Gabo Festival 2024 - Ceremony
Client:
Páramo Presenta / Fundación Gabo
Industry:
Cultural Events / Award Ceremony / Stage Design
Start:
End:
Duration:
2 months
Read time:
3 min
For the Premio Gabo Ceremony, I worked on the spatial and stage design for the award event recognizing some of the best writers, journalists, and storytellers in Latin America.
Unlike the festival version, this project needed a more sober and elegant tone. The goal was to keep the spirit of Gabo present, while creating a ceremony environment that felt formal, warm, and culturally meaningful.
Starting point
The challenge was to translate the Gabo identity into a more restrained event format. The space needed to feel institutional and respectful, but not cold.
It had to support speeches, award moments, photography, and audience attention, while maintaining a visual connection to literature, journalism, and Latin American storytelling.
Problem solving
The design approach focused on simplicity, hierarchy, and atmosphere. Instead of creating a highly playful festival system, the ceremony required a cleaner visual composition with controlled curves, warm materials, and a strong central stage presence.
The Gabo feeling was preserved through color, proportion, graphic language, and subtle spatial gestures, allowing the event to feel connected to the festival identity without losing its ceremonial character.
Implementation
The final proposal created a sober ceremony stage with a clear focal point for speakers, award delivery, and documentation. The design balanced cultural warmth with institutional clarity, making the space feel polished without becoming generic.
The stage was designed to support the rhythm of an award ceremony: arrivals, speeches, announcements, photos, and recognition moments.
Results
The project gave the Premio Gabo Ceremony a refined spatial identity: formal enough for an award event, but still connected to the warmth and cultural value of Gabo.
It shows how the same brand universe can adapt to different formats, from an open cultural festival to a more intimate and prestigious recognition ceremony.
