October 28-November 3, 2004

naked city

The Grand Designer

life of the party: Evantine Design's Brian Kappra in his massive supply warehouse. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Gala planner Brian Kappra is on the job, even when he's the guest of honor.

by A.D. Amorosi

With his warehouse full of exotic flora, handmade linens, large props, diverse dining settings and a black-box stage, Brian Kappra could mount productions of a dozen Noel Coward plays, all at once, candelabra and all.

It's a prop department most theater companies would kill for. But what Kappra and his Evantine Design do is craft the look of the area's best, toniest parties and events with an astonishing attention to detail in terms of period, theme and environment.

Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres' wedding to Eva Herzigova with guests Heather Locklear and Donald Trump in Asbury Park? They did it.

• Marian Anderson ceremonies for Liz Taylor and Oprah Winfrey? Check.

• Breast Health Institute/Fashion Group International collaborations to honor Badgley Mischka and Narciso Rodriguez? Yup.

Some bar mitzvah in Woodlawn, N.J.? Uh-huh. ("I missed pinning the boutonniere on Jon Bon Jovi to be there," says Kappra with a giggle.)

That he'll be honored at this year's 10th Shirt off Your Back! Fight Breast Cancer party—a dinner-dance fund-raising effort—is doubly important. "I'll be bringing the decor," says Kappra, who's been volunteering his services as the head of the gala's design committee since 1993. "Now, I really can't charge them."

Kappra, 45, got into landscape design and event creation in high school. "I was always into plants and gardening," says the Paulsboro, N.J., native. "But it was mostly lawn maintenance. I wanted to learn landscaping. But my high school guidance counselor told me there'd be no money in it and no major to boot."

After a turn majoring in journalism (another career with no money) and public relations at Temple University in the mid 1970s, he found that Temple actually did offer a landscaping major. So he became an Edward Scissorhands-sort—sans the funny haircut—who could prune a damn fine topiary. Rather than merely trim hedges, Kappra got into interior landscaping, working on shopping malls and corporate offices. When those clients began to call for tree rentals for parties and dinners, Kappra got an idea: Why not make the whole party?

He created his own biz in 1989, first providing decorative elements, then entire concepts. "The philosophy of landscaping changed," says Kappra, discussing his decision to create Evantine. "But what I learned about putting together color, texture and form is what I use [when] creating whole rooms."

The fabrics, the flatware, the chairs, the flowers—each element must fit equitably and fabulously into an evening's theme. Each event, therefore, becomes its own brand of theater. As characters enter and exit the stage, the look must be as vivid as their performance. ("You're making a blank slate whatever you want it to be," he says.) Rather than remain behind-the-scenes working for caterers and hotels, Evantine jumped in front of the scenes. "For lack of a better word, we went retail."

With less large-scale corporate entertaining afoot, it is the social market—a surprisingly young one with weddings, bar mitzvahs and charities—that butters Evantine's bread. "We see a lot of the same [social set], what with serving the highest end of the market. Our budgets for wedding flowers alone go as high as $50,000 to $60,000."

Los Angeles and Manhattan may get the award shows and major press, but Philly can rival those towns in terms of what's spent on events. "Philadelphians know what it costs to do "top notch,'" says Kappra, who quotes, for an average event for 200 people, between $22,000 and $28,000.

On this weekend alone—in addition to having batches of stuff going to different events for 200, 250 and 400—Evantine will bring 500 chairs, red glasses and red plates to Shirt Off Your Back.

"I love the minimalism, but we've got a warehouse filled with opulent fabrics, fringe and brocades, so it's nice to play," he says. The airport-area warehouse includes separate rooms for big props, plates, vases, chairs, dress forms, candlesticks and reams of fabrics. There are orchid coolers, flower processing and painting rooms, greenhouses, and black-box spaces wherein you can see your finished designs before the party starts.

"We try not to pigeonhole ourselves," says Kappra, who wants you to remember his themes as much as the charities they represent. "We never do 20 tables with the same look. We work within your story—but with different chapters."

Breast Health Institute and Fashion Group Philadelphia present the10th annual Give the Shirt Off Your Back! Fight Breast Cancer Gala, Fri., Oct. 29, Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing, 201 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., $325 per person, 215-732-2300, www.breasthealthinstitute.org.