Putting the “art” in a craft business

When most people think about sewing (whether it is custom stage drapes or handmade quilts or apparel), they generally think of it as a craft rather than an art.  And I think that is generally a valid way to categorize sewn goods.  But you would be surprised at how much “art” actually comes to play in the creation of what is known in the entertainment industry as “soft goods.”

When a major music tour is being planned, much more is involved than simply the music itself (the set list, the rehearsals, etc.).  Concerts today are  more than musicians on a stage, singing and playing.  Sound, lighting, special effects, pyrotechnics, and set design all work together to give the audience an experience for the ears and the eyes.  And soft goods are often a major part of that.

The role of the Production Designer is to design a set (which may include both soft goods and hardscape) that provides a stunning visual backdrop to the music.  Once the design is created (the “art”), the Production Designer brings in all of the crafts (sewing, stage builders, etc.) and charges them to make his artistic vision a reality.

That is where we come in.  The Production Designer presents us with his vision (it may be in the form of an artistic drawing, a technical drawing, or even a verbal sketch), and it is up to us to figure out how to best achieve that vision through stage curtains, painted or digital backdrops, and even mixed media pieces.  The Production Designer relies on us to recommend fabrics and construction methods that will carry his design from paper (or just his head) to the stage.

At times, it is relatively straightforward – perhaps an Austrian Drape or a series of Swags.  Other times, however, it takes skill and ingenuity (and, dare I say, art?) to figure out the best way to manipulate fabrics (and other materials) to achieve the look. 

One example that springs to mind is the project we did for Mariah Carey last fall.  The designer knew the look he was after, but it was up to us to find a way to achieve that look.  Gwen Winter, the Senior Sales Rep on the project, knew that traditional stage fabric, such as velour, was out of the question.  The solution?  Clear vinyl, hundreds of silk flowers, and sheer net, along with the experience and skill of our manufacturing staff, turned the designer’s vision into reality.

Another example is the Maxwell 2009 project, in which Sew What? and Rent What? joined forces to help the production designer achieve his vision through the use of fabric (Black Mirror Sequins and ”tattered” White Voile) and other media (mirror shards), with Rent What? bringing more drapery to the table (including Silver Satin Austrian Drapes and Swags and an LED Star Drop).

These are just two examples (out of many), but I think they are great illustrations of how closely connected “craft” is with “art.”  We may be a craft, but part of that craft is taking the “art” and making it a reality.  And I am so proud of the way our team accomplishes that reality.

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iL CiRCo Drapes

I don’t know if you are familiar with iL CiRCo, but if you aren’t, you should definitely check it out.  Based in San Diego but appearing throughout the world, iL CiRCo is a troupe of singers, dancers, acrobats, and a variety of performers that put on amazing shows!

We were pleased to be asked to make custom stage drapes for the troupe earlier this year, and were really excited recently to receive a short performance video from the client showing our drapery “in action” in Panama.  Unfortunately, I am unable to attach the video to this post, but I was able to pull out a still photo from it.

Isn’t the drapery gorgeous?  I really think it fits the mood of the show – ethereal, whimsical, and just a little fantastical.  The drapery is made from FR Crushed Glimmerene in Magenta.  Glimmerene is a gorgeous fabric with a beautiful shimmery, almost iridescent quality. 

I love the way the fabric drape hangs in a serious of swags and openings, with the height of the drape ranging from 34′ high in the center down to 22′ high on either side.  And I am even more happy to say that the client, Imagination Entertainment, was so pleased that they have recently ordered a second identical drape!

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Sons of Sylvia Digital

It seems that almost every day, we are making a new digitally printed backdrop for an artist or band.  It is really interesting to see these backdrops in the various stages of construction.  First, the individual panels running through our wide format digital printer.  Then, the panels being matched together and sewn.  And finally, the finished backdrop hanging on our mechanical truss for the final quality control check before being shipped to the client.

Even more exciting, however, is seeing these backdrops actually in use – on stage with the artist or band.  It makes it so much more real – to know that these beautiful pieces went from plain fabric to beautiful scenic backdrop to part of an actual concert! 

One of the backdrops that I have recently seen onstage was a 30′ h x 32′ backdrop that we made earlier this year for Sons of Sylvia, the country music trio of brothers.  Printed on FR Heavy Knit, a durable wrinkle-resistant digital substrate, the backdrop was also topically treated for flame retardancy after printing, meeting National, California and New York City standards for flame retardancy.  Also included on the order was a Tear Away header, which allows the backdrop to function as a kabuki without the need for a solenoid system.

Seeing it in a photo is great, but video footage is even better.  Check out this video on YouTube – the backdrop is certainly a prominent feature in the show!

