Behind the design: A dinner in white

A bohemian, all-white night on a Bali white sand beach? Of course! The clients asked for touches of crystal, pearl and shell to elevate the whole experience, which gave us a great base to start designing.

Taking over the Reef Beach Club at Kempinski is always fun. This time we wanted to lean into Bali’s water journey, from mountain to sea while keeping it an elegant beach experience for the 100 guests.

Guests were greeted and lead to the Beach Club by undulating white fish puppets covered in shell scales and led down a path surrounded by white umbul umbul flags and modern Balinese woven leaf sculpture.

They then came to a traditional all-white Balinese jukung fishing boat doing double duty as a screen, perched on the sands with bamboo outriggers providing support. The fish find their home next to boat for dinner.

The cocktail area was set up with crystal chandeliers and shell lamps between sofa sets. Moving over to dinner, tables were set up under the fairy lights for a family style dinner. All white flowers with pearl pins, white linens and place names on thin white shells completed the look.

As a special moment between courses, the standing fish decor once more came to life, swimming between tables, glowing from within. Then they were joined by a pure white heron, a walking puppet 3 meters tall operated by 5 people, with wings of white shell. A moments to show off Bali’s contemporary performing arts scene inspired by the annual ogoh ogoh creations.