Smoke & Mirror
Multiple Targeted Locations
Early-stage creative exploration of immersive media and experiential storytelling concepts.
Allureum, Daren's owner/operator venture, created several immersive destination experiences. The high-end dining concept is called Smoke & Mirror, a 10,000 square foot restaurant presented in three "acts".
When guests arrive they begin in an interactive exploratory world called "The Pledge" during which they are brought appetizers and libations as they interact with their group, other guests, and magic-inspired interactive vignettes.
They are then called into a small room filled with magical lamps and their host helps them select a lamp from the wall and uses it to lead them to their table in the main dining room, called "The Turn". The lamp (media screens embedded) leads them through the main course while the entire room around them continuously transforms (projection mapping, lighting, show action) and periodically "takes over" with 2 minute "wow moments".
After the main course their host leads them towards what appears to be the front door in which they originally entered, but magically the door opens into the final space, "The Prestige" which is a dessert lounge and communal space featuring an open kitchen dessert bar as the centerpiece. Overhead a sculpture of hundreds of upside down "magic wands" continuously evolves as blue, yellow, and pink flowers emerge and disappear from the wands in a choreographed dance.