Vegas News: Palazzo celebrates Holiday Season

The Palazzo Celebrates Holiday Season with Arctic-Inspired Winter December 10, 2009

While guests of The Palazzo Las Vegas will enjoy the usual sunny weather for the holiday season from December 9 through the New Year they'll also encounter the winter decor display anchored by aa special Arctic visitor: a 16-ft tall polar bear mother and 6-ft tall polar bear baby, made entirely of a specially -developed white poinsettia named "Polar Bear."

The "polar Bear" Poinsettia is developed exclusively by Ecke Ranch. The strong white coloration of the "polar Bear" Poinsettia with its bracts of deep green veining is the perfect topiary fur for the polar bear display. The custom, hand-sculpted and hand-painted heads and paws, constructed by Design Solutions (Stephen Stefanou, designer) bring the bears to life. The mother and baby bear, consisting of approximately 10,000 poinsettias planted in sphagnum moss, weights in at approximately 5,000 lbs. The bears snuggle on a custom-sculpted 'arctic ice float' that hovers over a water feature located at The Palazzo Atrium.

In addition to the larger-than-life polar bears, The Palazzo embraces the holiday season with Arctic-inspired decor elements that combine to create the breathtaking winter wonderland display. The gardens are filled with a variety of unique poinsettias and 25-ft silver tip pine trees; an 80-ft whimsical vine transitions to holiday with oversized pine cones, holiday berries, poinsettias and twinkling holiday lights; over 225,000 cranberries donated by Ocean Spray float above a water feature creating a sea of cranberries an snow will elegantly fall from above the decor adding to the Arctic theme.

Visual Merchandising & Store Design

Ice Fantasy by Tracy Dougherty (excerpt)
As the Christmas season mushrooms each year with more aggressive visual and aural stimulation, a paradox arises: how to establish a strong market presence and realize merchandising goals without adding to the dizzying, often crass, commercialization.

Expanding the notion of an alluring shop window to a large-scale, theatrical display that dwarfs the customer, Ice Fantasy featured enormous fiberglass set pieces, including a 30-ft Christmas tree capped with a hallucinogenic blue neon star and graced with larger-than-life renditions of Moore’s multicultural menagerie of tiger, parrot, monkey, panda, owl, and penguin. As an inventive tie-in to the display, children were given a coloring book upon meeting Santa, which featured illustrations of a nine-stanza Ice Fantasy poem penned by Moore and created by Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions, Dallas, TX.

Poinsettia Polar Bear is Unveiled

Glendora, CA. December 15, 2009
The highly anticipated poinsettia polar bears have been unveiled at the Palazzo, Las Vegas. The flower topiaries are made up of 8,000 ‘Polar Bear’ poinsettias and the tallest stands 16-ft high.
Audra Danzak, Horticulture Director for the Palazzo and the Venetian developed the concept and enlisted world-renowned designer Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions in Texas for the actual design and construction.
Armstrong Growers and The Ecke Ranch worked hand-and-hand with Danzak and Stefanou to devise a way to keep the poinsettias in place and looking fresh.
The structure incorporates a drip irrigation system that is supplemented with hand watering to keep the poinsettia polar bears looking fresh. The ‘Polar Bear’ poinsettias were planted one at a time by a crew of 12 people during the night for nearly a week. For each ‘Polar Bear’ poinsettia sold, The Ecke Ranch will make a donation to Polar Bears International (PBI). PBI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat throught research and education. The Palazzo will have a limited number of 'Polar Bear’ poinsettias available for purchase.
Armstrong Growers, the official poinsettia grower for The Ecke Ranch, grows hundreds of thousands of poinsettias each holiday season. Armstrong poinsettias can be found in resorts and theme parks throughout the southwest and are available at all Armstrong Garden Center retail locations and many other fine garden centers.

Philadelphia Biology Examiner

Biology Examiner does Vegas by Anne Pacitti December 8, 2009

No one ever complains that there's nothing to do in Las Vegas, and that should be true for the biologist, too. The gaming floor is not an attraction to the Biology Examiner as she only believes in gambling on love. The cyanotic blue trio and many other popular stage shows usually have Biology Examiner scratching for the exit door in about twenty minutes. However, walking down the strip, one may discover novel and innovative gardens, landscape design, zoological collections and biological architectural features that amuse, amaze and are admirable in their creativity.


