Draping for Days

As you've guessed by now, I wear a few hats.

This week I was back assisting Pieter Bouterse Studio's special events business. My assignment was to turn some pieces of wood, expertly engineered in a twelve foot dome outline, into a sumptuously draped, wedding ceremony structure.  I had two days and two assistants.

We worked in an empty room behind the Grand Ballroom, right next to the back of the main stage. If only we could have worked on the stage from the beginning, but we were not able to get into the Ballroom. This presented us with some logistical challenges. We The crew of guys had to move the (heavy) dome up 4 feet onto the stage and through the stage opening on the morning of the event to finish the draping and decorate it with flowers.

The first step was to cover the wood structure with a cotton batiste to give the silk something to rest on. It was a good thing it was not standing 10' in the air yet! Do you see those six door panels behind the dome? That is where the dome had to go through to get onto the stage.

Here we are starting to put on the panels and drape them. We worked with an absolutely beautiful,  heavyweight cream silk, used for wedding dresses. Silk holds its shape and is lovely to drape. We used over two hundred yards of silk.

Panels were cut to size, gathered at one end and placed through the doughnut hole and onto the dome.

We had just enough to tuck under the dome bottom, gather and tack.

This took us an entire day to do.   

The next morning, we raised the dome to about 6' high and began the draping around the entire circumference. Lots of pins and staples. And, yes, the entire structure gets dismantled the morning after the event.  

The panels were cut very long, as they would not only cover the poles, but also drape back at each corner. At the end of the day, we gathered all of the panel ends into the dome so that we had easy access to the legs the next day for the big move.

The dome made it through the stage opening with one fourth of an inch clearance. Whew!

After we finished the fabric, we applied the flowers and crystal garlands. The "back line" consisted of the crystal garlands with dendrobium orchids attached to them, interspersed with dendrobium leis from Hawaii.

The photos are not in the best focus; to even have one or two without someone in them was a challenge and they had to be taken quickly. (If it had been up to us, those ugly light fixtures would have been placed elsewhere!)

The flowers on the poles are hydrangea, snapdragons and dendrobium orchids. Great color on those dendrobs!

These are the aisle stanchion flowers, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them. They were silk columns, topped with these flowers and connected by draped silk swags.

Ta-Da!!

By now, the dome is down, the fabric has been removed and is rolled back up for the next event.

Such is the life of special events!

For further information, contact Pieter Bouterse Studio.

Mariano Fortuny- Did you know he also painted?

When I think of Mariano Fortuny, lush velvets and delicate, pleated silks come to mind.  The “Delphos” dress is a classic. The “Fortuny lampshade” is also. The beautiful damask fabrics, the gorgeous clothes.  His mystique.  What I did not realize is that he was also a very gifted painter. And engraver. And stage and lighting set designer. Some of his inventions set new benchmarks in theater that are still followed today.


La Pedrera de Caixa Catalunya (the museum) in Barcelona, Spain is currently holding an exposition on Fortuny and his works: Fortuny, El mag de Venecia (Fortuny, The Magician of Venice).
Besides viewing his incredible fabrics, clothing and inventions, there are also presentations, discussions and a tactile tour of fabrics. I wish I was in Barcelona! I think they should bring this wonderful display to the USA!

Silk lampshades in Mariano Fortuny 1999 Marsilio Editori

Fortuny velvet

Mariano Fortuny (y Madrazo) was born in Grenada, Spain in 1871. After his painter father’s early death at age 36 of malaria in 1874, his mother moved her two young children to Paris, where Mariano was encouraged to study painting and etching under his uncle’s tuteledge. He was introduced to many of the artists at the time through his family and exposed to many styles of painting.   In 1889, his mother moved the family to Venice. Mariano spent time in both Venice and Paris, before finally settling in the Palazzo Orfei.  Today it is now called the Palazzo Fortuny, as it houses the museum dedicated to Fortuny and his works.

Here are some views of the Palazzo Fortuny:

Palazzo Fortuny exterior in Fortuny by Guillermo de Osma

Palazzo Fortuny exterior in Fortuny by Anne-Marie Deschodt

The Grand Salon in Fortuny by Anne-Marie Deschodt

Palazzo Fortuny in Fortuny by Guillermo de Osma

 

The library in Fortuny by Anne-Marie Deschodt

Fortuny's studio in Fortuny by Anne-Marie Deschodt

Fortuny worked in oils, gouache and tempera, creating his own color pigments. He favored copper plate etching, which, along with his painting, greatly influenced his later creations in silk and velvet. He learned the subtle use of color and the importance of light to achieve the dramatic effects seen in his textiles.

Here are  some of Fortuny’s paintings:

Una roccia a pareti verticali sulla riva del mare" 1948

Prove alla Scala di Milano

Ritratto di Henriette Fortuny in costume pompeiano, 1935

Here Fortuny painted his own Palazzo:

Interno dell'atelier del pittore a palazzo Pesaro-Orfei a Venezia

 

http://www.invertirenarte.es/mercadodearte/imagenes/Octubre%2027/duran_fortuny.jpg
Painted by Fortuny's father, Mariano Fortuny Y Marsal (1835 - 1874)

And last, but not least, my favorite:

Schizzo per la decorazione dell'atelier dell'artista a Venezia