hen Hisense International Co. Ltd. wanted to create a themed booth at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Qindao, China-headquartered manufacturer of televisions veered east while its Asian competitors headed west. Its rivals' exhibits at CES often look as though they have simply cloned a Best Buy, but Hisense wanted to differentiate itself with a booth befitting an emerging brand with a touch of Eastern flair.

Designed by EWI Worldwide of Livonia, MI, Hisense's exhibit drew its inspiration from the lotus, the traditional Chinese symbol for transcendental beauty and of awakened consciousness. Hisense hung an 18-foot-diameter, tensioned-fabric structure from a truss 14 feet high in the air that hovered over the 3,575-square-foot space, just as a lotus floats over a pond. Four gobos, also suspended from the truss, projected images of lotus flowers on the circular white structure, and saturated it in a tranquil Pacific blue.

Beneath the fabric cylinder, Hisense continued the lotus pond. Four additional truss-hung gobos, plus blue LED lights hidden inside two 14-by-9-foot fabric structures standing on the exhibit's main front corners, submerged the booth's white-matte, laminate walls and dove-gray carpet in the oceanic hue. The company arranged 46 LED televisions, ranging from 19 to 47 inches, around the booth, scattered like petals over a pond. Televisions placed in the booth's front left and right corners displayed a sun-bright image of the aquatic perennial, as did a cluster of the company's newest TVs grouped in the booth's center. Hisense attached several more TVs to the white exterior walls, whose ivory shade, reflecting the gobos and LEDs' azure light, gave the booth the look of a sun-dappled pool.

Using an ancient symbol from the natural world, Hisense's booth evoked its heritage and showed off its products in a simple but appealing style. Even in a show dominated by silicon and circuits, there's something to be said for flower power. e