cave-like structure so that viewers could walk into the center of the space and look outwards. Four projectors lit the fabric strips by beaming a panoramic animation outwards from the center of the space. The effect was ethereal. 

Rose Brand® cotton scrim is commonly used in theaters, special events and other interior settings for quick economical swags and billows that are light as a feather.  Ivy selected this ultra-fine gauzy fabric so that light would pass through the material with minimal effect on the layer behind it.  Cotton scrim’s soft and durable qualities made it perfect for an exhibit that users were encouraged to walk through, touch and move.  

View more images of designer Ivy Flores’s installation in our portfolio.  Watch the video of the experience by clicking the link below.

A Scenic View of the End of the World

See projection artist Ross Ashton's FANTASTIC sound & light show, celebrating Dartmouth College's Hopkins Centre for the Arts 50th anniversary. The front of the Hopkins Centre features several enormous arched windows, each of which was covered with a Rose Brand Tendo fabric projection screen and attached to the steel window frame via Rose Brand ClikMagnets.

Tendo fabric provides for an exceptional projection screen. It's highly reflective, lightsevenly and cost effective. It's also stretchable and lightweight, making it much easier to install than traditional vinyl screens. Wrinkles simply stretch away. The lightweight aspect of the fabric enabled installation onto the steel window frames with our convenient ClikMagnet product. If you'd like to read more about how the effects for this event were achieved, the projectors used, etc. please see the article that appears on the Live Design blog.

Art of The Event, a Boston based full service event design, decor and planning company, was the winner of our 2012 Holiday Party Photo Contest. Here's their description of how they transformed an ordinary hotel ballroom into the perfect environment to achieve their client's objectives.

Our client scheduled their holiday party at Boston’s Liberty Hotel, a chic, modern venue that has a lot of local flavor. Once the Charles Street Jail, there are wrought iron, spiral stairs, bars on the windows, and exposed brick walls.  The grand ballroom is a contemporary space, with 3000 square feet of space, floor to ceiling windows, and wrought iron chandeliers. Art of the Event was asked to transform this space into a “Clubby Winter Wonderland” and gleefully took on the task.

With nearly a full room wrap of luxurious white sheers, we created texture and movement in the space. Blue up-lighting set the tone of a modern club, with white snowflake projections creating a snowfall effect. This combination of elements really set the mood, as the sheers took it the light effects and grabbed the light. The center piece of the room was a shining white dance floor, and just off of that our contemporary, serpentine white couch set.  White glow side tables and low cocktails broke up the room, adding layers of height. Our cocktail-height share tables were a delightful focal point in the corners of the room, and are dining room sized with mirror top, accented with elegant white florals and surrounded by clear, Lucite bar stools. Our white paneled glow bar, in front of the dance floor was a crowd pleaser, at 14 feet long and with functional barback.

This event was a success, with the client’s staff dancing the night away and their company president praising the ambiance we created. It was a pleasure working with their team, as well as the Liberty event staff, and we’re looking forward to the next holiday season, and all the transformations we can bring!

Rose Brand is proud to have worked with artist Ann Hamilton on her uniquely interactive art installation, "The Event of a Thread," featured at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC. The artist drew inspiration from the Armory's enormous 55,000-sq ft Wade Thompson Drill Hall, as the installation itself is massive.

The exhibit features 42 swings, intended for visitor use, which animate a giant 335' curtain. Visitors engage on a multi-dimensional level as they interact with one another on the swings and simultaneously experience the flow of the curtain, readings, sounds, and live performance.

Rose Brand sewed the massive, white silk curtain that connects to the 42 swings through a series of ropes and pulleys. It took 76 widths of silk fabric to complete the curtain, which is curved at the top and reaches a height of over 41'. Discussion between Ann Hamilton and Rose Brand's Isabel Martinez determined the final seaming and finishing. Sewers used the 4-thread method for seaming as well as bottom and side finishing, to provide the strongest and least visible seam possible on the silk fabric. The top finish consisted of white twill webbing covered in the same white silk fabric, with grommets on 18” centers.