The casinos are now decorated for the Christmas season, all festooned with greenery and florals. A visit to the Bellagio revealed a beautiful conservatory decorated with Christmas-theme scenes composed of flowers. Particularly impresssive were three polar bears made entirely of white carnations. ( Designed by Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions in collaboration with Andy Garcia, Director of Conservatory)



Between the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace was landscape design that could lead the traveler to think that he or she had gone to Italy by some mistake, instead. Inside, Caesar's palace decorated their Roman statues as if they were in a sea of white snowballs of white hydrangeas. Wandering around back, Roman gardens surrounding the pool area beckon one to timelessly sit and chill with the Roman gods and goddesses. One can easily forget that only a few hundred yards away are the the bustling city streets.

Perhaps the greatest delight and surprise came when visiting the Mirage Casino and Hotel. Here you may visit Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. Siegfried and Roy were, of course, staples of Las Vegas entertaiment for almost thirty years. They were novel and wildly popular magicians who used lions and tigers in their act. What is conveyed here in the garden is their genuine love for these felines and the other animals under their care. The animals, some of them retired from the stage since the end of the act, live in a beautifully landscaped habitat that features a special memorial to their beloved royal white tiger, Sitara. Dolphins delight the visitors with their friendliness and skills in the dolphin habitat. A visitor may also become "Dolphin Trainer for a Day" in a special tutorial program at the Mirage. Even the reception area had a biological theme. Behind the reception desk was a long wall of bright tropical aquarium fish.

Mandalay Bay Casino features a shark reef. At the Wynn, Christmas decorations include an arbor of trees, trunks wrapped in lights, ornamented with hanging floral spheres.
Even leaving the city reminds one of a sense of time and beauty. When viewing the mountains surrounding the city, and certainly when viewing the Grand Canyon from the air, one can see marks of sediment and erosion, literally looking into the passage of time. As it says in the Secret Garden website, "The key to finding beauty is knowing where to look."

LIGHTS, VEGAS, ACTION: Christmas Vacation in Las Vegas

Vegas is a festive haven for the holidays by Jeannie Borbe December 4, 2009

Palm trees, late-night entertainment and all-around craziness don’t really conjure up thoughts of the holidays, but you’d be surprised how much there is to see and do during the season in Las Vegas.
Don’t let the desert and neon lights fool you. From magical garden displays to once-in-a-lifetime holiday shows, Vegas celebrates in style.
Ring in the season with a festive display.
What do flying reindeer, a polar bear family, larger-than-life toy soldiers and a Shasta fir tree have in common? They are all components of the Bellagio Conservatory’s elaborate holiday display (designed by Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions). Each year, the enchanting winter garden touches the hearts of visitors from all over the world.

“When you get into the Conservatory for this particular display, it’s like we become children again,” said Andy Garcia, director of horticulture for Bellagio Conservatory. “It really is one of my favorites.”

This year’s display includes a polar bear family made from white carnations. Comprised of 35,000 carnations, the bears’ “fur” is kept fresh by a specially designed water drip system.
The polar bear family is considered to be a favorite among visitors: “People have been asking for that, and that is one of the things we do,” Garcia said. “We listen to the guests and the people who are walking through the Conservatory.”
Just steps away, eight “flying” reindeer soar over a giant holiday card made of thousands of blooming flowers. Another fun animal addition is the 7-foot-tall rocking horse, placed right in the center of a working train display. This year, visitors can see snow falling from above the reindeer and polar bear displays: “When the snow comes down from the ceiling, I get moved by that,” said Garcia.

The Conservatory would not be complete without its towering, 42-foot Shasta fir tree. Dressed with thousands of shimmering lights, the breathtaking Christmas tree serves as the Conservatory’s centerpiece. The gigantic ornaments and the 15-foot-tall toy soldiers standing in front of the tree both add the perfect finishing touch.

According to Garcia, the most important thing is the visitors’ reaction: “Every year, we try to bring something different or change the position of the props,” he said. “We have to take care of the flowers every day and make sure they are looking perfect for the duration of the show.”

