LG creates Café OLED in NYC’s Soho district

In the world of public relations and promotional marketing, you can find some unlikely bedfellows, so it goes without saying that what LG has proposed for its new pop-up café in New York’s Soho district might raise a few eyebrows. LG has forged an alliance with with the Pantone Color Institute to “celebrate the powerful presence of color”  from July 12th – 14th, and the idea is that the billion-plus colors of LG OLED TVs will be showcased at the location alongside colorful artisan pastries designed by cookbook scribe Amirah Kassem. You’ll also get a chance to sample tinted lattes, and not confuse your senses at all or suffer from synaesthesia by “seeing and tasting color.”

Pantone Color Institute is a self-proclaimed color intelligence organization and it has produced a Summer 2019 Fashion Color Trend Report, which predicts the top colors fashion designers will be incorporating into their clothing lines in the upcoming season. Café OLED will apparently highlight a couple of these new hues, which this year feature Pink Peacock (PANTONE 18-2045), Tangy Turmeric (PANTONE 15-1264), Aspen Gold (PANTONE 13-0850) and Pepper Stem (PANTONE 17-0542). The colors will be displayed around the café on LG panels, whose ability to produce a “perfect black” will, in turn, emphasize the richness of other colors in the palette. The “infinite” contrast and HDR capabilities of the TVs will be shown off with the help of digital art provided by illustrator David McLeod.

“At Café OLED, we want consumers to see extraordinary color like they’ve never seen before, and we want to show them on the ultimate canvas, LG OLED TVs,” said Michelle Fernandez, senior director of home entertainment brand marketing at LG Electronics USA. “LG OLED TVs deliver over a billion rich, accurate colors so partnering with the Pantone Color Institute, an organization that is dedicated to opening up the world to the power of color, is an absolutely perfect color match.”

“The Perfect Black on the LG OLED TV is the best conduit for displaying a range of colors, enhancing and emphasizing color’s richness and beauty, and highlighting the important contribution of color in storytelling,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president, Pantone Color Institute. “Color opens us to the world and when you have a pure black canvas like the LG OLED TV, we’re able to see a visually realistic image like we’ve never seen before.”

If you happen to be wandering round Manhattan this weekend, Café OLED runs from July 12th – 14th at 386 West Broadway (between Spring Street and Broome Street). You can read more about the event here or more about LG OLED TVs here.

Martin Dew

Martin, a seasoned journalist and AV expert, has written for several notable print magazines. He’s served in key roles at Lucasfilm’s THX Division, NEC’s digital cinema division, and has even consulted for DreamWorks. Despite his illustrious career, Martin remains rooted in his passion for cinema and acting, with notable appearances in several Spielberg films, Doctor Who, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. He currently resides in San Francisco.