Swarovski dressed the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for its ninth year of collaboration with the annual Oscars awards.
Working again with Tony Award-winning production designer Derek McLane, a total of more than 200,000 Swarovski crystals were used to bring unprecedented sparkle to the event, watched live in 225 countries worldwide.
Derek drew inspiration from old school Hollywood glamor with a color palette of gold upon gold. McLane’s production designs included a new massive crystal proscenium arch featuring 18 separate panels with more than 37,000 crystals layered on top of a shimmering gold backdrop. The arch weighs more than 20,000lbs and took over 650 man hours to fabricate before it was installed in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Also new this year were seven crystal wave towers that appeared to float in the background, featuring more than 110,000 Swarovski crystals.
Making an appearance for a second year, was the gigantic crystal closedown wall weighing over 7,700 pounds and featuring 22,200 Swarovski crystals. The wall was created by nine artisans who spent 880 hours creating and assembling the 80ft by 40ft decoration. Swarovski also provided a further 23,000 crystals for the theater’s eighteen crystallized opera boxes that Derek first created with Swarovski in 2013. Since 2007, over 880,000 Swarovski crystals have been used in the set design for the Oscars by five Production Designers and more than one million crystals have been incorporated into the costume design.
Hosted by Chris Rock, this year’s ceremony saw Hollywood’s leading lights take to the stage, with performances of Oscar nominated songs by Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Sam Smith and more. The production design team for the 2016 Oscars created a special sparkling set for the performance of the Weeknd’s nominated song “Earned It.” Viewers got a glimpse of the original music video before their eyes. The production design team worked hard to make the music video come to life on the stage with 10 custom designed torchieres made with 10,816 Swarovski crystals to further add drama to the stage. Derek McLane, Production Designer commented “My vision for the Oscars this year was 1970’s glamour. I’ve tried to evoke some of that amazing architecture, design and style in this year’s design. Crystals on stage trick the eye a bit and are a magical feeling that are innately glamourous to people.”
Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, commented “The Oscars are the highlight of the movie industry’s year, providing a glittering celebration of creative talent from around the globe. Once again Swarovski was thrilled to collaborate with Derek McLane on these stunning designs, which truly set the stage for the evening.”