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Backdrops for Billy Idol

John Rios of GrafixJam strikes again!  Last week, I told you about the incredible artwork that he did for Rod Stewart.  Well, we were also privileged recently to use artwork created by John for a trio of digitally printed backdrops commissioned for the Billy Idol 2010 tour.

The scenic backdrops were made as one center panel, 20′ h x 16′ w, with two reverse and repeat side panels, each at 16′ h x 10′ w.  FR Heavy Knit was selected as the fabric substrate for its durability and resistance to wrinkling (so important for tours!).  After printing, the panels were topically treated for flame retardancy, we did the finish sewing, and off went the pieces to show rehearsals here in California.

Take a look at John’s working drawing:

The tour kicked off in Europe in early June and arrives for the North American leg of the tour in early August.  If you think John’s working drawing is amazing, check out this photo taken at one of the tour’s European shows.  The panels really are even more impressive at full size.

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Another cool project for Rod Stewart

I’ve told you about some of the beautiful projects we have done in the past for Rod Stewart – the gorgeous voile drapes in 2009 and the amazing Stewart Tartan drapes in 2006.  Well, we recently provided drapery for Rod’s 2010 tour, and it was seriously cool.

We started out making three 36′ 6″ h x 41′ w Braille Curtains out of Black 16oz Commando Cloth (along with three 7′ h x 41′ w Borders, also in Commando Cloth).  Then, our favorite graphic artist, John Rios of GrafixJam, provided some amazing artwork, which we had scenically painted onto the Braille Curtains.  Who would have thought that a Braille Curtain could also be a Scenic Backdrop?

The drapes alone look amazing, but just as impressive is that John’s artwork was also pulled into the tour’s video content as well.  Note the terrific cartoon of Rod that John did!

All in all, the combination of the scenically painted Braille Curtain and the accompanying video content makes for a really compelling set design, don’t you think?

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Working with “Glee” Live

We got another opportunity recently to work in conjunction with our sister company, Rent What?, and this was a particuarly fun project – the three-week, four city touring show of the hit Fox television series “Glee.”  This is a bit of a novelty for us – we work with music tours all the time, but most aren’t associated with a hit TV show!

This tour had a wealth of industry powerhitters working on the design and production of the show, including Butch Allen, Ray Woodbury and Peter Morse, so we knew from the start that it would be a great project to work on. 

The tour used a variety of custom stage curtains and set pieces to set the mood and highlight the performers.  One scene was highlighted by the use of the “Moulin Rouge” drape, part of Rent What’s “Timeless and Traditional” series (those of you who follow this blog know that I have posted on this drape on several occasions – it is amazing how versatile it is).

Sew What? got into the act as well.  In addition to a couple of 30′ h x 60′ w Double Kabukis (one in White Voile and the other in Black Poly Silk), Sew What? provided some fun custom stage set elements, including several “rock chic” tuck and roll “vintage amp covers” in a red glitter vinyl.

Unfortunately, the show is over – it opened in Phoenix on May 13th and finished up at Radio City Music Hall in New York City at the end of May – but based on the reviews, it sounds like it was a great show.  Let’s hope for another (and longer) tour in the future – we’d love to work on it again!

Want to read more about this project?  Click here.

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Speaking of Portfolios…

Recently I posted about our new Digital Printing Portfolio, and in writing that post, I took a few minutes to review our other portfolios.  It seems that I don’t get the opportunity to review our portfolio pages as often as I like, so there is always something new to see.

The page that really impressed me this time was the Video Portfolio.  Since I last looked, a number of really cool videos have been added.  One that stood out was the video of the Alice in Chains Poly Silk Kabuki.  Not only does the video show how terrific poly silk is as a projection surface, but at the end of the video, it shows the kabuki dropping.

In prior posts, I have explained how a kabuki works, but it can be difficult to understand in a written explanation.  I think this Alice in Chains video is a great visual demonstration of the operation of a kabuki.

There are a number of other videos in the portfolio as well, highlighting a variety of custom stage drapes (including an Austrian curtain), stage backdrops, and much more.  Check it out!

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Photos on Flickr – We’ve Come a Long Way

You know – I’m not that old (I’m in my mid 40s), but it amazes me to think of how much technology has changed in my lifetime. For at least half maybe more) of my life, you needed a camera and film to take a photo .  How many times did the opportunity for a great picture arise, but you didn’t have a camera with you, or you were out of film?  I know it happened to me a lot.

