Event Projection worked their magic in Paris recently to create an immersive projection for the K-Way party. London artist and set designer, Ibby Njoya lent his kaleidoscopic vision with his design for the show which took place on 1 March 2023.
The Brand
K-Way were not only celebrating their new collection but their anniversary at this year’s Paris Fashion Week. The brand chose to return to the venue where, in 1965 Léon-Claude Duhamel conceived their iconic packable jacket. K-Way is a registered label that during the years became a contemporary clothing item and a statement in both French and Italian dictionary.
The Venue
The venue for the star-studded show, the Café de la Paix has long been popular with art, fame and fashion and is said to be the most well-known café in Paris. It’s grand Napoleon III architecture however was to prove a challenge both technically and creatively. Typically, if sourcing a venue for immersive projections, we would recommend a black canvas. Intricate decor, fresco covered ceilings and numerous pillars are never going to make life easy. The listed venue certainly offered no option for hanging projectors either. The site visit took place only a few weeks prior to the show. With such little time to plan and create content, we recommended simplifying the projections, especially when we discovered that we only had the day for set-up.
Can we make the projection even more immersive?
Ibby is certainly not a man who shies away from a challenge and his ambitions for the show were high. Not satisfied with only the walls, he insisted on the ceiling too! After adding more surfaces after we submitted the first design, an additional two were required bringing the total to 11 Panasonic RZ120 projectors. With no way of flying the machines, plinths were designed to support and Ibby and set builder’s Helix skilfully matched the venue’s décor to hide them. The Panasonic Projectors were chosen for the show for several reasons. Critically, they accept the widest lens possible, and the 0.28 lens was essential for the projections on the ceilings.
Colourful Immersive Projection Content
With so much work and so little time, we were relieved that our advice was taken for content creation. With more time, both for planning, animation and set-up, true projection-mapped content that worked the complexities of the architecture would have been outstanding. To do this would have undoubtedly required a laser scan of venue and weeks’ worth of 3D modelling which could simply not be afforded in the schedule. Instead, and in stark but striking contrast to the style of the venue, the content was a wash of colour, more akin to trippy VJ set.
The show
With so much kit to instal in a day, an early start was essential. The pre-production panning and the teams hard work paid off and the installation was finished with time to spare.