Perch Celebrates 13 Years: Perch Picks - Designing Michael Jordan's Birthday Party in NOLA

Also at top of the list of 13 is the time I got to help design and plan Michael Jordan’s birthday party in New Orleans during the NBA All Stars weekend in 2017.  I’m not a big name dropper but I mean it’s Michael Jordan sooo... By chance I sat next to a genius event planner Patti McCarthy on a plane to market in New York forever ago.  We connected right away and are kindred spirits to the core.  I’ve been helping to source a wild array of things for her for events all over the world ever since.  

So when she called me to see if I could help for the NBA AllStars weekend, I obviously could not pass it up!  Patti envisioned a classical New Orleans design vibe but turned on its head a bit 

(a fanciful scheme very near to my heart!)  

These are a few design boards we created for our first meeting.

Thanks to her experienced team, we took a leaking warehouse on South Claiborne and turned it into a gorgeous, ethereal space with 30 seating vignettes, with backdrops of custom wallpaper in a sort of baroque meets psychedelia design that only our creative friends from across the pond, Timorous Beasties could come up with.

Here's a time-lapse of the process... 

We rented items from all over New Orleans including 20 antique crystal chandeliers that floated over the dance floor where Travis Scott played.  

In the center of the space we created a velvet roped “living room” just for Michael and his family replete with his favorite whiskey and cigar.

Before and After...

Perch Turns 13...

Perch Celebrates 13 Years

Well we had planned on a BIG FABULOUS Lucky 13 Soiree set for this very evening (May 13^th) at Perch celebrating our 13 years in business with live music in the courtyard, cocktails, and a little bit of voodoo magic.  

We are hoping to reschedule for some time in the Fall.  

So in lieu of an in-person celebration I thought I’d post a series of 13 of my all-time Perch highlights throughout the years, from my favorite design projects, to events we’ve worked on, publications we’ve been in, custom pieces we’ve made, along with some of my very favorite finds.  Thank you all for your continued support!  We can’t wait to get back to partying with you under our discoball. Stay tuned for a fun Perch retrospective.