It’s not a coincidence that a company that creates out-of-this-world events and dining experiences was born in the clouds.
“My wife and I started a hot air balloon company in 2013,” says Matt Cooley. “Cloth & Flame was born out of the luxury dinners that became part of the balloon ride experience, where we allowed people to share a meal and the experience with other people in a compelling place.”
Cloth & Flame takes experiential dining to a never-before-seen level. Launched in December of 2016 by Cooley and his wife and co-founder, Olivia Laux, Cloth & Flame hosts awe-inspiring dinners with astonishing views of nature. Some of Cloth & Flame’s most memorable meals have been at the base of the Grand Canyon, on a dock in Puget Sound, in the middle of Central Avenue in Downtown Phoenix, and at the base of the spectacular Superstition Mountains.
“When we started Cloth & Flame, we thought we were starting a wilderness dining company,” Cooley says. “What we ended up creating is a modular experiences company. We look at ourselves as a venue activation brand. We take spaces that otherwise wouldn’t be available to an event planner, for a wedding or for a corporate event and we make them available. We deliver one-of-a-kind experiences that take guests away from the cookie-cutter venues.”
Cloth & Flame hosts three main types of events:
Community dinners: Immersive and collaborative farm-to-table dinners in unexpected places, designed to foster community and conversations in a new way.
Weddings: Cloth & Flame does inclusive full-service outdoor weddings. The beauty of a location-centric wedding is that each space is decided on and designed around the couple’s ideas, rather than the designated areas of an established venue. “Nobody wants a paint-by-number for their wedding day,” Cooley says. “People love to create one-of-a-kind weddings and we are able to do that for them.”
Corporate and private events: Remarkable and deeply customizable retreats and dining events, tailored to bucket-list wishes that the client might have or playing off a corporate brand.
“The most logistically challenging event we’ve done was corporate lunch at the base of the Grand Canyon,” Cooley says. “We built a luxury restroom from scratch. We were not allowed to use glass or flames and it had to be a zero-waste event. We worked with the Hualapai Tribe for seven months to make it happen, but it was unreal. It was a stunning event.”
The ability to create those memorable moments helped Cloth & Flame quadruple the business Cooley and Laux’s balloon company had been doing in its first year — largely through word of mouth and social media. Some of the country’s most innovative companies — including Google and car companies — have taken notice and utilized Cloth & Flame to produce unforgettable events that both strengthen their brands and engage clients and employees.
“We create wherever you can imagine by acting as a venue, designer, and production company,” Cooley says. “We are experts at molding conversations into turn-key events in extraordinary spaces and creating events that those who attend will never forget.”
To learn more about Cloth & Flame, visit clothandflame.com.
