Stanlee Gatti

Stanlee Ray Gatti (born October 28, 1955) is one of the best-known event planners in the U.S.^[1]

Background and childhood

Gatti is the second youngest of five children born to immigrant parents in the small mining town of Raton, New Mexico. His father Larry, a former coal miner born in Arpino, Italy, became a master craftsman in the United States,^[1] and built the family house. His mother Ann was born in Montenegro, Serbia, and was a housewife.^[1]

Education and early career

Gatti studied music, physical education and art at the University of Northern Colorado in the 1970s, then architecture and art history at the University of Oregon.^[2] After college he briefly returned home to coordinate events at the local country club, and worked as a department store window dresser. He worked at a plant store in Aspen, Colorado for several months then moved to San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.^[3] He worked as a florist at the St. Francis Hotel in 1978,^[3] advancing to Hospitality Manager.

Event planning

In 1985 Gatti's boss at the St. Francis asked him to set up a table for group of ladies who lunch planning a 75th anniversary opening gala for the San Francisco Symphony. In a hurry, he bought a flower-patterned bedsheet from Macy's across the street, borrowed a tablecloth and napkins from housekeeping, and arranged some sweet peas on top. One of the women, Danielle Carlisle, reportedly exclaimed "Who did this?" Impressed, the women hired him to design the entire event.^[4] In his first professional effort, he stirred up the traditionally staid Symphony crowd with unusually bold colors and designs. By next morning he was receiving calls from San Francisco socialites who wanted to hire him.^[5] Within three months he left the hotel to start his own design firm, Stanlee R. Gatti Designs.

He soon jointed the ranks of San Francisco's social elite, not only creating events but attending, hosting, throwing parties and having parties thrown for him. According to his mother, "He never meets a stranger." In 1998 a columnist deemed him one of the three most powerful people in San Francisco.^[4]

A blog ran an occasional "Stanlee Gatti count" to list mentions in San Francisco's gossip columns.^[6]

In 1996 Mayor Willie Brown, appointed Gatti President of the San Francisco Arts Commission, an important agency that manages a set aside of two percent of all city spending on public works. Gatti used the position to push the boundaries of San Francisco's famously conservative taste in public art.^[2] His best-received initiatives were installations by Vito Acconci, Ned Kahn, Robert Arneson, and Bill Viola. Gatti brought ten Keith Haring sculptures to San Francisco, one of which remains at the Moscone Center. However, Gatti generated as much controversy as admiration. He jokingly proposed to mount a 30-foot Louise Bourgeois spider atop San Francisco City Hall. A more serious proposal to install a giant peace symbol by Tony Labat in Golden Gate Park ran afoul of neighborhood activists and was subsequently rejected by the Commission.^[7] In 1999, an already-approved commission for Buster Simpson to create a giant naked foot for the end of Market Street was criticized by the public, mocked by the head San Francisco Chronicle art critic, and ultimately de-funded by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.^[2] Gatti resigned from the Commission unexpectedly in 2004.

Gatti was president of the San Francisco Arts Commission.^[1] He was criticized for his efforts in 1997 to site large sculptures of a peace symbol and a foot along the Embarcadero.^[1]

Personal life

He was best man at the wedding of former mayor Gavin Newsom to his former wife Kimberly Guilfoyle,^[2] and designed his subsequent wedding to Jennifer Siebel.^[1] Other friends include David Blaine, Robin Williams, Elton John, Jason Lewis, Danielle Steel, Peter Magowan, Joni Mitchell,^[1] Grace Slick , and Steve Silver, Ann and Gordon Getty, and Herb Caen.

Gatti quietly funded the Rigo 23 mural "Sky/Ground" on San Francisco's St. Regis Museum Tower, contributed $50,000 towards the Haring installations, and intended to secretly pay for the Golden Gate Park peace symbol. Gatti is an insomniac and workaholic, who stays awake long into the night and drinks twelve espressos every morning.^[1] He is a vegetarian.^[4] He currently lives in San Francisco's Twin Peaks.

Style

Friends and colleagues praise Gatti's "genius" for creative design.^[4] He is among few American designers who approach event planning as a visual art form as much as a business service.^[3] He is "one of the most venerated event designers in the country."^[3] The creative process is spontaneous and focuses heavily on color. He follows color trends in fashion (his favorite is green),^[4] but in event design, he explains, "I do not know what the trends are because I set the trends."^[8]

Stanlee R. Gatti Designs

Gatti's company Stanlee R. Gatti Designs produces events where he concentrates on the aesthetic experience. His work involves fabrication and installation of decorations, interior design, tents and other temporary structures, lighting, flowers, costumes, table settings and dressing.^[4] Some are mis-en-scene installations, such as simulating a forest inside a tent (including a black night sky, floor mulch, live fir trees, and cold temperature) to celebrate the turn-over of San Francisco's Presidio to the National Park Service, or a cubist theme to honor a biographer of Pablo Picasso.^[4]

Working without project proposals or detailed budgets out of three warehouses in San Francisco,^[1] Gatti and his staff of 55 employees produce ten events per week.^[9] Half are weddings. Projects range from single-table floral designs to large charity events for thousands of guests. Gatti has been known to run large charity events at a loss, personally funding shortfalls, changes and fixes when important to an event's success.^[4]

Solo installations

• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, "Stanlee's Brain", 2006^[10]
• Conservatory of Flowers, "One: An Earth Installation", 2007.^[11][12]

Commissioned projects

• City of San Francisco, approximately 100 events including inauguration of Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom
• San Francisco Symphony, various projects including 75th anniversary gala (1987), season openings, and Black and White Ball
• Fairmont Hotel, luncheon for Mikhail Gorbachev, 1990
• Giorgio Armani, fashion show, 1997
• Matrix Fillmore nightclub, San Francisco, designer and partner, 2002.^[13]
• InStyle Magazine, Sir Elton John's Oscar party, 2003 and 2004^[14]
• Fleur de Lys Restaurant, Las Vegas, Nevada, interior design, 2004
• Jack Falstaff Restaurant, San Francisco, California, interior design, 2004 ^[15]
• Lucasarts, Letterman Digital Arts Center grand opening, 2005.^[16]
• People magazine, Screen Actors Guild awards and post-award party, 2004 through 2007.^[17][18]
• Charles Koch, birthday dinner, 2005
• Gordon Getty, birthday party, 2003,^[19] 2006^[20] 2007,^[21] and 2009^[22]
• American Conservatory Theater, 40th Anniversary event, 2007^[12][23][24]
• SFMOMA, Modern Ball, 2007^[25] and other projects
• California College of the Arts, Threads Gala, 2007^[26]
• Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, engagement at AT&T Park, 2013^[27]

Weddings

• Danielle Steel and Tom Perkins, 1996
• Susie Russell and Mark Buell, 1996
• George P. Shultz and Charlotte Mailliard, 1997
• Arista Records, 25th Anniversary gala, 1999
• Lara Hedberg and Christopher Deam, 2001^[28]
• Christy Turlington and Edward Burns, 2003
• Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel, 2008^[1]

Other clients

Gatti has undertaken significant projects for San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, SFJAZZ, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco Art Institute, the San Francisco Zoo, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schwab, Peter Magowan, and Dede Wilsey.

References

External links

• Stanlee R. Gatti Designs