Art of Love

Ideas & Inspiration

Art of Love

Soap Factory
With an industrial-chic look and expansive galleries, the Soap Factory in Minneapolis offers a “tabula rasa” of sorts for reception décor. Emma Berg and her fiancé Ben Olson chose to host their wedding celebration at the riverside warehouse because they wanted to immerse their guests in a creative environment that reflected who they are as a couple.

“The blank canvas of the gallery is what we enjoyed most,” says Berg. “Because the space includes white walls, exposed brick and concrete, every detail that we added felt like it glowed. Also, the size of the gallery and the separate rooms allowed us to keep the evening flowing from one room to the next, without worry for clean-up.”

Built in 1892, the Soap Factory is the oldest unconverted warehouse in Minneapolis. The 12,000-square-foot space is the third-largest contemporary art gallery in the Twin Cities, teeming with distressed elements.

The gallery itself specializes in showing younger, emerging artists, explains executive director Ben Heywood. When art isn’t covering the walls, the Soap Factory rents the facility for $150 per hour for wedding receptions and other events. “We tend to capture the attention of arts-minded people who are willing to work with this unusual space.” The warehouse has restroom facilities, but no heating or air conditioning, so it works best for fall weddings. The gallery in which Berg and Olson held their ceremony boasted simplicity: white wood folding chairs for the 250 guests and three Tord Boontje Midsummer lights adorning the front of the space. An additional room was decorated with white tablecloths, piles of white lights in the corners, and square vases with single fuchsia roses resting in pink water.

“Because the space is so raw, people not familiar with it were a bit apprehensive at first,” Berg says. “But once they arrived and saw how it really was a representation of Ben and I and that we wanted to share that with them, they couldn’t help but love it.”

518 2nd St. SE | Minneapolis
612.623.9176 | soapfactory.org