While it takes perfection to plan out the annual holiday Conservatory display, the horticulture staff’s love for the holidays makes it all worthwhile.

“I still have chills when I come in because of everything within the Conservatory,” Garcia said “It’s peaceful, whimsical, beautiful. When [we] see these things, we go back to how we celebrated the holidays in our homes or countries where we’re from. That says a lot to me.”

Designer Michael Southgate designs

Via Bellagio Shoppes has become the latest fashion runway
for designer, Michael Southgate.

A stroll through Via Bellagio Shoppes in the Bellagio Resort & Casino showcases the latest fashion designs of Michael Southgate. Southgate collaborated with Stephen Stefanou of Dallas-based Design Solutions to create beautiful evening wear of hand-dyed synthetics and rubber adorn the high fashion mannequins as part of Bellagio’s celebration of the holidays. “Yes, rubber is an ideal medium for these fantasy gowns since it allows for easy finishing of all the costume’s details,” says Southgate.

Former Managing Director of Adele Rootstein Mannequins and theatrical designer in London’s West End, Michael Southgate, was asked by Design Solutions of Dallas, TX to undertake the “look” of the fashion icons that adorn the 8-ft diameter gold-leafed ornaments which line the retail corridor of the Bellagio Resort.

Southgate, who has spent much of his professional life creating costumes and theatrical props, has participated for thirty years in creating fashion exhibits for museums and department stores. The Metropolitan Museum in New York, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Christmas holiday windows for Harrod’s of London, promotional displays for Swarovski crystals of Austria, costumes in wire and glass for Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan and Daytons in Minneapolis and even a costume for a life-size Barbie doll museum exhibit in Berlin are all part of his artist portfolio.

“As a child who was raised in the English countryside I was fascinated with Hollywood and its glamour. I latched onto that image and it became the ideal. I remember so vividly today the impression that Technicolor made on me….vivid emerald green, shocking pink plus the sequins and feathers….that all captured my imagination as they had not been part of my world,” Southgate explained.

Although many think of Southgate as a Fashion Designer, Southgate is quick to
note, “I am not a Fashion Designer but a costume designer where any material is possible as long as the final effect is stunning!”

“Wire, glass, plastic and rubber are not exactly comfortable to wear” Southgate adds,”but they do result in fantasy and glamour which is what I am all about.”

MGM Grand Detroit Holiday Season Kick-off

Grand Garden Ushers In The Holiday Season at MGM Grand Detroit

DETROIT – Just in time for Thanksgiving weekend, the holidays have a new home at MGM Grand Detroit where horticulture staff began changing out the property’s Grand Garden display this past Saturday to transform the locale into the season’s newest attraction. The removal of the garden’s inaugural fall display of massive pumpkins and giant glass-fabricated leaves will make room for one giant, dramatic holiday ornament emerging from a blanket of seasonal holly. Framed by two stands of 50-foot Canadian Birch trees aglow with festive lighting, this bold yet simple statement will draw the attention and awe of passersby.

With a distinctive style all its own, the Grand Garden is a joint creation of Stephen Stefanou from Design Solutions, the imaginative artists renowned for holiday masterpieces in Rockefeller Center and the Bellagio Conservatory in Las Vegas; and Hamilton Anderson Associates, a Detroit-based architecture and landscape architecture firm. A burst of color in holiday red, the over-scaled ornament is inspired by the work of renowned sculptor Claes Oldenburg and measures approximately 30 feet in diameter. The single, impressive decoration is constructed of steel-reinforced fiberglass and topped off by a silver-leafed cap, hook and ring. Ilex berries and oversized pinecones complete the garden creating swirls of color throughout the grand display.
MGM Grand Detroit’s Grand Garden is a distinctive environment located at the corner of Third Street and Bagley with dynamic lighting and flourishing plants and serves as a seasonal attraction for guests and the community.

World's Largest Rock Crystal Obelisk Unveiled

WORLD’S LARGEST ROCK CRYSTAL OBELISK UNVEILED AT ENTRANCE OF THE NEW SPA TOWER AT THE BELLAGIO RESORT & CASINO.

