May 17, 2017

Meet Taylor DeMartino of LIVE! Event Design in Washington Heights

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor DeMartino.

Taylor, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started in the events industry over a decade ago. Floral design was my first taste of this magical world that allows dreamers like myself to create incredible events that stem from just one small idea.

It was my quest for creating cohesive events that led me into the industry deeper and deeper. I found myself working over the past decade, at the time, at some of Houston’s hottest event planning and design firms. After launching the Houston office of Todd Events, it spent three years of intense training in large scale events that ranged from local and regional soirees to national and international extravaganzas. There, I was able to unleash my creative ability and design / produce some pretty memorable events. I was deemed by local press, one of Houston’s top event designers, and most sought after for planning and designing fresh and engaging events that rivaled others in the city. The confidence boost my experience gave me, allowed me to make the jump into my own world. I wanted to give clients the opportunity to have a new experience, to have a company that was as much invested in them as their celebration. I wanted to give Houston something new to talk about.

Has it been a smooth road?
Entrepreneurship has its struggles, but when you are working for yourself, the time and effort you put in just seems to be that much more rewarding. I tend to just face the fact that my company is new to the market. I personally have over a decade of experience, but the company does not. This scares client sometimes, but I have developed such an incredible presentation system that I usually win them over with limited debate. Let’s just say I have learned a lot working for other business owners. I’ve harnessed their shortcomings and have used it as fuel to make my business model electric.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with LIVE! Event Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
LIVE! Event Design is an experiential event design and production firm that prides itself on creating truly unique experiences for some of the most discerning of clients. We take time to focus on developing a cohesive plan to efficiently and effectively share a client or brands story, or personality, to guests. LIVE! has a distinct philosophy of quality over quantity, and therefore works with a much smaller of clientele base which allows us to touch every detail we possibly can. Our team defies the laws of status quo, and takes an innovative approach to redefine the standard event formula.

LIVE! Event Design’s team is headed by designer and planner, Taylor DeMartino. With his direction, LIVE! Event Design has celebrated incredible occasions with some of Houston’s, and the country’s most notable of brands and clients. Taylor and his team create one-of-a-kind experiences that span the spectrum from intimate dinners to large-scale corporate and nonprofit celebrations.

While event elements remain similar across the board, its LIVE! Event Designs approach to how those elements are shaped that makes us different. We are involved in essentially all portions of each celebration including forming budgets, selecting venues, creating specialty menus, selecting incredible design and décor, experiential lighting, crisp sound, custom video and projection, specialty entertainment and overall management.

I would be most proud of my company’s dedication to standing out in the city, and providing an education to clients on what things cost, how to be different, and how to create effective and exciting experiences and not just events. I’ve build LIVE! Event Design around a pretty comprehensive set of standards. It’s these standards, I believe, that makes our events different from others in the city. Our approach is fresh and exciting. We discourage status quo, and welcome unique formats for events of all types. We have a pretty strict philosophy of creating cohesive events. This means there is an overarching storyline that is read from invitation to guest’s departure. It’s our responsibility as designers and creative people to develop an atmosphere for guests to “escape” to and truly experience the message that has been selected for the occasion.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the metropolitan feeling of our city all while having a small-town vibe. Yes, this sounds like a contradiction, but I think it’s true.

Aside from the typical “traffic” answer, I think it would have to be the disconnection of my own industry.

Perhaps it’s this way in other cities, but as business owners, I think we can all find ways of working and supporting one another, especially with as a much business that’s comes into our city on a regular basis.

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