Sephora Rewind
Creative direction, experience design & fabrication
Sephora Rewind brought more than 600 employees to the Palace of Fine Arts for a late-’80s and ’90s-inspired party. Working with creative director Susan Bloom, PBZ helped develop the visual toolkit and turn it into the layout, guest journey and physical world of the event.
The enormous venue became a collection of playful throwbacks, including a giant boombox stage, sculptural entrance, makeup salon, Urban Decay record store, Carolina Herrera video store and Sol de Janeiro candy booth. We developed each area with Sephora’s internal teams and individual sponsor producers, balancing different briefs while keeping the experience visually connected.
With the exception of the Sephora cake, PBZ designed and fabricated every build shown here. We also developed the large-format graphics, signage, scenic details and overall floor plan, then handled installation and strike.
The scale of the Palace of Fine Arts was the main challenge. Coordinating builds, graphics and sponsor elements across the venue involved a lot of moving parts and roughly 15 miles of walking a day during installation.
The enormous venue became a collection of playful throwbacks, including a giant boombox stage, sculptural entrance, makeup salon, Urban Decay record store, Carolina Herrera video store and Sol de Janeiro candy booth. We developed each area with Sephora’s internal teams and individual sponsor producers, balancing different briefs while keeping the experience visually connected.
With the exception of the Sephora cake, PBZ designed and fabricated every build shown here. We also developed the large-format graphics, signage, scenic details and overall floor plan, then handled installation and strike.
The scale of the Palace of Fine Arts was the main challenge. Coordinating builds, graphics and sponsor elements across the venue involved a lot of moving parts and roughly 15 miles of walking a day during installation.
Client and production:
Sephora Events and Design
Creative direction and toolkit development:
Susan Bloom, Sephora and PBZ
Experience design, layout, scenic fabrication, graphics, installation and strike:
PBZ
Sephora cake:
Hatch
Print installation:
Chamo Studios
Engineering:
Altos Engineering
Location:
Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
Date:
October 12, 2023
Attendance:
600+
Photography:
PBZ
