LONDON – Rihanna headlined the Festive Lights Switch On event, held recently in the main atrium space at Westfield London Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush, West London. Cover It Up was there as well to provide draping so the public could continue shopping while those attending the event could enjoy the show. Cover It Up had supplied six sets of different generic scenic drapes specified by Westfield London technical manager Simon Jones for use on different events throughout the year. For some of these events – including this one – the existing drapes are augmented with custom extras.
Elliot Stennett led the Cover It Up team, which created a VIP area and draped off the stage and wings. The crew used white molton as a base layer with white trevira and voile over the top – taken from one of the standard Westfield packages – and draped about 50 meters along one side of the atrium to make the VIP balcony space.
Both the trevira and the voile drapes provide a full, soft appearance. The trevira and voile was on the event side, while the molton face cordoned off the public area with a white wall.
Drapes from one of the Westfield's white sets was used to wing off the back of the stage – which was in the center of the space – extending 11 meters on either side of it.
At the back of the stage, the crew also needed a lightweight solution to mask the whole area from the public, so Cover It Up supplied a double 16 by 9.5 meter drop of black trevira, attached to the back of the truss immediately behind the stage. Weighing only about 20kg, it was a fraction of the weight of serge and did the blackout job effectively.
On the stage side of that drape, Cover It Up provided a large drape printed with Rihanna's face. Stage legs were created extending about 4 meters on both sides of the Rihanna backdrop using the while voile and trevira set.
A week after the Switch On, Cover It Up was back at Westfields to help with the launch of the winter ice rink.
"Westfield London is always a great environment in which to work – the architecture is amazing, and the technical installation has been designed properly to facilitate the installation of production kit for events," said Says Stennett. "There are specific challenges which are always good for keeping us on our toes, and Simon's crew is always excellent."
For more information, please visit www.cover-it-up.com.
