“Instagram rooms” as they are called, are more and more common nowadays. With the rise of social media and “influencers” it’s not much of a shock. The real surprising thing is that Refinery 29 has been doing their’s since 2015. So you could say they were ahead of their time. I’ve never been to an event like this, so when I was invited to the grand opening, I couldn’t say no. I want to break down my experience, honest thoughts, and if it’s worth the money you’d be shelling out for this.
In General
Honestly, I didn’t quite know to expect with this event. The website doesn’t really have a clear definition for a pleb like me. Maybe you can skip this entire post if you’re more hip, so i’ll just put an exert from the About page here:
The makers behind Refinery29 have collaborated with visionaries and brands in the fields of art, activism, style, and technology to bring you 29 experiences under one roof that tap into the conversations of today and our hopes for tomorrow. Through multi-sensory installations, performances, and workshops, we present you with a new way to connect with creativity, culture, and community.
I am aware of Refinery29 as a brand and media outlet, so I was curious how the brand behind the event would shine through.
Entering the event, it’s essentially a big warehouse with different installations and rooms that you can interact with. They are a couple of brand partners specific to Toronto’s event such as Covergirl, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, and Stella Artois who provided food and drink as well.
I went with my friend Maria from Pink Petals and we followed (mostly) the suggested route of clockwise. There is no one really telling you which room you should go to in what order, and the space is free to move around. I don’t know if this was just because I was at the “VIP” launch but I personally felt a bit out of place. There were some very fancy and funky people there. I feel like the 30th room for me was people watching!
Some rooms were open just for you to come right in (like A Long Line of Queendom installation above), but others were actual closed experiences. There were a couple of people working the event in 29 tees helping to explain the installation, but I would think that they were also there to control lines. I believe you buy a ticket for a specific time and not sure how busy the lines will actually be. Maria and I didn’t have to wait for any installation really which was nice.
I definitely think that Refinery29 as a brand really shone through. Many of the installations were based on feminist, millennial vibes. Many of them had a focus on the empowerment of women, their activities and their lifestyles which I am totally down for.
Brand Stations
Some brands did the experience better than others. The pics above are from the Shoppers Drug Mart activation. Their’s was purely for the photos. It was definitely a cute concept with the ‘Shop Class’ look, but I found the room a bit small.
Covergirl’s was similar to Shoppers with more so just a room. A super fun room with glitter and good photo ops, but again I found it a bit tight.
Van der Pop’s booth was interesting as it was actually a joint rolling demonstration. I personally am not interested in cannabis, but Maria did it and it was super interesting (not real pot, they used cat nip!). The booth also focused on female empowerment related to sex and pleasure as well which was super interesting. I have never heard of Van der Pop, and probably personally wouldn’t be a consumer of any of their products, but I liked the interactivity of their booth.
I also have a few pics of the Dairy Farmers installation below. I never got any pics of the Reebok room, but it was a super cute ’80s exercise class (that you could actually participate in! Awkward, but cute)
Photos
In general, I would say the photos are okay. I didn’t bring my DSLR (no way I would be able to lug that around with me) so all of these were shot on my Pixel 3. In general I feel my camera is pretty decent on my phone, but had a tough time in some places to get the lighting right. I didn’t edit any of these photos in this post (other than cropping) so you could see what they turned out like. At the event I was complaining about how the photos looked, but now seeing them on my computer they turned out okay.
Food
There are a couple of food locations throughout. The biggest one is the Stella Artois activation. The bar is one of the biggest features, but it has three little areas at the back to get food. The first one was macarons in savoury flavours. Maria tried two, I tried one (they had three available in total, we each got a different one). We were not a fan. It was a very strange experience to have a savoury macaron, and I was just not feeling it one bit.
The next area was a vending machine style food dispenser. We had these little punch cards that you put in the slot of the item that you want, and then it gets delivered through the slot at the front. Cute, again, but food wasn’t the greatest. I got the creme brulee and it was okay, but it wasn’t amazing. It’s an interesting station, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the actual food.
The last area was a drive in style where you walk up to a window to tell them your order. By this point I wasn’t hungry at all (we had eaten before hand) so I didn’t actually get anything. Maria got something called Piggy Fries, which sounds good in concept, but I thought they tasted like semi fancy hot rods. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was surprised they were served cold.
In general the food was a bit of a bust for me. I’m not a huge foodie though, and the creativity was definitely noted.
Overall Thoughts
In general, it was a fun night out for sure, I enjoyed walking around the place with Maria to experience the rooms together. I would say if you don’t have a blog or an instagram where you regularly create this type of content, the price might be a bit steep for what you get.
If you’re looking for an interesting night (or day) out to try something new though, I think it might be worth it just for this. You should come in eyes wide open though that mostly what you’re paying for is the sets to get good Instagrams.
Thanks for reading! Hope this was helpful for anyone going to attend! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments below!
29 Rooms Toronto Expand Your Reality goes until October 6th. You can find out more about the event and purchase tickets through their website here.
*Gifted experience including entrance ticket and food