Best of 2025: Brand Activations
Highlighting the most memorable calligraphy events of 2025
As 2025 wraps up, I love taking the time to reflect on the brand activation and events for my live calligraphy, engraving, or bottle painting services. These events always provide such an elevated experience for guests, leaving them in awe with their personalized gift. Being based in Los Angeles does come with plenty of wonderful and amazing event opportunities. I rounded out some of my favorites from 2025.
That’s hot and so pink: Paris Hilton’s Iconic Fragrance Launch
If it is for Paris Hilton, it will be on my top favorites list! Thanks to the wonderful Rosie of Wander Crafter, I got to be part of her artist team to engrave for Paris Hilton’s fragrance Iconic’s Launch Party. The event took place on the rooftop of the Waldorf Astoria, Beverly Hills. The open space was filled with pink roses, a cotton candy station, posters of Paris’s iconic magazine covers, and a pink backdrop for photos.
While dressed in all pink, the artist team and I engraved fragrance bottles for the vip guests. As expected, it was such a hit and everyone was ecstatic to get their own hand engraved Iconic fragrance bottle. Some of the best pieces I engraved said:
✨ “Nicky” (yes for that Nicky Hilton)
✨ “Luv u Mom”
✨ “Brutal”
✨ And of course “Sliving”
The event ended with a speech from the Sliving Queen herself: Paris Hilton. High school me would never believe that I would get the chance to work with Paris multiple times.
A Year in the Making: Rare Event at Sephora
The Sephora in store event with Rare will always be dear to me as it proved that my grit and consistency helped bring this into fruition. I had met the Rare brand rep through another Sephora event and we had been chatting for almost a year: trying to figure out if we can get an event in the books, getting the budget approved, proving that the event will be successful. From a business standpoint, this event really taught me the importance of building relationships and nurturing them—and it does make it easy when the brand rep is fabulous to work with!
For this Rare event, we personalized the make up products and fragrance with bottle painting and/or engraving. And wow, was it a hit! Guests loved watching their Rare Beauty products be quickly painted and having their name engraved.
After the event, I was shocked by how well my TikTok recap performed! The comments speak for themselves: check out the TikTok here.
Making a Return: Rare Impact Fund benefit
Rare beauty and anything Selena Gomez has always been a dream client of mine. So when I was asked to engrave for the Rare Impact Fund benefit for the second time, it was an absolute pinch me moment. I literally squealed when I opened that email.
The RIFB is an annual gala that raises funds to provide mental health services for youths around the world. It is always wonderful to work with someone I admire but to also add a cause that I wholeheartedly support, that’s like a double rainbow moment.
The event was in Hollywood, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Guests were welcomed into the outdoor space with a yellow step and repeat red carpet, followed by an amazing candy bar from Sockit bit. The activation that really caught my attention—aside from my own engraving station—was the poem table! They had writers who wrote hakus and guests got to pick the topics.
Once inside the space, my team and I were stationed at a chrome gold table, where we engraved Rare Beauty’s newest product: Rare Eau de Parfum. Guests watched as we quickly engraved their names in about a minute. The activation was so successful that we ran out of product! Manifesting to return for a third year and I think by then, it means Selena and I are besties right?
More Pretzels to Celebrate Nobody Wants This’s Block Party
Whenever the opportunity comes along to work with a team of engravers, I’m always on board. But when it is a team of 10, I’m screaming, “Fuck YES!!!!”
Netflix hosted a block party for the launch of Nobody Wants This season 2 and the engraving artists, organized by Created by Queena, were brought on to personalize gold bar necklaces for attendees—if you’re caught up on the series, this gift will make a lot more sense. The outdoor space had a ton of activities for guests: our necklace engraving personalization, a tote bag station, and a greetings cards station. And to add to the fun, they included details from the series such as the tree, pretzels, and a sign for the Matzah Ballers. We were placed in front of The Tree—again, if you’re caught up, you’ll know what I’m referring to—and guests lined up to have their necklace engraved. Some of the fun engravings were:
✨ “Fuck off!”
✨ “Oh Vey”
The event was extremely fast paced and our lines felt never ending—the event coordinators even had to close the line a few times to make sure the event didn’t go past the end time. Some guests loved their pieces so much that they got in line a second time!
Working this event with such a huge engraving team was so delightful and memorable.
Tirtir x V
Another event that had to make this list is for Tirtir. It was a team event, organized by Hannah Choi Calligraphy, and we engraved the foundations for guests. The event, held during an unexpected rain night in Los Angeles, was part of Tirtir’s collaboration with BTS’s V, which was wild because I did not process that the huge model image we sat in front of was a BTS member and one who would make an appearance that night!
The indoor space was decorated with red florals and in Tirtir’s signature red color from the floors to all of the fixtures and decor. The engraving station was set up next to the Red Cushion display room, where guests were guided to visit first to discover their color match. Once they had their color selected, they moved on to the engraving station to personalize their cushion foundation. The silver engraving against the red compact was stunning! The evening went quickly with a constant flow of guests lining up to personalize their new foundation.
The guests were then guided over to the next booth to collect the rest of their complimentary make-up items that were packaged in an adorable red round-shaped handbag.
Double Hiltons?! Kathy Hilton’s Pajama Party
If you were to tell me that I would somehow see the Hiltons three times over a span of a year, I would never believe you and then ask, “How did that happen?!” Turns out luck and friendship was once again on my side. Thanks to Calligraphy Nerd, an artist that I have admired for years and one of the first accounts I discovered on Instagram, brought me onto her engraving team for Kathy Hilton’s infamous pajama party! Our calligraphy engraving activation was with Laura Geller and we personalized their retractable red kabuki brushes for Kathy’s wonderful friends.
Once guests arrived, they were welcomed into Kathy’s home with her stunning Christmas tree and gifted their outfit for the night: a set of toile blue or pink carousel pajamas. When they were ready, guests began heading down to the gifting party. Some of the amazing gifts that the guests received were a personalized Laura Geller make up brush engraved by yours truly, a colorful mahjong set, a mini Labubu, a Hulken bag and patches, an enormous holiday scented candle, a skincare set from Elemis, and the sweetest treat of all: a caramel dipped apple.
This year was my second time being part of one of Kathy Hilton’s holiday parties, and as expected, the guests were so lively, fun, and delightful to be around. 10/10 recommend and would love to do it again!
Honorable Mention: Good Morning Lululemon
This event was the most challenging: it forced me to wake up extremely early—just kidding, but not really. I’m not at all a morning person but when Lululemon asked me to engrave tumblers for their VIP members event starting at 8am, I had to say, “Yes! I would love to!”
Upon arriving at Century City mall, I made my walk over to Lululemon and passed the Santa’s photo op display, which was lined with lit up Christmas trees and festive holiday decor. It was such an experience to walk through the outdoor mall and get the chance to really admire the holiday decorations without the crowd and loud noises.
Dressed in an all black Lululemon outfit, I quickly set up my station and was ready for the first guests, who got in line around 7:30am! Once the shoppers made their way in, I began engraving their names. Lululemon opted to have the lettering style in block lettering, which is a similar look to a sans serif all caps. The event was only 2 hours long and it went by so quickly! The team was so lovely to work with and really made the early morning call worth it.
These events ranged from celebrities to in store activations and every single one provided guests with a memorable and elevated experience. And that’s the thing with calligraphy activations, I provide a service but create memorable experiences. These events are not only a chance to create brand recognition, but to also make connections with guests and hear their stories. People love to share stories and I’m there to make art and allow them to tell me a little about themselves—if they choose to share.
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Check out the full blog: 2024’s best brand activations
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