You had to finish the roll of film (12, 24 or 36 frames), take it to be developed, and then wait for the results (when I was younger, it took several days to a week, but eventually you could pay extra for one hour service).  Only then would you have your photos (and the negatives).  Want to give a copy of a photo to a friend or relative, customer or business associate?  You had to take the negative to the store to have a copy made, wait for it (just like before) and then give or mail or Fed Ex the photo to your friend or customer.  Not exactly a quick process.  And if the negative was lost or damaged?  Too bad – the photo is gone forever.

Today, it is so quick and easy to take, store, and copy photographs – all digitally.  We have digital cameras that are about the size of credit cards.  Our cell phones even have cameras, not to mention e-mail capability, so we can snap that pic and instantly e-mail it to a friend or colleague. 

We can save the photo files to our computers and back them up to DVDs or Flash drives – so that they last forever.  We can distribute them electronically or print copies ourselves in an instant using a color printer.

And then there is Flickr – which gives us the opportunity to make our photos available to thousands of people all over the world.  On some of my previous posts, I have included links to photos of our projects on Flickr.  Well, I was looking in Flicker today, and I thought, how amazing is this!  There are so many incredible photos on Concerts and Photostream – 152 in all.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know how much I love the Rent What? Silver Satin Series.  Well, there is a set just for those drapes.  There are also sets for Wide Format Digital Printing, Austrian Curtains, and much more.  And new photos and sets are continually being added, so it is always fun to go back to the photostream to see what’s new.  It’s definitely a photostream to bookmark.

I have always been pretty computer-savvy – my father had one of the first home personal computers, and I have used computers in one form or another for many years.  Even so, I can’t help but be amazed when I consider the changes brought by technology within my lifetime.

And I haven’t even mentioned Facebook or Twitter or Linked In, or DVRs or Wiis or iPhones or Blackberries or Kindles…I’m excited to see what’s next.  How about you:?

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Backdrops for Tegan and Sara

We worked on a fun digital printing project last month with Benjamin Price, and he recently sent us some great photos that I thought I’d share.

Benjamin was working on the Tegan and Sara tour (if you aren’t familiar with Tegan and Sara, they are a Canadian indie band lead by twin sisters Tegan Quin and Sara Quin).  While looking for a provider of wide format digital printing for a series of custom backdrops for the tour, Benjamin contacted Megan, and we were off and running.

Rather than make one large backdrop, the decision was made to instead print a series of five backdrops, each 24′ h x 6′ w.   Emmy Story’s artwork, composed of a series of diagonal colored lines, is beautiful in and of itself, but the repetition and crossover that occurs when hanging the five panels side by side with space in between, emphasizes the drama of the artwork.

Backdrop Image: Emmy Story; Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Price

Lighting also plays a big part in creating a dramatic effect.  The backdrops were backlit using 2 Martin stage bars per panel – one for a short throw and one for a long throw.  During portions of the show, they were also frontlit using a Martin Mac 700 profile with a custom Bar gobo for each panel.  Here’s another photo to show the effect that lighting has one the artwork:

Backdrop Image: Emmy Story; Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Price

This really was a fun project to work on – it is so rewarding in our business to have the opportunity to work on digital backdrops, custom stage curtains, and other soft goods for so many talented artists such as Tegan and Sara, and to see our work looking so gorgeous on stage as in these photos.

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Little Big Town

Earlier this month, we were excited to be selected to provide soft goods for the 2010 tour of Little Big Town, the amazing country music group that has been steadily climbing the charts.  The main element of the project was a series of digitally printed backdrop panels and riser skirts. 

John Rios of GrafixJam (whom I have mentioned in past posts) designed the digital artwork, and as usual, John’s work was gorgeous.  He created a “Distressed Fleur de Lis” pattern in black and white that is quite theatrical and dramatic. 

Once we received the artwork files from John, we went to work printing the project using our wide format EFI Vutek QS3200 printer with UV-curable 3M inks.  In order to create a “vintage flocked velvet” appearance, we used a flame retardant specialty fabric substrate that resembles suede/velveteen.  The digital backdrop pieces were made as a series of four panels, each 24′ h x 10′ w, allowing them to be used individually or combined to make one large backdrop of 24′ h x 40′ w.  Riser skirts printed with the same image and fabric tie the set design together.

And once again, the use of lighting techniques allows the panels to appear in their original “black and white” or in a variety of colors.  There is a great photo on the Country Throwdown Photostream that is a perfect illustration of this – check out the “aqua” hanging panels as compared to the black and white riser skirts.  Yes, the hanging panels really are printed in black and white – the aqua color is a result of the stage lighting technique.

Want to see more?  Check out this video on YouTube of Little Big Town at Big Country Throwdown this past weekend.

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