Full Circle Meal 2019: Creating a Theme (Part II)
The Bacon & Lox Society’s Annual Full Circle meal is so much more than just a collection of friends having dinner in a creek. It’s a collaborative endeavor in every possible sense of the word, and it’s brought to life each year by the contributions offered by just about everyone involved.
And it’s not just all about the food, either! Each year, Alisa and her merry band of collaborators come up with exciting and creative ways to truly complement the food, building an incredible atmosphere for their meal to take place within. From floral installations, to custom glass- and flatware, to creation stations where everybody gets to build their very own “seed bomb,” 2019’s Full Circle Meal was positively bursting with a vibrant, creative energy.
Bringing the Meal to Life Through Design
Nicole Hutnyk has been working with the Bacon & Lox Society since the second Full Circle Meal, and her contributions have grown from the very backbone of the event’s aesthetic and artistic themes. Nicole’s input in 2019 was just invaluable…her creations breathed a new life into the look and feel of the Full Circle Meal by focusing on a particularly fetching visual motif:
I was really inspired by the thought that “something”…could look or feel completely different to each individual who was experiencing it. In collecting inspiration from that vibe, I ended up really focusing on the movement of a kaleidoscope, the concept of Rorschach ink blots, and by the end, kind of connected those elements with the sentiment of an atrium.
To me, it was a representation of individual experiences, ever moving and transforming, with each beholder still has one thing in common, which is intention. Intention to learn more, intention to create something, intention to experience something, intention to collaborate with someone…the list goes on. In all cases, you have to take that first step blindly, like the symbol of an atrium.
As you can tell, Nicole doesn’t do anything halfway! She made sure to reflect her creative concepts in just about everything she touched, including the development of a brand new Bacon & Lox Logo. The ampersand, a symbol of inclusivity and community, became the focal point for the Bacon & Lox symbol.
This new Bacon & Lox glyph was then added as a grace note to things like custom plates, bar and dinner napkins, custom glassware, and so forth, creating an air of cohesion within the collaborative kaleidoscope of everyone’s contributions. Nicole and the Rabbit Rabbit Crew also created the signage for the event’s cocktail stations, as well as the incredibly fetching invitations that were sent out to kick the entire thing off.
Topping It All Off with Floral Arrangements and Installations
Nature is always an important part of the Full Circle Meal: By coming together for a meal that takes place in an actual creek, the Bacon & Lox Society makes the choice to submit itself, to a certain degree, to the whims of Mother Nature. And it always makes things more exciting! It also, however, reminds Alisa each year of the responsibilities she and her collaborators have to their environment. As such, each year a conscious effort is made to ensure that the Full Circle Meal takes place with no impact to the creek or its natural inhabitants, creating a sustainable and eco-friendly event…right on down to the blooms and flowers used in the floral installations.
Another invaluable member of the Bacon & Lox Society Celebration Collective this year was Sarah Petryk and her talented team at Allium Floral Designs. As usual, Sarah took the concept and theme to heart and imbued the overall message of the event into every aspect of her floral design and installation.
We were so inspired by the mandala-meets-Rorschach ideas that Nicole from Rabbit Rabbit started to put together, and we really wanted to articulate that in bloom form. This year, we really wanted to create something low that still had a lot of visual impact, whereas in the past we’ve done a lot of overhead design.
The focus on sustainability even managed to make its way into the creation of her installments:
I’ve been working hard to eliminate floral foam from our design practice. Obviously it would have been the easy choice…but since we make a point of not harming the creek, we chose not to use the microplastic. Instead, we built a table that would hold water, hydrating the flowers directly from the creek itself.
And when your eyes weren’t being commanded by the impressive sights of Allium’s floral installations, they were free to feast upon the stunning papel picado flags, created specially for the 2019 Full Circle Meal by artist Karina Puente:
I hand-dyed and hand-cut four five-foot-by-five-foot flags to stake claim; an homage to Indigenous women leaders. Flags are important because they symbolize presence and belonging.
Alisa Tongg claims her Cherokee background and weaves her identity as a celebrant into all aspects of her leadership. No one has a presence like Promise Ridge and Alisa Tongg. Her energy shouts, “Own it!”
The flags were truly a sight to behold…and let’s not forget the impressive, 70-foot, hand-cut table runner.
Adding the Collaborative Finishing Touches
Another one of the concepts that sat central to the 2019 Full Circle Meal was the idea of “creating your ripple.” Inspired by the simple idea of a “full circle",” every individual contribution to the annual event was a drop in the water, each one creating a ripple that would then grow and radiate outwards, touching anybody nearby. It fits perfectly, as each year the Bacon & Lox Society strives to create an event that will live on, long past the moments when everything has been broken down and guests have returned to their homes and families.
Their hope is that the experience stays with them (and anyone who attends, for that matter), living and breathing and growing alongside all those other cherished memories.