The Bellagio Resort and Casino unveils an 18-ft tall, two-ton, rock crystal obelisk …the only one of its kind in the world!
Pharaohs of Egypt originally constructed the obelisk form which the Roman Emperors later replicated. Now a sleek, rock crystal, monolithic obelisk graces the entrance of the new Spa Tower, a luxurious 928 hotel room and spa facility expansion to the popular Bellagio Resort & Casino.

At the geneses of this project designer Stephen Stefanou enlisted the expertise of Dr. Keith Critchlow of the Royal College in London, the world’s leading expert in Sacred Geometry. “It was very important to me to employ Sacred Geometry in the design of this unique project” says Stefanou, designer of the crystal obelisk and president of Design Solutions of Dallas, TX, an international visual display company.

“Sacred geometry”, Stefanou noted, “is the ancient art and science which reveals the nature of our relationship to the cosmos. For many the obelisk form, like the great pyramids, possesses a strange power, some believe even the key to life. Historically, there has been a passionate attraction to this form by many…. the Masons, Napoleon, the Vatican, etc., all had a high regard for the obelisk. Even our forefathers, as a tribute to the founder of our country, chose to erect an obelisk which we, of course, know as the Washington Monument.” Stefanou says.

Stefanou collaborated with world-renowned Zadora whose gemstone sculptures are compared to the work of Peter Carl Faberge. Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof is the leading gemstone artist of our time who now leads a world-class workshop that makes everything form fine jewelry to large sculptures. Zadora’s work is included in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, the Middle and Far East.

An obelisk form, a slightly tapered quadrangular solid which tapers into a pointed pyramid top, is typically carved of stone. “Bellagio wanted an exquisite icon for the new conservatory entrance. We chose rock crystal because of its inherent luxurious qualities and because rock crystal is the only semi-precious gemstone that occurs large enough in nature to allow an architectural application.” Stefanou stated.

“In fact, we are currently working on other projects using crystal as the artistic medium. One concept I am particularly excited about is a rock crystal winding staircase. I think you are only seeing the beginning of rock crystal used in architectural design.”

Forbes Magazine:

The Battle of the Christmas Trees

"We had to make First Union's (Wachovia's) decorations look better than its competition," says Stephen Stefanou, whose Dallas-based Design Solutions created elaborate Christmas decorations for the southeast's second-largest bank as well as for Manhattan's Rockefeller Center. "We made number two look better than number one."

Stefanou also helped Atlanta's Lenox Square shopping center lure shoppers with a $2 million display encompassing an automated, lighted, Fantasia-esque fairies, and a kickoff party with costumed paratroopers enacting Santa's arrival at the mall.

New York Times: Pa-Rum-Pum-Pum-Pum

Works in Progress by Bruce Weber

If there's a hub of the annual whirlwind that is Christmas in New York, it's probably Rockefeller Center -- the famous tree, the skating rink, the strolling carolers and brass , not to mention the likelihood that more tourists carrying more gift-wrapped packages toddle through there than any other place on earth. This season, amid the regular hoopla, there'll be, literally, a different drummer. Two, actually, each made out of fiberglass and standing 10-5-ft tall ( not including plumes in their hats0> Plus two equally out-sized buglers , a flutist and a cymbalist.

The six Christmas cadets, as they're being called by Rockefeller Center Management Corporation, are to be installed on November 28th and 29th, on the esplanade above the skating rink, three each on the north and south sides.

The figures are custom designed and fabricated by Dallas-based company, Design Solutions, owned and operated by Stephen Stefanou.

M Magazine : How the Garden Grows

Back of House: by Jacqueline Y. Metcalfe

Among the many sights and sounds of the Las Vegas strip, few have captured the hearts and imaginations of locals and tourists alike as Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens.

Even with its entertainment, sumptuous culinary delights and voluptuous Tuscan architecture, the claim to fame of Bellagio seems to be its emphasis on the intrinsic pleasure of nature's beauty.

The crowning achievement is the Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. One not be a plant lover or flower expert to appreciate and be seduced by the beauty and artistry of these gardens. this is the height of nature, theatre and art coming together to form a completely soul-stirring experience. The mastermind behind this masterpiece is Audra Danzak, Director of Horticulture for Bellagio who collaborates with Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions of Dallas, TX.

