Today we’re covering a corporate event that we absolutely loved being a part of: the opening of the brand spanking new argodesign Austin office! The argodesign team specializes in digital and physical product design, bringing all kinds of unique ideas to fruition. Up until March 11th, the day of the party, their Austin employees had been working remotely. To kick off the first day of SXSW 2022, we stepped in to help them plan the very best party to celebrate the opening of their new office!
The client wanted to create a big community event open for the staff, their families, and all kinds of designers, consultants, and friends of the industry. For decor, the argodesign team mainly tackled everything, since this space was also their own permanent office, of course. They set up several interactive spaces, like the guided audio tour of the office, a karaoke room, and cool photo op locations for guests, all professionally shot by one of our favorite photographers, Lauren Maria Films. We brought rentals from Whim Hospitality to help create more mingling spaces, and that was all it took to get the space ready for action!
The lead planner, Lauren Chumbley, said that Jordan (the owner) was a “mastermind” at crafting all of the activities at the party. There was a cool meditation corner named “Radical Stillness” that Jordan himself created with antique speakers and pieces of his own art installations! It was a huge success with plenty of visitors.
Another interactive space was the Fine Southern Gentlemen’s table, who came to do screen printing on t-shirts, live, for guests to marvel at. Seeing this in-person must have been awesome!
Since they did not have their company logo on the building yet, Lauren suggested the perfect solution. As planners, we typically use a gobo on top of a light source to project wedding monograms or designs, but in this case, we were able to use one to cast argodesign’s large octopus logo! Thus, they were able to have a big & bright logo ready for the party.
The office party was on an unfortunately cold day. We had so many people show up that at one point, there were too many people in the building (creating a fire hazard) and we had to keep people outside waiting until the inside visitors had left. However, we brought guests hot chocolate, heaters, wine, and appetizers so that they could warm up while waiting!
Speaking of food and alcohol, we absolutely loved working with Root Cellar Catering! They served cute appetizers like Mini Avocado Toast, Chili Shrimp Skewers, and Beet Sliders with Goat Cheese Pesto, perfect for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.
Most importantly, Root Cellar created a special signature cocktail inspired by the octopus logo, named the “Inkwell Drink”. It included Grand Marnier, Tequila, fresh juice, and activated charcoal served in a special champagne coupe glass that was ONLY available through Peerless Events and Tents!
Towards the end of the night, most people either congregated on the dance floor to jam to music from DJ Mel, or sung their hearts out in the karaoke room. At one point, Lauren heard someone singing “Teenage Dirtbag”, which she hadn’t heard since the early 2000s! Talk about a throwback.
By the end of the event, it had felt like the party had helped to piece the design community back together after two years online. We are so thankful to argodesign for including us in this beautiful celebration of future collaboration! Enjoy that snazzy new office!