The exhibit opens on December 5, 2012 and continues through mid-January.

Visit http://bit.ly/rb-customsewing to see other custom sewing projects and to more fully understand the breadth of Rose Brand's custom sewing capability; or call 800-223-1624 to speak with a Rose Brand rep about your project.

View photos of the exhibit here.

On August 10, 2012 special guests of the United Nations filled the General Assembly Hall in New York to celebrate World Humanitarian Day. This day honors the humanitarian efforts that take place across the globe and seeks to motivate active participation in social causes. During the event, Beyoncé inspired the crowd with a performance in front of projected images of humanitarians working and helping those in need. At the request of the SuperUber design company, Rose Brand developed the projection screen for the event, the largest compound curved indoor screen ever created.

The 1,000 pound, 46’ high x 224’ wide screen was pieced together in Rose Brand’s NJ warehouse by a team of sewers who worked around the clock for two days due to the urgency of the task. Once hung, the screen molded to the unique architecture of the General Assembly Hall. Building a screen of this magnitude, in a room that was not designed for theatrical lighting projections, made the choice of screen fabric particularly important. SuperUber chose the white/white blackout lining after testing a number of fabrics, due to its opaque characteristics. It insured that light would not transmit behind the screen, and it created a flawless projection surface.

After fabricating and transporting the massive screen to the UN, Rose Brand provided a complete rigging package and installation service with the help of the Local 1 Stagehands. Due to the lack of rigging points, permanent steel plates had to be welded into the existing structure in order to support the weight of the 6,000 pound supergrid system. Once installed, the screen was comprised of ten synchronized and mapped projections that created one giant image. The screen surrounded the audience with a 240 degree immersive projection, creating an unforgettable and inspirational experience for those in attendance.

Learn more about Rose Brand's Projection Solutions.

View behind the scenes photos on our Facebook Page.

Rose Brand recently hosted the Rose Brand and Fan Choice Awards on our social media sites. Nominees were asked to provide a photo of one of their projects to be voted on by Rose Brand Employees as well as fans on Facebook and Pinterest. The award for best scenic design went to David Court, for his work on "Waiting For Godot" which was performed at the Sudbury Theatre Center last October.

Scenic designer, David Court currently resides in Windsor, Ontario. As a freelance Scenic Designer and Artist, David’s designs have been used in productions at University Players, The Capitol Theatre, The Chrysler Theatre, The Bonstelle Theatre, Sudbury Theatre Centre, The Young Centre for the Performing Arts, The Hilberry Theatre , and Cogeco television.

Aside from his freelance work, David is an instructor at University of Windsor and St. Clair College where he teaches “Stagecraft and Scene Painting for the Theatre” and “Scenic Art.”

Please visit David’s Facebook Page to view more of his work.

Every four years, athletes from countries of the Americas compete in the Pan American Games.   Each year, the host country tries to outdo their predecessor by creating a spectacular artistic presentation in the opening ceremony.  The 2011 games taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico were no exception with an Opening Ceremony reportedly costing $20 million.

Rose Brand was instrumental in the construction of the focal point of the ceremony, a three dimensional moving projection screen.  The screen's steel frame boasted a circumference of 350 feet and hung in the center of the stadium.  The projection screen, made out of Rose Brand’s Rip Stop Nylon, was 104 feet tall and offered a 360° cylindrical projection surface.

PRG Technologies, the engineer on the project, engaged Rose Brand to build the projection screen in just a single week.  In order to fabricate the three dimensional screen, Rose Brand sewed together 3,200 yards of Rip Stop Nylon. The screens were made up of two pairs of panels measuring  104’9” x 98’ and 104’9” x 51’. The enormous projection screens, equivalent in height to a ten story building, were adorned with 3,600 D-rings that were hand sewn onto the panels to give the projection screen mobility. View the sewing plans used by Rose Brand here: projection screen plans.pdf

The halo at the top consisted of 72 overlapping fabric panels each measuring 22 feet in length. Since it was critical that each panel's measurements were identical, we used Rose Brand's Precision Laser Cutting process to ensure accuracy. View the sewing plans for the halo here: halo plans.pdf

Here's the backstory behind the retro 1920's style main drape, viewed by nearly 40 million people on the night of the 2012 Academy Awards. Enlisted with less than 2 months before the air date, Rose Brand fabricated this beautifully designed and elaborately detailed curtain for Hollywood's biggest event.

