Three Weeks. 2,000 Experts. No Pressure. Observatory at the TPi Awards 25th Anniversary

There's a particular kind of creative pressure that comes when the audience is the industry itself. The TPi Magazine Awards gathers the very best of live entertainment and touring production under one roof — two thousand professionals who know exactly what good looks like, because they make it happen every day.

For the 25th anniversary edition, held at Evolution London in Battersea, Observatory was called in as the visual content partner with just three weeks of pre-production time. The previous content partner had stepped back at short notice, and the show needed a team that could hit the ground running without sacrificing creative ambition.

"Taking on the room of experts and giving them an experience of wonder and marvel is never easy. Add to that a content partner change just three weeks out and some may have called it impossible… My first instinct was to call the team at Observatory. Their level of creativity, problem solving and communication is second to none, and we are so grateful to call them not just a great supplier, but also friends. And have you ever worked with Ben Sheppee? He's superrrr zen." — Fran Begaj, TPi Magazine Awards

Being described as calm under pressure is one of the highest compliments you can receive in this industry.

A 25-Year Celebration, a 2001 Rewind

The creative brief for the anniversary was shaped around a 2001 rewind concept — a high-energy celebration of the era that defined so much of what the live events industry became. Observatory built the full suite of stage content: animated looks, category transitions, branded moments, and intro sequences that carried the narrative of the evening from open to close.

This was our fourth consecutive year creating content for the TPi Awards — a relationship that reflects the trust built between Observatory and the TPi team through years of close collaboration. You can see a behind-the-scenes account of our 2024 involvement in this TPi Magazine feature (March 2024).

Nominated at the Same Show We Designed

Observatory was not only delivering the visual content for the 25th anniversary — we were simultaneously nominated for Best Visual Content Creator at the same ceremony. It's an unusual position: to be up for an award at an event whose visuals you've designed. The whole Observatory team attended: Ben Sheppee, Simon Harris, Hill Cheung, Hyeyeon Yoo, Pippa Halliday and Aura Popa.

What Projection Mapping Brought to the Stage

The 2024 edition introduced projection mapping to the main stage — a development that emerged organically from the creative process rather than being planned from the outset. "Bringing mapping to the main stage was an exciting endeavour that naturally unfolded," Simon Harris noted. "Initially, we didn't set out with the specific intention of implementing projection mapping; however, it organically emerged as the most suitable solution for enriching the visual narrative."

Eight Epson PU2220B 20,000lm laser projectors were double-stacked to map onto the stage's extruded surfaces, with ATOMIC Design providing the scenic white cube elements that became the projection canvas. That work laid the foundation for the even more ambitious 25th anniversary production.

Source: TPi Magazine — TPi Awards 2025 Highlights and TPi Magazine — Behind the Scenes at the TPi Awards 2024.