The Alise Hotel A Stay Pineapple hotel in Chicago recently celebrated its opening with a 10 foot crochet pineapple unveiling. We were there for the big reveal, and we brought you some more information about it directly from the team involved. What is the Big Pineapple? The Big Pineapple is ten-foot crochet sculpture of the Staypineapple logo that will be on display at The Alise Chicago for a few weeks and then will embark on a tour of Staypineapple properties throughout the year. To track where the Big Pineapple is, follow Facebook.com/Staypineapple. Staypineapple has hotels in Seattle (4), Portland, San Francisco, San Diego and now Chicago! Why does a giant crochet sculpture make sense to mark the opening of a new hotel? It was a natural fit with both Staypineapple and Gina Gallina breaking the mold of their respective art forms of hospitality and crochet. Staypineapple is redefining hospitality and the standard hotel stay by combining time-tested amenities with artistic aesthetics and the joy of the unexpected. Gina's creations are redefining how people think about and visualize the art of crochet. The opening celebration of the Alise Chicago coincided with National Crochet Month and was a natural hook to invite people to get to know the Staypineapple brand and enjoy the new Alise Chicago hotel first hand. How much did it cost to make the BIG Pineapple? How much did Pineapple pay for the sculpture? We don't crochet and tell but I can tell you It took more than 3 months of work to create the sculpture. The most affordable part if the project was the yarn. We used 40 skeins (about 8 miles) of Red Heart Super Saver yarn, which retails for about $3.29 a skein ($132.00 total). In addition, we had to design and build a custom base, inflatable plastic bladder and supports for leaves. How did Pineapple find Gina? Pineapple commissions unique art work for their hotels across the country. Another artist working with Staypineapple made the introduction. Check #StaypineappleArt for past and future collaborations with artists! Why is Red Heart involved? Red Heart has been Gina's favorite brand of yarn for many years. As an artist, she loves almost any yarn or fiber, but her go to is Red Heart. Red Heart allows her to work in very large scale because it is affordable. It allows her to tackle a variety of projects because of the huge color choices and it durability.
