Danielle Nay is the founder of Transformers, a Dubai-based event supplier that provides bespoke costume characters that make Lady Gaga look understated, as well as the latest technological gadgets and live acts. The Briton launched the venture in 2012, three years after moving to Dubai from London, where she had previously been the public relations director of Bob Geldof’s production company, Ten Alps. Ms Nay, 47, claims to be a good friend of Sir Bob’s, pulling off his 50th and 60th birthday bashes and the wedding of his late daughter Peaches – in which the couple’s puppy acted as the ring bearer.
6.30am
I get up and clear my inbox of emergency emails. I have my iPhone for phone calls and apps and my BlackBerry for email, and I’m constantly emptying inboxes. Events requests are like buses – some days there are none, then seven come along at once. I have breakfast with my husband, who I moved to Dubai to be with when we got tired of the long-distance relationship. I eat eggs for breakfast mainly, but if I’m on a fad diet it might be juice.
7.30am
I walk our dog, Freeway, who is I believe is the only löwchen living in the UAE. They were bred as footwarmers for 17th-century aristocrats, so have it hardwired into their brains to sit on your feet. Our Filipina housekeeper Joan walks him if I’m too busy. She’s a fabulous chef – I can throw The Ivy’s cookbook at her and she gets on with it.
8.30am
I go to my studio and office in Al Quoz for a catch-up with my team of six. I plan the resources, figure out who’s going to be working on which project, and assure that they know where to be and when. I get a phone call requesting our laser-cut table-centre pieces for a local wedding. We also arrange 24-carat gold leaf and silver body art for the henna party.
9.30am
I’m on site at the JW Marriott Marquis with my crew, who are setting up what’s needed for an event – in this case, a digital graffiti wall. Everybody loves technology and wants the next big thing, which is always terribly expensive. This is actually old technology, but reapplied in an interesting way. We recently provided the wall for Roche, the global pharmaceuticals company. While their president was giving a speech to his senior marketeers, an artist was filmed spray-painting the subject matter in his speech. Everyone could see him on a screen but assumed it was pre-filmed. At the end, the president revealed the artist and added his signature to the painting.
10.30am
I have a client meeting in a hotel coffee shop. In a typical meeting, a client says: “We’ve got this event, it’s a business audience, here’s what they’re trying to communicate. What can we have?” I throw ideas at them until something sticks. I can’t draw, but I see something in my head and have a designer who reads my mind and puts it down on paper. We go back to the client with a costing and sketch.
11.30am
I have a meeting in Abu Dhabi, where I always feel completely lost, so I take a driver and work in the car en route. We’ve got a booking for a troupe of synchronised swimmers for a pool party at Yas Viceroy Hotel. I check the pool is deep enough for the swimmers and where they can get changed. We’re also supplying Formula One-themed hostesses and racing car simulators, so I check the simulators will fit in the lifts.
3pm
I meet our clients from Flash for lunch to discuss the family-orientated urban art project on Abu Dhabi’s Corniche beach that we’re doing for the Yasalam Festival. I get calls and emails throughout the day, asking for astronaut and deep-sea diver costumes, a harpist, six bagpipers and a London guard costume.
6pm
Back in the studio, I watch our costume characters being dressed and having their crazy hair and makeup done, before being taken in a minibus to the venue. Tonight, it’s The Dubai Mall. We fill their trays with candy and send them out to interact with customers. My favourite character is the human lantern.
7.30pm
I attend a gala dinner with an acoustic band we’ve brought over called the London Essentials, who get in among the crowd and create a great ambience. They’ve done parties for Richard Branson and his family. I don’t eat at these events because clients often forget to feed us, so there’s a bit of petrol station action for dinner. Sometimes we work through the night. We’re not allowed to go into a mall to set up an installation until it closes at 10, or midnight at weekends, and it has to be ready by 8am the next morning.
Midnight or later
Before bed I pack for a trip to Doha the next day to visit our clients at the Doha Film Institute. People ask me if I ever run out of ideas. But thinking up ideas is the easy bit. It’s figuring out how to get stuff made and how much it’s going to cost that’s tricky. When I show people what we do, their eyes always light up.
business@thenational.ae
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