Luxe Launch 2015: The Midtown Lounge

Extraordinary Events and Doyle Borden Event Style proved to be a dream team to create “The Midtown Lounge” for our Luxe Launch LA held at Bel-Air Bay Club. Using our Harland Onyx linen and Houndstooth Napkins, the team created this “Mad Men” inspired designed. Bringing in a heavy use of rentals from Line 204 Events and ZG04 Decor, this table stood out for its creativity. We have an exclusive interview with Clint Upchurch of Extraordinary Events and Doyle Borden of Doyle Borden Event Style conducted by Kristin Banta of Kristina Banta Events. See below for the full interview and all of the photos by Krista Mason Photography and Weintraub Photography!

What was your inspiration behind this? I love what you have done, was there a story or inspiration behind what you’ve done today?

Here is the inspiration: At Extraordinary Events, we don’t do social events. So we are not in the wedding or social market. We don’t do many tabletop competitions, so when we were asked to be included, we thought let’s do something a little masculine and a little corporate. Mad Men just debuted their final season and so this is a mid-century masculine conference corporate look. Doyle Borden with Doyle Borden Event Style helped with the collaboration of coming up with the concept.

When you think of conceptualizing a tabletop, where do you start? Do you start with a certain image or item that inspires you or do you think more broadly and then go in? How do you work because we all work in a different way.

We started big, with a masculine design. We had about 5 minutes to choose a linen because we wanted to be able to get first choice. We saw this linen and confirmed that we can absolutely do something masculine. So it started on a large-scale and then working with Doyle to see what props we had available, we were able to hone it in and get down to the details.

Did you go in a prop shop or were you working with existing inventory?

We worked with Line 204 and a division of them called ZG04, and ZG04 is basically the size of a full-size prop house. We were really lucky to utilize their inventory and everything you see here is from that building. With the exception of Doyle brought in a couple of small vases and flowers of course. Everything else was a one-stop shop. We wanted to make it easy, that’s another thing about us men! We like our clean style, but we like it easy.

I love how you have paired your textiles. In most tabletops, the florals are the star of the show. With your table, florals are less and I love it. Was this your plan from the beginning and a driving factor?

We chose the linens first because we wanted to celebrate Luxe Linen’s launch, so I wanted that to be our foundation. I didn’t want to compete a lot with that fabric, I wanted people to be able to see that fabric and let it pop, so when we want to the prop house, I looked for props that would accentuate that and also show a little bit of luxury. In my mind, I was thinking what if Frank Sinatra was sitting at this table, what would he want and what would this table look like in a luxurious setting. So I wanted some clean lines and the use of things in an unexpected way. For example, the use of liquor containers. Instead of putting liquor in them, we put florals. I like the structure that we created that we found at Line 204. To soften those lines on the table, I used a cluster of vases.

Who is the guest that is sitting at this table and what is their experience going to be?

I’ve done so many different tabletops and every time I do one, I ask myself if I can imagine myself at the table. Can I see across? Can I enjoy the company that is sitting next to me but at the same time feel like I am at a luxury experience? I wanted every little piece to be a conversation piece. It’s part of the experience. People saying, “Oh what type of vase is this?” or “I never expected to see that!”-and that is part of the overall experience.

Table Vendors:

Host/Linen: Luxe Linen | Concept/Design: Extraordinary Events and Doyle Borden Event Style | Rentals: Line 204 Events and ZG04 Decor| Photography:  Krista Mason Photography and Weintraub Photography | Venue: Bel-Air Bay Club | PR: Rayce PR

Party Sponsors:

Bel-Air Bay Club | Revelry Event Design | Line 204 Events | Dish Wish | Wiens Family Cellars | Classic Party Rentals | Luxury DJs | Smile Lounge | Face It Sugar | Seasons Catering | Made By Meg | Jennifer Naylor Catering and Events | Petros Catering | Rasta Taco | Sprinkles Cupcakes | Lovesome | Design Dawgs | EDGE Design Decor | Copper Willow Paper Studio | Krista Mason Photography | Weintraub Photography