Hugo Boss: Organic Nature

Here's a sneak peak at the latest clubroom at the Hugo Boss headquarters in Manhattan that we produced and installed. In collaboration with Boss'  Visual Director and Jason Wu, Geoff helped design a minimal and crisp monochromatic space using birch trees against black mirror backdrops, underlit plexi platforms, large angular built-in glass terrariums that look like they were part of the original design of the space, with a polished cement floor. The clubroom, according to Hugo Boss, was in part inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's idea of "Organic Nature"; a symbiotic relationship between architecture and the natural world. It's also the perfect backdrop to highlight the colorful fashions of Boss' current collaboration with American designer Jason Wu. Photos by Richard Cadan.

Throwback: Less is More, profiling Skin care products

Elizabeth Arden's corporate headquarters in the 80's were in a building called Park Avenue Plaza. There were three large showcases in their lobby that Geoff designed and installed on a regular basis. Below are a couple examples of a more minimalist approach to showcasing various skin care products. 

 In the first shot, Geoff lined the background with blank newsprint plainly pinned to the wall. Across this plane of 'plainess', were pinned a repeating pattern of a portrait of Gary Cooper (cut out of Interview Magazines) and a hand written slogan in step with Father's Day.

In this variation of a minimalist stripey theme, Geoff created large painted canvases with tone-on-tone wide horizontal stripes and one bold bright pink stripe behind plaster cast lettering (a display standard of the day) to showcase the product.

Throwback: Imperial Fashion

Back when shoulder padded women's blazers were all the rage (i.e. the eighties), Beltrami's fashions were no exception. They had a giant and fancy store on 55th st. and 5th Ave and Geoff did the windows. For that year's 'travel collection' Geoff recreated a slice of China using 2 giant Foo dog statues and his signature hand painted background, in this case a lovely pagoda inspired fantasy in grisaille.

Throwback: Have a seat!

Back in the 80's, Geoff was hired by Life Magazine to create a fantasy set (in this case, a fancy french feeling) to showcase a collection of hand painted chairs. In this "behind-the-scenes" shot, you can see the seamless paper drop incorporated with an actual set piece of a recessed door. There is another seamless paper backdrop behind the door to further a sense of depth. Other than the chairs themselves (and the dog), all the rest is the magic of Geoff's whimsically hand painted designs.

Throwback: Drawing Rooms

Back the 80's there was a new thing in publishing called the Advertorial which was a multi page spread art directed like an editorial piece but paid for by the advertisers.  Photographs below were from one of these that was done for the New Yorker Magazine, showcasing both a leading luxury linens company and a fine carpet company.  Geoff was hired to create his signature environments using only set paper and gatorboard, cutting it out and decoratively painting it to create a complete set from a drafty tudor castle to a cozy victorian cottage,

Throwback: Street Flair

Somewhere in the early 90's for a Gay Pride charity event, a parking lot in the west village was turned into a carnival, filled with sponsors and other frivolities. Geoff was asked to create a cohesive and festive visual experience, and each booth was given a three panel painted backdrop. Geoff donated his services to design and paint each backdrop designed to reflect a sponsor or street fair game (like a duck pond). Ready, Set, Paint! (Deliver and Install...)

Throwback: Beltrami, Fashion as Art

In New York in the art-crazed 80's, even fashion was obsessed! At the time Geoff was doing all the windows for the Beltrami Fifth Avenue Store, which was between 55th and 56th Streets, and Geoff's take on a fashion-meets-art window design was to create an art gallery style "exhibition" of Beltrami's 'exhibitionistic' clothing with the mannequins (also in Beltrami outfits) as the art-goers. To underline the theme, the walls were covered in high quality artist's canvas, and the frames were museum quality from Eli Wilner.

Throwback: Your Door

Knock! Knock!
Who's There?
Salvatore Ferragamo!

Another wonderful example of Geoff's work. Geoff was hired by the creative team at Ferragamo back in one Fall, in the late 80's/early 90's to create a series of doors for their Fifth Avenue and 56th St. location. (currently the location of Armani Fifth Avenue). Each door was standard issue hollow core door within a freestanding frame. Geoff hand painted each one to represent a unique entrance. Ferragamo shoes were cleverly displayed on or around the welcome mat. The number 717 on some of the doors reflects the address of the store in which they were shown.

Throwback: Conversation Pieces

Back in the late 20th century, Brides Magazine was a highly regarded and creative  magazine with many special features on home decor and tabletop design.  Working closely with the creative director at the time, Geoff was asked to design the layout for this 5 page spread creating painted backdrops, and some of the furniture, in Geoff's own light-hearted and fanciful style.

The photographer offered to take a portrait of Geoff, at age 36, after the shoot was finished with the original backdrop for the painted sofa, which differed from the one that was published. This is one of very few photos showing Geoff with his decorative painting.

Throwback: Lane Crawford Shoe Catalog

Back in the summer of '02, Geoff was commissioned to art direct and illustrate a catalog of women's shoes for the Hong-Kong based luxury retailer Lane Crawford. Using cut paper, and india ink brushing, Geoff create a unique image backdrop inspired by the shoes themselves. Each image was a full page and the catalog was therefore all double-page spreads. The illustrations were made in pairs that complemented each other and reflect the fabrics, stitching or ornamentation of the shoes or evocative of their purpose, like sandals for a beach. The catalog turned out to be a big success! Literally....as some the of images were later made into billboards!