Last January I was contacted by the design firm BePoles for a large project that they were realizing in Las Vegas, Nevada. They asked me to create a proposal for a series of works for a long promenade in the newly rechristened Park MGM previously the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino. The rebrand involves a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Sydell Group. The hotel has 3,000 rooms as well as multiple restaurants, pools and a casino and located on the strip. We came to an agreement and 9 pieces of varying dimensions were realized, shipped and then installed in July 2018. It's always a pleasure to be considered for such a project and I'd like to thank all the people involved in helping the project come to fruition.
The hotel in all it's Vegas Glory
A little video walk through provided by the client.
First hotel client interactions with the pieces, it's always wonderful to watch and see how people react.
In between finishing the project and having it shipped the pieces ended up in the studio of Radio c/c in Poble Nou in the north of Barcelona (The two images above.). They had a ground floor space and they graciously allowed us to set up shop there. It gave us an opportunity to set up a wall and do a proper photo shoot of all the pieces before sending them off to Vegas.
My studio with the last piece primed and ready to go and be flocked
One of the concessions that I made for the project was shortening the space between the pieces and the walls. One of the principal concerns of the client was as they put it "client tampering". So instead of 3-3.5cm I lowered it .6cm so you can't curl your fingers around the pieces and bend them. Vegas... We also multiplied the number of mounts that we attached on each piece so as to discourage any unwanted interactions with the pieces. It ended up being about a week of extra work but worth it to calm the nerves of those involved.
Studio shot during production, it was getting super crowded!
Pieces primed in RAL 9001 the same as the interior walls where they would be installed.
Plasma cutter action photo
Model and Project manager extraordinaire Diederik having some fun.
An idea for incorporating text that was nixed.
Go plasma, go plasma!
Source material for the pieces
Figures after being flocked in Sant Celoni, Spain
Some of the plate steel pieces that have been cut on the plasma cutter.
Flock before it's application, all the flock material was generously provided by Velutex Flock of Granollers, Spain
Shipping crates arrive, it was quite a test to get these made but in the end we're super happy with the crates made by a company called SIT based in Madrid. Wanted to make sure that the last leg of the journey for the pieces was going to be a safe one.
The pieces were stacked on one another in the crates with plastified cardboard sheets separating them. I loved how they looked!
