Dream Circus Concept Drawings: A Continuation of Creation
A Study into the Dream Circus Concept Drawings of MD Gary.
Following the release of last week’s Blog, thrilled to receive such kind feedback and interest from our clients. A look into the sketch book of Gary Martin, we thought you may enjoy a second study into his drawings.
This time we have chosen to focus on the Dream Circus Concept Drawings. An event motif that shows no sign of slowing down… especially our Dream Circus take on the theme.
| Sketch: The ceiling space in an event is an often-neglected element. For those venues with a vaulted ceiling, it would a crime to not utilize such a space. That is why our MD Gary has put together this sketch of a Dream Circus Chandelier Concept. Featuring the distinctive monochromatic umbrellas. Pairing those with Top Hats and an organic display of balloons. A fantastic art installation conceptualised for your next event. |
What is Dream Circus?
Originally the brainchild of The Brewery Venue. Dream Circus being the key theme for their 2014 Christmas Package. Renowned for cutting edge event concepts for their annual Christmas party packages, a standout theme that proved to me one of their most popular. The creative team here, headed by Simon Lockwood, work exceptionally hard from concept to creation. Working with various suppliers. They start with the Dream Circus concept drawings that are then presented to us here at Table Art. It is then our job to bring those concepts to life.
MD Gary has always relished the opportunity to work with the creatives at The Brewery Venue. Knowing each year brings a new and exciting concept, he has plenty to get excited about.
Dream Circus stood out…
With its distinctive styling. It is a hybrid of the traditional Victorian Circus look with more modern cirque du soleil take. The monochrome colour pallet highlighted with shots of vivid purple, the colour way has proved to be a showstopper. The initial concept created by Gary and Simon included a mix of Carousel and Hot Air Balloon Table Centres. Drawn from a set of themed panels that ran with the Hot Air Balloon theme. A series of panels painted a surreal backdrop, with floating animals in a cloud landscape, interspersed amongst balloons. For those eagle-eyed clients, a Giraffe with the Iconic Brewery Top hat featured. The key element: our Zebra Printed Elephant, floating beneath a monochrome balloon. A fantastic statement installation in the foyer, proving crazy popular cross all social media platforms.
Concept takes hold…
With the Dream Circus Christmas parties done and dusted in January of 2015. Table Art brought the props and styling back to the unit and began work on building out the theme.
| Sketch: Wanting to bring back the style of the Victorian Circus of Old. The design studio was keen to bring in Animal props. Inspired by a Circus Event at Tobacco Dock London. Thinking back to when animals would be shipped in large crates into Britain. We created Giraffe Props which feature the head protruding out of a rustic crate. |
| Sketch: Utilizing the swan neck stands. We attached a Giraffe Head to the top of the stand. With a matching giraffe print fabric, we created a neck to drape down the pole. That then feeds into a flight case that has been specially adapted to hold the stand. That flight case is then covered in a fabric print that gives the appearance of a wooden look crate. |
Building on the theme…
Post the Christmas Installs at The Brewery Venue, we receive a set of professional images from the events. A valuable tool for our sales team, we put out a case study newsletter highlighting the exciting new concept.
You won’t be surprised to read that as a result, the offices became inundated with calls and emails. Clients wanted, neigh demanded this concept for their next event. Table Art are always happy to oblige! MD Gary saw the demand and jumped at the task of building out additional props and centrepieces to support the theme. The Dream Circus Concept Drawings came into play at this key stage.
| Sketch: Looking to create another Dream Circus Chandelier, MD Gary has put together this second drawing. Again focussing on the Dream Circus Umbrellas, and this time including our inflatable Zebra. Delicate butterflies have been added in to draw in from the motifs first featured on the Dream Circus Panels. |
Ideas flowing…
For those of you who know Gary well, you know that his passion for drawing has never faded. From School he has always had a pen in hand, looking to get his creative ideas on paper. For years, the main method – good old-fashioned pen and paper. The storerooms of Table Art are filled with reems of sketches, dated right back from when we first began. As time went on, required a more modern approach. The first step, purchasing an IPAD Pro. Technician Andy gave Gary initial training with Adobe Draw and from there the drawings flew! With all the convenience of being able to change a colour or the smallest detail at the touch of a button. Gary now finds this to be one of his most valuable tools. It is also exceptionally helpful for those of us on the Sales team. Being able to login to his account remotely and download specific drawings for clients is a dream.
All the drawings featured in this blog are taken straight from the IPAD.
| Sketch: Our design studio is often asked to put together concepts for a custom brief. This sketch perfectly illustrates this. Looking for an African Safari collection of centrepieces, Gary and his team put this sketch together. Brilliantly, these later went onto be included in our Dream Circus Collection. |
New Designs:
These Dream Circus Concept Drawings span across five years. A constant development that is fed by client demand. One week it’s a client looking to feature Zebras more heavily and the next it’s a client with a giraffe obsession. Part of our strength comes from adaptability. Gary and the team are happy to change direction at a moment’s notice to address a customer’s changing brief. For those event planners, this will be a welcome read as we are sure you are used to customers making those last-minute changes. Knowing a company that can adapt and adhere to your every need is invaluable.
Building on the original collection of Props and Centrepieces, we added the following centrepieces to the circus range:
| Sketch: The Greatest Showman has to be one of the biggest themes of the past decade. An absolute dream when the film first released. We saw how well the Dream Circus Concept would pair with this new theme. When the enquiries came flooding in, we quickly put forward a Showman Table Centre. |
| Sketch: Unlike the initial concept that featured a coloured vinyl. The studio felt that a simpler approach would be more effective. Here we stripped down the colour and went for an acrylic frosted finish. The result is a centrepiece that is easily adaptable to an events colour themes. |
Insanely Productive
Our Design Studio went into overdrive. Gary’s Dream Circus Concept Drawings ignited the studio. They took every drawing and with great dedication and skill, they brought those concepts to life. They didn’t just work on the centrepiece range, no, they went crazy with prop development also. Here is just a small list of the additional circus props:
- Inflatable Grey Elephant with Dream Circus Draping
- Inflatable African Elephant in a hyper realistic style
- Giraffe in Crate
- Dream Circus Box Lettering
- Inflatable Unicorn
- Additional LED Panel Prints- now stocking over 50 different styles.
A Unicorn may seem like an usual choice but following a trend, we devised this inflatable as a surreal addition to the concept. It proved to be a good decision. Since it’s debut in 2017, we have had it out over 30 times.
| Sketch: The Greatest Showman theme brought with it a more traditional aesthetic. Clients wanted a vibrant selection of colours at the heart of table. The result was this Fairground Carousel. Featuring a full colour canopy and gold horses. |
To Conclude
This brave and innovative approach to design development is what keeps us ahead of our competitors. The ability to put forward conceptual ideas within an hour of the enquiry means that we are the go-to group for event planners looking for new ideas.
These Dream Circus Concept Drawings have proven to be a great way to get the imaginations of Gary onto paper. They have also proven to be THE way to sell a concept to a client. Once they see the drawings alongside an enthusiastic presentation by our team, our clients never fail to give us the green light. Continuing this ingenuity is a huge priority for us, right now and always. We know that the demand isn’t there right now due to the Covid Crisis but with time, we know planners will be back and hungry for new ideas.
| Sketch: Hula Hoop originally sketched out to include type. The disc at the top can have interchangable discs that you can brand with your logo. |