"People are amazed by the sheer abundance of flowers," Danzak hypothesizes. "It's so much more than just a lot of flowers though. It's the way they're selected, the way they're designed, the different texture, color--again, it's what you're trying to say." When all is said and done, Bellagio's Conservatory & botanical Gardens set the stage for a show filled with the art, beauty, theatrics and sensory-pleasing kind of entertainment that only nature can provide.

Martha Stewart: Christmas How-To's from Fine Living Network

Martha Stewart: How-to for Christmas

There's something comforting about seeing quiet neighborhoods alive with Christmas lights on frosty December evenings, but careful planning is necessary to create a safe and attractive lighting arrangement. For advice on smart and beautiful ways to illuminate the outside of her house during the holiday season, Martha calls upon Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions in Dallas. Stephen and his colleagues are renowned for design projects, which include the grand holiday decorations at New York City's Rockefeller Center and those at Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Rather than winding a string of Christmas lights around the thatched columns on Martha's front porch, Stephen opts for light netting. These nets eliminate the need to individually place every light, and are available in various sizes. Stephen uses a net made up of 150 lights, wraps it around the column, and hides its wires in nearby greenery. Plastic cable ties are used to secure the net in place. Light netting is effective for hedges, trees, or other large areas since multiple nets can be connected to each other. Stephen recommends arranging the lights while they are lit so that you can see exactly where you are placing them.
Stephen then illuminates the front door wreath with two spotlights, set atop each column. He uses light sockets and bulbs that are weatherproof and waterproof, made specifically for outdoor use. Each of the spotlights holds a 40-watt bulb, clips easily into place, and their wires can be hidden in nearby greenery.
Safety note: Use lights that are made for outdoor use and that are approved by the Underwriter's Laboratory (UL). All light strands should have fuses, so if one strand overloads, the fuse will blow and the lights will go out. If an overload occurs on an unfused strand, there is a chance of overloading circuits in your house. Never leave a bulb socket empty; if you want to black out a particular light, cover it with electrical tape. Also, always use heavy-duty, UL-listed exterior extension cords to power your outdoor lighting displays, and try to use an outlet with its own circuit, such as a little-used garage outlet, to avoid overloading the circuitry in the house.
From Martha Stewart Living Television

Review Journal: Room of Blooms, Summer Celebration

Seasons change in a big way at Bellagio Conservatory by Sonya Padgett May 23, 2004

Audra Danzak gestures toward a section of the Bellagio Conservatory filled , at the moment, with nothing but potential. Danzak ( Director of Horticulture) and a host of floral designer, contractors, hotel workers and others undertake this process five times a year, stripping the conservatory to the bottom of its beds, then rebuilding it into a magical world that delights and enthralls visitors with nothing more than flowers, props and a few special effects. (Danzak collaborates with Stephen Stefanou of Design Solutions in Dallas, TX )

"The show is summer, Americana, patriotic but not too patriotic," Danzak says. "It's all subtle. I don't want people to think of war when they see the show but people are patriotic. We live in America and I want to celebrate that in the right way," Danzak says.

DuPont Magazine: Making Seasons Shine

Making Seasons Shine: Tradition, whimsy and DuPont finishes help Design Solutions turn holiday decor into destination presentations. December 2004

In November, cherry pickers, scaffolding, and yards of black plastic adorned the lobbies of some of the best-known addresses in America. After Thanksgiving, however, the curtains lifted on exquisite seasonal tableaux that ushered in the holidays season.

Stephen Stefanou is founder, president and lead designer at Design Solutions which decorates corporate interiors for the holidays. Clients include Boston's Prudential Center and the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, where Design Solutions formed a 34-ft tree from 68 giant gold-leafed ornaments.

Stefanou also strives to increase a property's intangible value, that certain something that makes visitors choose to visit one location over another. "in today's hospitality and retail market, being a must-see attraction is a competitive advantage," he says.

Design Solutions offers no catalog , no stock items. Each project is conceived and scaled to site conditions. Stefanou works with several different artists to conceptualize treatments based on each client's marketing objectives budget as well as the aesthetic direction established by the property's original architect during design and construction.