Christmas Fireworks @ Wilderstein Historic Site

 To celebrate the holidays at the Wilderstein Historic Site, Geoff was again invited to decorate the fabled music room within the grand estate. inspired by the room's circular motifs, This year's display is more of study in circular motion with lighted 'christmas trees' spiraling, circling up to the heavens, creating a wonderful warm glow. The white and gold music room is filled with all original hand carved woodwork, a beautiful plaster ceiling with a handpainted mural, all installed in 1889. It also features a suite of furniture designed for the room by famous new york Cabinet makers Pottier and Stymus.

The Poughkeepsie Journal published a story on Christmas Day about holiday decorations in various historic mansions along the Hudson river. A photograph of Geoff's installation was featured and as a result, the next day during the three hours Wilderstein was open for tours, over 160 visitors came to bask in the warm glow, setting a new one-day record of visitors to Wilderstein during the Christmas season. Glad tidings indeed!

photo credit: The Poughkeepsie Journal

See more of Geoff's previous Wilderstein installations by clicking on

The Ghost of Wilderstein Christmas Past 

A 'rivet'ing Christmas!

For holiday 2012, the inspiration for the John Varvatos windows was "'your own front door' like the line from the song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." This window had 2 iconic NYC front doors and 2 iconic 'country' front doors, all with a very 19th century industrial twist, made to look like everything in the John Varvatos holiday world was covered in sheet metal, held together by rivets. Even the wreaths and the stack of firewood by the door were painted to look like metal. Working with the visual team at Varvatos, incorporating Geoff's knowledge and love of historic architecture, the GHS team produced all the backdrops using layers of MDF in intricate patterns to create the feeling of carved wood, stone and brick and scenic painted to look like antique steel. The pieces were made as flats that could be shipped in small er pieces and assembled on site to locations such as  here in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and 2 locations in Los Angeles. 

Luxury Unwrapped

To help with Sunglass Hut's luxurious holiday presentation of gift-worthy sunglasse, we produced hundreds of hand-wrapped gold and red gift boxes, even one that magically opened and closed to reveal a particularly special pair of sunglasses. In addition we made giant hanging letters, lightboxes with graphics and other luxurious surfaces that all come together, or shall we say are 'all wrapped up' and ready for a bright holiday experience. All the photos featured in this post are from the 5th Ave. Sunglass Hut flagship. Similar installations were produced and shipped to 10 other Sunglass Huts across the nation.

  Above and below are photos of the magic box, which was engineered with a motor to continuously open and close the top lid to reveal the surprise within. In addition, the box itself featured an underlit milk plexi platform to highlight the merchandise being featured

Christmas at Tiffany's: Behind the Scenes

Tiffany's Holiday Decorations Timelapse from Geoff Howell Studio .



This post takes us through a behind the scenes look at the installation of the holiday decor at Tiffany's on the main floor, the most involved of all floors we did. The video above is a time lapse of the giant Christmas trees going up on the main floor. The images walk through a process of unwrapping and putting together pieces made back at the studio, setting up scaffolds, and putting up the giant wreaths and the step by step assembling of the six 17ft Christmas trees. They also offer a glimpse  of Geoff and his dedicated and talented crew at work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas at Wilderstein

It is approaching Christmas once again at Wilderstein and in keeping with the recent snowfalls in the Northeast, Geoff created a giant snow-filled panorama that references the natural surrounding and landscapes of Wilderstein. Sitting atop the mountain of snow covered 19th century ballroom furniture, sits a small replica of the Wilderstein mansion. An evergreen forest cascades down, much like an exagerated bird's eye view of the historic site. Look carefully and you'll see a few miniature people climbing the hill and enjoying the view, or perhaps a decorated christmas tree and its miniature admirers as well as Santa with his reindeer launching off the chair!

 

Click Here to see Geoff's Previous Wilderstein Installations

and

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmas at Tiffanys: The Making of....

What follows is a series of photographs taken by Geoff during the installation of the monumental christmas trees and wrought iron arches on the main floor as well as the crystal staircase on the third floor. Overall, the installation took ten nights and Geoff's team of riggers, carpenters, movers, shakers, hangers and trimmers.