Cascading Bubbles

The last few years have seen the interest level in organic balloon decor grow enormously. So it only seems reasonable that the decor itself should grow to epic proportions. This grand cascade was created for the University of Rochester’s Meliora Weekend and was installed on the grand staircase of the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, using some balloons that are larger than the people installing them.

What is organic balloon decor?

We’ve had an ongoing conversation in the studio about how best to describe the various styles of installations we do. Describing “organic” takes a little more effort than one or two sentences. Let’s step back for a moment to explain what came before organic. Traditional balloon decor focuses on everything being sized and placed perfectly with all balloons sized exactly the same (or according to a predetermined/mathematical pattern). These might be the standard columns, arches, and swags that you’ve seen for years where balloons are used.

Organic balloon decor focuses more on flow and feeling. Sizing appears to be more random, but despite what some people do with it, should actually be very intentional. The “random” placement of balloons is there to create visual interest.

The term organic is used because it reflects what you might see in nature. A tree with every leaf sized perfectly and only containing branches at specific angles would look wrong. There’s a flow to it and an apparent randomness. But it makes sense. It grows based on nature and the things around it. Likewise, a perfectly straight river makes no sense in nature. A river forms in a more organic fashion. It turns based on what’s in front of it and around it. And the stuff around the river grows based on where the water ends up turning and flowing.

It doesn’t have to be just in decor. In twisted pieces as well, you can focus more on the flow of something than on perfect bubbles. So for us, the appeal is that it looks more natural. It’s more playful. It’s not a rigid structure. There’s even a little more art to it. It takes someone that understands and has a feel for presentation and design. Done badly, it can look very “cluttered”, or random, or haphazard.

And then there’s another thing that makes it really worth it for us from a business angle and for our clients that want things to look good. An organic piece will look good for a longer time than a traditional arch. Balloons that deflate or pop are very noticeable in a traditional garland. In a well done organic piece, it doesn’t matter as much when something shrinks. It may even make it better, or make it seem like it’s a living sculpture that changes over time. In other words, it actually has “organic” properties.