Pendulum Creative

For the Flowasis, we designed and fabricated a fully custom traveling lounge built to deploy at festivals and deliver a high-impact brand experience from the ground up. The structure starts with a 20-foot shipping container. We then create an 18’ foot opening to act as a fold-out deck. A winch-and-aircraft-cable system routes through the ceiling framing to operate the deck — making it easy to secure for transport and open in minutes on site.

Interior highlights:

• A 9’ horseshoe bar with LED channels routed directly into the plywood and bending board construction with the winch system housed within the base

• A back wall of perforated metal layered with contoured wave panels, each carrying its own LED channel

• Two fully fabricated interior display walls, each built in seven layers including CNC-cut plywood ribs, milk plexi diffusers, and integrated monitor and speaker openings

• A curated headphone experience with playlists designed around the Rythm THC beverage line

Every system in this build was designed to travel, set up fast, while still feeling considered.

For , we designed and fabricated the Flowasis — a fully custom 20-foot shipping container transformed into a mesmerizing festival lounge.

The space centers on a half-horseshoe bar with a CNC-cut Rythm logo set into the back wall, surrounded by programmable RGBW LED channels and a perforated metal wave wall that moves light through the room in a way that’s hard to pin down.

Custom millwork throughout, two fully built-out feature walls with integrated speakers, monitors, and display for the Rythm beverage line, and a rooftop pergola accessible by staircase for guests who wanted to take it all in from above. The headphone experience that featured playlists curated specifically around the Rythm beverages was the final layer, with every decision in the space made to feel like the brand, not just represent it.

This summer, Southwest Airlines is showing up for every Cubs’ Family Sunday at Gallagher Way — meaning they needed a branded space built for the long game.

Working alongside , we translated their vision into technical drawings and fabricated the full environment. Highlights include a giveaway service bar featuring dimensional letters and butcher block counter, merch displays, a custom speed pitch game, a background wall nodding to Wrigley’s iconic ivy, and more.

Designed and engineered to show up for 14 games, our team prioritized durability and modularity to ensure this pop-up is ready to serve fans all season.

In partnership with , we fabricated and installed key elements across the New York City and Chicago Harry Styles pop-up stores — part of a global activation celebrating Styles’s fourth studio album.

The scope included a 92” interactive clock built from painted MDF with a Sintra edge profile, featuring embedded magnets at each hour position and a spinning collet so the hands can be freely repositioned by visitors.

A nearly 8-foot dimensional sculpture — foam and plywood construction wrapped in vinyl — brought the album artwork and name into three dimensions. Custom merch displays were built from 3/4” Baltic birch, with one unit incorporating CNC-routed channels to house funhouse mirrors on the back side.

Wall flats were framed, braced, and wrapped in large-format graphic prints throughout both spaces, with additional elements including dimensional lettering, large Sintra photo prints, and contour vinyl applied to the exterior. Technical drawings, fabrication, and installation were all handled in-house.

We recently partnered with to design, fabricate, and install a brand experience for and at Dreamforce 2025 in San Francisco. In the spirit of the conference, the activation was a blend of technology, craft, and experience, featuring interactive walls, touchscreen monitors for live demos, and dynamic LED lighting. Complemented with greenery throughout, the activation was marked by aerial fabric displays and high pile carpet to ground attendees in the experience. Modular branded carts helped to extend the activation beyond the main footprint.

We also managed the full production scope—including fabrication, logistics, and on-site installation—to ensure a seamless delivery aligned with Meta and WhatsApp’s creative vision.

Another Chicago Marathon in the books. This year, we teamed up with and to transform a blank retail space into a popup location for the annual race. Our team was responsible for translating Mirror’s creative vision with care and efficiency, acting as their full-service production, fabrication, and installation partner.

Working within an existing space can pose unique challenges, but our teams’ shared experience enabled us to reimagine existing surfaces and structures to suit specific brand and audience needs.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Custom built checkout counter and experience touchpoints CNC routing and special finish signage
• Surface vinyl applique to transform walls and convey brand voice through color, photography, and texture
• Recladding and finishing of existing displays to showcase New Balance’s running shoe portfolio
• Specially sourced materials like perforated metals to give the modern-industrial feel that is uniquely Chicago
• Site checks, preparation, and logistics, in addition to the onsite installation of all assets

We’re back with part two of our founder interviews where we asked them to describe innovation in their careers and their outlooks on the future of the experiential industry.

Luke has been in the industry for a while. After getting his first taste for live events through concerts and festivals in his adolescence, he got his first industry experience by working in an artist hospitality role for Summer Camp Music Festival. Determined he’d found his career path, he would continue to work on various festivals and standalone shows throughout college. Eventually moving to Chicago he freelanced for event companies, experiential marketing agencies, and Red Bull prior to Pendulum.
Some of Luke’s favorite traits of the industry are its fast pace, the challenges and problem-solving, and the relationships you build by working in such a unique environment. He insists that innovation is vital, as is the need to stay humble and curious.

“One element that is key is constantly learning new techniques, and keeping informed on changes in our industry. The second, equally important piece is not getting stuck in your ways, or thinking that you have all of the answers. By approaching everything from a learning perspective you keep yourself open to new ideas that allow you to deliver innovative experiences.”

Luke is confident the events industry will only continue to grow with the design to replace online interactions with lived experiences. He also expects it to change, stating that a desire for more curated events and community-centric events is set to shake up the monoculture that has been the state of the industry for decades. Delivering our best work and staying ahead demands that we truly invest in the vision of every project by embracing creativity and collaboration, and committing to the dreams of our clients and the lives impacted by them.

We recently sat down with our founders to ask what innovation means to them, how they stay inspired, and what traits they believe make Pendulum a unique partner in the industry.

After getting his start as an audio engineer in high school, Taylor cut his teeth as a production manager at a variety of major venues around Chicago. After a particularly impactful show that involved a collaboration between Mountain Dew and Rae Sremmurd (Swae Lee and Slim Jxmii’s rap duo), he realized how much potential there was in experiential marketing. Beyond stage performances and one-sided artist interactions, Taylor decided then that immersion was more powerful than spectating. Humans gravitate toward experiences and opportunities that allow them to connect and foster relationships–this is the seed that started Pendulum.

Now going on 7 years, Taylor still gets excited about every project that comes our way. He believes each is an opportunity to expand our skills and knowledge.

“For me, innovation is all about constant improvement. I’m always asking myself, ‘How can this project exceed expectations?’ ‘How can we better serve our clients?’ ‘How can we push the boundaries of design and fabrication in the pursuit of something new?’”

Something that makes Pendulum unique is our start-to-finish mentality. We don’t wait until it’s time to build to get involved; we immerse ourselves in each project, build trust with our clients, and prioritize collaboration in order to produce the best possible experiences.

For a deeper look into Taylor’s constant pursuit for creativity, check out his recent interview for ’s Industry Innovators 2025 at the link in our bio.