Monday, March 22, 2010

Milk + Bookies in Star and People Magazine!!









Check it out... Milk + Bookies has been in last weeks People magazine and this weeks Star Magazine from the event on February 28th! Star magazine listed it on their "Hot List" as the new Hot Charity! Congratulations Milk + Bookies for all this wonderful press! I can't express enough how fortunate I feel to been apart of such a great event and organization. If you haven't read K8 Vision's blog post about Milk + Bookies please take a moment and scroll down below. Thanks!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

K8 Vision in The Knot Magazine






Bree and Dave's wedding was selected for The Knot magazine as one of SoCal's 16 Unique weddings. I was their event designer. It was such a beautiful wedding.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Milk + Bookies Event, Decor by K8 Vision!


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- Photo by K8 Vision


- Photo by K8 Vision


- Photo by K8 Vision


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- Photo by K8 Vision


- Photo by K8 Vision


- Photo by K8 Vision


- Photo by K8 Vision


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/ Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin


- letterten photo/Jay Rubin

Where do I begin!! This past January I was fortunate to receive an email from Meredith Alexander founder of the Milk + Bookies Organization. She came across my website and was interested in decor services for the Milk + Bookies launch event on February 28th at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA. After reading about M+B I was so impressed by the organization and thought what a terrific opportunity to be a part of. Milk + Bookies is a non-profit organization that inspires children to give back; using books as its currency. Click here to read more ABOUT M+B. Meredith and I spoke and her ideas were mostly Anthropologie inspired from the recent displays she saw in the stores this past holiday. I guess you could say I was her girl! We met on February 2nd at the Skirball Center to discuss all the ideas and possibilities, and from that day forward it was M+B designs galore!
I and my team of Creatives executed all the decor elements that she dreamt of. The M+B colors are red, white and blue. The use of primer paper (the paper that elementary students use to practice their handwriting on) was one major material element we incorporated throughout the displays. We built a display play house (6' x 7' x 6') made up of book covers for the roof, primer paper shingles and book spines for the trim around the doors and windows. A 10'x 12' wall was built which was wallpapered in book pages. Then real books were attached in an organic shape to create dimension. This wall would be used as the backdrop for the stage where kids would come to donate their books. 12'x 9' arches were made all out of books for the doorway leading into the event and then another for the doorway leading outside to the courtyard. There was a reading room filled with bean bags where celebrities such as Jennie Garth, Jennifer Garner and Jason Biggs came to read to the children. One amazing donation came from Anthropologie who donated all of their book page animals that were made this past holiday. Yes, these were the same animals that Meredith based some of her inspiration off of. When I told her that I managed to get this donation she was so thrilled. Her dream of those paper animals came true! We couldn't stop there...we also made 2 dozen paper birds and the cutest owl for the tree. A real tree with fake leaves was rented that and I had M+B in a heart carved into the trunk; so adorable. This is where kids at the event would attach paper leaves that they wrote their response to "how does it make you feel when you help others?" We made the most beautiful paper grass out of primer paper for the base of the tree. Oh and how could I forget the 20 centerpeieces of oversized paper flowers displayed in Milk Bottles for the tables. When it came time to install the night before it all came to life for Meredith and her partners Heidi Lindelof and Laura Zimmerman. Their responses to it all were so rewarding. The event was a huge success; 900 tickets were sold making it a sold out event! Tarin Wilson and her team at Plan A Events did a great job producing this very large event. All the details and fun can not be portrayed in these few pictures I have posted above. This is why you will need to access my K8 Vision Flickr account to view all the photos. Thank you to all the Los Angeles based Anthroplogies for your generous and wonderful donations of the paper mache animals; they were truly admired by all. Thank you Meredith, Heidi and Laura, I am looking forward to all the upcoming events in the future!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Anthroplogie and K8 Vision









It is such a great pleasure to still get the chance to work with my friends at Anthroplogie since K8 Vision began. I get the chance to work with the opening teams and freelance in a few LA locations from time to time. It is always wonderful to work with the other creative minds of Anthroplogie. Last November I was in Skokie, IL for a week helping out at the new store opening there and later in January to Chicago for a 10 day store opening on State street, at the Block 37 center. I had never been to Chicago before and I had such a blast. From the food to the people it was so much FUN! At the Block 37 Anthropologie, myself along with two other very talented display coordinators collaborated and executed this two story window display (photos above). It is a 3-dimensional circle approximately 30' in diameter made up of plastic flowers. Recycled plastic bottles were cut into flower shapes and then painted. How many flowers do you think there are? I love working large scale so when put on "team windows" for this window I was in my glory! Another interior display I executed and designed were silhouettes of old vintage hangers cut out and then arranged on the wall as a "wallpaper backdrop." So simple yet so beautiful. Always thankful for the experience Anthro, hope to see you all soon!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

YAS Fitness Centers and K8 Vision









When I first moved to Venice (6 years ago) I was always interested in the fitness center around the corner from my apartment. YAS Fitness Center (Yoga and Spinning) on Abbot Kinney Blvd. I told my Mom about YAS (who is an avid spinner) and she took a class when she first visited me in California. The first thing she said to me when I got home from work that day was "Kate, you MUST come with me to a spin class at YAS!" So yes, it was my Mom (visiting from Long Island) that introduced me to YAS, 6 years ago. Needless to say I took a class with her the next day and I WAS HOOKED! My interest in YAS envolved over the years and last summer I got a part time job with them for a few months; mainly to see me through the effects the recession had on K8 Vision at that time. Whenever I was working the front desk I would constantly re-merchandise the YAS wear. K8 Vision work began to pick up so I needed to leave my front desk duties at YAS. When I told the owner Kimberly Fowler, she understood and also said she would really like to hire my company to continue merchandising the Venice location. I loved that idea!! Since then I have also merchandised their other two locations in Silverlake and Costa Mesa. Along with the merchandising I decorated the YAS Venice location as well as Kimberly Fowler's home for the holidays. If you haven't checked out YAS Fitness Centers yet you are MISSING OUT! I have had the pleasure of establishing a great working relationship with Kimberly Fowler; CEO and Sherri Rosen; VP of YAS whom I find inspirational and have high respect for. GO 2 YAS and check out Kimberly Fowler's new fitness DVD, The No OM Zone - it's perfect.