Sneak Preview of 'Emerald Underworld' Party by Gloria Wong Design

I want to officially introduce the amazing designer behind our two fabulous parties for The Academy!

Gloria Wong Tritasavit of Gloria Wong Design is the mastermind behind the creations for our two parties at The Academy--a welcome party inside the terrace tent at The St. Regis and a dinner party inside the gallery ballroom at The St. Regis. She has been working so hard for the past six months with some of the most talented people in the San Francisco Bay Area to create a memorable experience for our attendees. If you want eye-candy, you're going to get it for sure. With Gloria, every detail and element is well thought out. For those of you that follow her, you may remember some incredible photoshoots that she designed last year, like the Spirograph Table on OnceWed and Design*Sponge. My personal favorite was the vintage, shabby chic photoshoot she did with Nancy Liu Chin and Lisa Lefkowitz, featured on Style Me Pretty and Northern California Bride magazine.

I am going to let Gloria describe in her own words her inspirations and visions for our social parties at The Academy, beginning with the Emerald Underworld cocktail party........

From Gloria Wong:

I took this opportunity to do something a bit darker than normal. I don’t have many clients that ask for sultry, moody, sexy weddings. Since this event is not a wedding, I thought I’d go for it! I was rather inspired by this photo of a hotel lounge.

I love the juxtaposition of the branchy organic backdrop on the left coupled with the geometric regency pattern on the right. Similarly, I also like the meeting of ornate frames and tables with more streamlined and modern sofas and chairs. I just love when the mixture of opposites is done well. This hotel lounge, I have to say, is perfection. I was also quite captivated by the illuminating fish tank. In fact, I like that this whole room looks as though it is illuminating. I thought that it would be a great vibe to translate for a cocktail party.

I know that blue is a hot color right now, but I’ve always wanted to create an emerald environment. Emerald is such a beautiful underrated color to me. Also, a blue room would look like a nightclub, and that’s not the look I’m aiming for, folks. So, I changed the blue to emerald! And voila…

Gorg, right? I’m loving emerald. After I changed the color, my eye started zeroing in on the fish tank. I love how the tank just glows. I thought of having moving fish projected onto a frame. The projection of course would have to be tinted emerald. No other color but emerald. I wanted the frames of fish projections to hang above lounge areas like so…

Wouldn’t that have been awesome to see? Alas, it didn’t work out logistically, so we had to scrap that idea. I was given alternative options like renting large plasma screens or inserting photos of fish. None would have yielded that soft diffused glowing projection effect that I so craved.

In any case, I still needed to hone in on the overall design of the tent. I came across this photo from a John Galliano show and fell in love with the styling. This was to be my muse for this event!

But first, I would have to change her to emerald.....

She added an Asian flair to the mix, and I ran with it. After all, emerald is a very Asian color. So, I decided to interpret the graphics for this event with an Asian influence. I asked the talented Amy Hayson of Peculiar Pair Press to come up with a branchy, almost Asian toile type of tree. I also asked her to design a geometric Asian regency pattern. Here are her first drafts!

Next, I knew I wanted to have a center focal point in the room. I wanted a band to play in the center but not on a stage of any sort. I wanted this to be more of a low-key sultry lounge. What’s more sultry than having a band performing under a canopy with a bunch of custom-fabricated pillows lying around?

There are many other ideas that I have developed to drive home this Asian-inspired Emerald Underworld concept. Yes, my team and I have gone through some challenges and have had to go back to the drawing board a bunch of times. But, that’s all a part of the business. You just have to keep chugging, roll with the punches, and be creative with solutions! I’m excited for you to see how this will all come together! See if you notice the details, the shapes, the patterns, the textures, the effects, the props that will convey the message!!! Remember, every piece of décor in the room should serve a purpose. That purpose is to strengthen the design concept!

Photo of Gloria by Janae Shields

Sponsors of this event includes The St. Regis San Francisco, Hartmann Studios, Asiel Design, Enhanced Lighting, Peculiar Pair Press, Sherry Long Makeup, Hair & Effects, Bella Bridesmaid