From Oriental Aesthetics to Viral Photo Op Landmark: Custom Fabrication of Chagee’s Large-Scale Event Props is Reshaping Offline Marketing

Recently, the “Crystal Ball Pop-up” project created by Chagee (Ba Wang Cha Ji) triggered a phenomenal trend of social media check-ins. As the core service provider for the custom fabrication of this large-scale offline event prop, we were deeply involved in the entire process—from precision factory manufacturing to safe on-site installation. Facing complex surrounding outdoor environments, extremely high visual effect requirements, and a tight schedule, this custom fabrication was not just a visual merchandising (VM) display creation, but an extreme test of manufacturing craftsmanship and project management capabilities.

1.Material Craftsmanship and Color Palette Restoration of Irregular Art Installations
The white deer, cloud motifs, and white flower sculptures inside the crystal ball are not simple geometric shapes, but complex irregular structures rich in oriental aesthetic charm. If conventional fiberglass spray painting were used, it would easily result in a cheap “plastic” feel, and it would be extremely difficult to replicate the “jade-like warm texture and subtle matte finish” specified in the original design.The project team adopted an advanced custom processing technology for large-scale fiberglass sculptures: “3D digital modeling + CNC carving + FRP molding and fine retouching.” The surface underwent dozens of manual water-sanding and joint-filling treatments by factory technicians, combined with a custom-blended faux-stone microbead paint finish. For color control, we created multiple large-area color samples in advance and compared them under varying light intensities. This perfectly achieved a 100% accurate color palette restoration from the project rendering to the actual on-site product, completely avoiding the common industry pitfall of “cheap-looking” materials.

2. Structural Safety Engineering of the Giant High-Transparency PC Sphere
The project was located by the riverbank, an area with strong winds and dense crowds. The external giant transparent cover (a high-transparency PC crystal ball) exceeded 5 meters in diameter. If standard acrylic were used, there would not only be a risk of splicing cracks but also a massive safety hazard during strong winds.We pushed the structural calculation capabilities of the high-transparency PC crystal ball manufacturer to the limit. Structural engineers conducted complex finite element mechanical simulation analyses, adding an invisible all-steel structural framework and a custom counterweighted anti-slip baseplate to resolve stress deformation issues. Simultaneously, the transparent cover utilized high-transparency PC (polycarbonate) material. While ensuring an exceptionally high light transmission rate, it perfectly addressed the safety pain points of collision resistance, wind resistance, and explosion proofing, ensuring absolute foolproof structural safety for brand offline marketing props in complex outdoor environments.

3. 1:1 Complete Pre-Assembly and Punctuality Guarantee
The project’s construction timeline and site usage conditions were extremely demanding, with a very short installation window and complex equipment involved. Discovering issues only after the components were shipped to the site would have led to irreversible delays.To ensure efficiency, we strictly executed a “1:1 complete factory pre-assembly” process. Before arriving on-site, the entire pop-up installation’s full assembly, water and electricity tests, and lighting node connections were already replicated in the factory. Through this proactive, integrated service of prop fabrication and on-site installation, all detailing and edge finishing were locked in advance. When finally shipped to the site, we achieved a “plug-and-play” installation. This ultimate control over complete pre-assembly and time efficiency minimized on-site installation time, resulting in a perfect delivery ahead of the event deadline.

4. “See the Light, Not the Wires” Detail Finishing and Lighting System Design
The project’s nightscape presented an incredibly strong visual impact (resembling dappled starlight and scattered gold dust in the air). The biggest design finishing challenge was cleverly blending the cool and warm light sources with the external transparent shell, the internal white sculptures, and the golden arch, all without any exposed wires visible.We adopted a “micro-hole hidden wiring” and “high-brightness waterproof LED light source” solution. All cables were threaded through acrylic conduits inside the sculptures and connected directly to the waterproof power junction box at the base. During lighting debugging, the team repeatedly adjusted the color temperature and projection angles, integrating customized metal grids and spotlight modules. The final result was an ultimate aesthetic finish of “seeing the light, not the wires,” making it a pure white landmark during the day and transforming it into a dreamy golden crystal palace at night.

5. Project Results & Real Data Testimonials
The stunning debut of Chagee’s “Crystal Ball Pop-up” not only set a record of over 50,000 daily offline visitors during its opening weekend—with queue times exceeding an hour—but also ignited a photo-op frenzy across global social networks. According to the latest tracking data, the project achieved phenomenal data multiplication on core overseas platforms: immersive short videos on TikTok powerfully broke through 12 million cumulative views; Instagram garnered over 850,000 interactive likes and a massive amount of UGC snapshots; the dedicated hashtag discussions on X (formerly Twitter) reached 300,000+; and full-length on-site exploration videos by multiple top YouTube vloggers approached 5 million total views.