The Academy sought to recreate the aura of the opulent movie palaces of the early 20th century. The vision included a swag valance that had hung in the Kodak Theatre many years ago. Production Designer, John Myhre, provided Rose Brand with photographs of historic movie theatre stages that represented the look and feel that he wanted to achieve. With John’s design in hand, we searched for the right fabric and trim to recreate an old time masterpiece.

While many theatre curtains are made from inherently flame retardant fabric to insure the flame retardant’s longevity, we knew that our show curtain needed to last just a single night. This expanded the variety of fabrics from which we could choose the perfect weight, texture and color to match the designer's objectives. After testing a number of fabrics, the Academy chose Rose Brand’s 21 Oz. Marvel Velour in a custom dyed, rich red color.

With the fabric set, attention turned to the development of the trim and fringe. The design called for 4’8” high trim that consisted of 204 hand sewn medallions, a sequin lace, woven gold banding, and a custom 30” bouillon fringe. Rose Brand flew Brent Porter, the head of our East Coast Sewing Department, to our LA facility to supervise the rapid development of the spectacularly ornate curtain.

To insure that there were no surprises during installation at the Kodak theatre, we transported the finished 40' x 80' curtain to a nearby community college theatre where it was installed on stage and inspected. It hung beautifully.

The 2012 Academy Awards grand drape weighed nearly 2,000 pounds, and it required 8 people to move both of the custom boxes that Rose Brand built to transport it. It was sewn at 150% fullness and featured 210 linear feet of fringe and a custom band. It was a spectacular recreation of a retro 1920’s grand drape, exactly as the Academy had envisioned it.

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Rose Brand's Rigging Project Manager, Jesse Adams, discusses the Nicopress Power Inline Swaging Tool at the LDI show this year in Tampa, Florida.

The Nicopress Swaging tool enables single-handed, quick and perfect compression of swage fittings. Follow the easy instructions and your crimp is neither too tight, nor too loose. Power swaging helps you to avoid both mistakenly cutting into your wire rope, or having your combined wire ropes come apart. The power tool's pivoting head and compact size allow it to reach into confined spaces, while its lightness in weight makes it easy to use. With interchangeable dies ranging from 3/32 to 3/8 of an inch, the Nicopress Power Tool is the most convenient and efficent compression device available.

In addition to the Nicopress Power Swaging Tool, Rose Brand also offers a Manual Nicropress Tool that is available in three different sizes.

Rose Brand met with Kevin Nute of Screen Goo America’s at the 2011 LDI Tradeshow this year in Orlando, Florida. Kevin provides a clear understanding what Screen Goo is and why it is changing the projection industry.

Screen Goo is a water based acrylic coating that can be used on any paintable surface, regardless of size or shape, to create a high performance projection screen. Screen Goo also offers a wider viewing angle than regular projection surfaces e.g., it can allow viewers to see images on both sides of the projection surface, creating a 360° viewing cone. In addition, Screen Goo enables remarkable image depth and dimensionality, whether you use the Goo products made specifically to produce a 2-D or 3-D screen. It is appropriate for all levels of video use including home theatre, houses of worship, conference rooms, point of purchase displays, large-scale commercial venues and even outdoors.

Screen Goo can be used for both Front and Rear Projection surfaces. There are seven different Screen Goo coating options to choose from depending on the projector being used and the projection application. To find out which coating will work best for your next project try using the Screen Goo Selector Tool, which will choose a coating for you based the answers you give to a series of questions.

For more information on Screen Goo visit http://bit.ly/rosebrand-screen-goo or call a Rose Brand Representative at 800.223.1624.