Vossen Forged / Events / Vossen x Work Series

The Vossen Private Gallery at SEMA 2016

Posted on November 28, 2016 by

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There was only one thing on our minds after SEMA 2015: How do we top the Vossen Sky Lounge for next year?! Calls, texts, and emails were flooding our inboxes by the day, and the pressure was on to create something new for SEMA 2016. We wanted to get back to the show floor but maintain the intimacy that the Sky Lounge was praised for, all while celebrating our tenth year as a premier wheel manufacturer, and after many nights of brainstorming, the Vossen Private Gallery was born.

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It’s easy to fall into a rut when designing a booth for a tradeshow like SEMA, especially after so many years and so many shows around the world. After throwing around countless concepts we decided on two things: the booth will be completely enclosed and will not contain a car. With dozens of new wheel models and prototypes making their way through the Vossen Forged factory we knew we would need to maximize wall space, filling nearly every square foot with Engineered Art.

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The main influence in the design of the Vossen Private Gallery was interactive experience. We wanted our guests to be engaged from the moment the door opened with a strategically-lit hallway, showcasing a brief year-by-year history of Vossen and its milestones. After rounding the last corner of the hall the room opened up into a 360° view of wheels. Guests were encouraged to sign their names throughout the hallway, shouting out their companies and/clubs and putting their mark on Vossen’s celebration of a Decade of Design.

Many months of development led to the creation of the Vossen3D Virtual Garage (vossen3D.com), our new interactive 3D car and wheel configurator. With SEMA around the corner, we wanted to make Vossen3D the main attraction—inside and outside the booth. Five touch screens lined the outside of the booth while others were displayed on tables around the full service bar.

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Nearly 100 wheels outlined the Private Gallery, with cocktails on deck and Vossen3D showcasing every combination of cars and wheels one could imagine, and before we knew it, SEMA 2016 had come to an end. Thanks again to all of our guests that came out to celebrate a Decade of Design with us, see you next year!


About the Author

Sam Dobbins

Many years as an automotive photojournalist, with work published in countless worldwide publications, have led to Sam's role as Vossen's Creative Director, traveling around the world to document the culture of Vossen and its supporters.