Event Inspiration and Process: Divine Symposia Holiday Party

This past December, Floraloom partnered with @joshdampfevents for the epic Divine Symposia Holiday Party last week for @wearepopulous, a global design firm headquartered in Kansas City. Here’s a quick video from the behind the scenes of the Floraloom team installing the event. I’ll share below a bit more about the process of bringing this Greek Mythology-inspired experience to life.

For this project, Josh Dampf, the event producer and designer was focused on creating an opulent event at the height of ancient Grecian culture. I was inspired by rich draping fabrics, succulent and colorful fruits for a rich array of colors, and the ancient Greek philosophical gardens.

The concept: Guests encounter nature elements, echoing the height of Greek empire opulence with Greek gardens in mind that encompassed abundance, tranquility, and connection. Style to be a blend of organic moments with tasteful structure.This is not ruins. It is Greece in its prime. Vibrant, alive, and celebratory. Guests will be transported into an otherworldly holiday gathering where nature, myth, and festivity converge.

Here are some of the inspiration photos I used in my design deck to help guide the look and feel:

I built a variety of different shaped topiaries drawing on inspiration from Ancient Greek gardens where sculptural topiaries symbolized harmony, order, and humanity’s connection to nature. Carefully shaped plants reflected the Greek belief in balance and beauty. Each curve and form wasn’t just decorative, but a quiet celebration of creativity, discipline, and living design.

I also was fascinated by @charlotte_molesworth_garden and her incredible topiary work and drew on her gardens for design inspiration. Here’s one of the topiaries I built for the event. For a pop of movement, color, and texture I added in Spanish moss and Glorisa Lillies These lilies specifically are known for their dramatic, reflexed (curled-back) petals and wavy edges, usually in shades of orange, red, and yellow and can look like flames. Since Josh Dampf wanted to incorporate the 4 elements: earth, wind, fire water — I thought these were a perfect subtle way to incorporate the fire element.

Here’s some process pics from creating these topiaries while working out of my garage:

In addition to the topiaries, we also created artful fruit, veggie, and floral sculptures surrounding candelabra's and olive branch arrangements as an ode to the olive groves and nature elements that we wanted to incorporate for a lush experience for guests. (Photos by Jackie Marko Photography)

Here at Floraloom, we are storytellers at heart. Natural elements is our medium to tell those stories. If you’re currently planning an event and want to tell your story in a way that feels artful and intentional, we’d love to work with you.

Connect with Floraloom today to get the design conversation started!