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.

Empire Paint of Mind

Recently Geoff was asked to rise to the 70th floor challenge of the Empire State Building and hand paint a series of 4  large decorative ovals in a style reminiscent of Wedgwood for  the launch of  Wedgwood's new luxury bedding collection, presented by Revman. The hand-painted designs are flat but are made to look like 3-D Bas reliefs using various shades of white and grey on Wedgwood's signature light blue background.

Here you can see our artisan Geoff putting the finishing touches on the Ivy leaves. While painting, we were treated to spectacular views of Manhattan on all sides! The view above is the building's famous silhouette in shadow facing the Northwest and the below faces Northeast toward the Upper East Side.

The crisp edges of Coach

Coach is preparing a new showroom in their immense manhattan headquarters and we were delighted to help them produce a new series of blocks, plinths, Parsons tables, stands and platforms in various shapes and sizes to showcase future merchandise. Risers were variously painted in matte and gloss finishes in various shades of grey. Other finishes include bronze mirror, wallpaper and white lacquer. GHS has been working with Coach since 1995 and it has been exciting to see them prosper and grow through the years.

Rootstein: Pool Party

Every year, Rootstein, maker of arguably the world's finest mannequins, redesigns their flagship North American showroom.  This year was inspired by vintage black and white photography taken poolside. All of the chrome railing, staircases to diving boards, platforms and "pool" were painstakingly produced and installed to create a seamless fantasy environment. Rootstein did an amazing job as always with costumes, make-up and hair to carry through the monochromatic theme. The video at the bottom shows a 360 view of the showroom and the great lighting effects!

So Cool to be Square

The latest incarnation of the Hugo Boss club room was inspired new sculptural elements in architecture and design. Collaborating with their in-house visual director, we created our interpretation of a cubist, pixellated environment. The photos above are of the entrance sculpture, 8feet high and made of light and dark cubes jutting out into space at various lengths. It gives a strong first impression to visitors and a  suggestion of what lies ahead...

Walking into you the lobby, you'll notice the black video screen surrounds which we produced to match the main reception desk.

Moving beyond the reception desk and into the clubroom which has been dramatically fitted with over 1,000 boxes hanging from the ceiling, many of them lit. We also built the mannequin platforms and risers, covered the walls with frosted acrylic mirror panels and produced the 40ft long frosted mirrored acrylic table running down the center of the  space, punctuated with bright light cubes. We also installed custom lighting for the mannequins.

At the opposite end of the clubroom is a large wall of video tiles, put together to create one large image. The video is art directed by Hugo Boss' visual director and relates to the cubist theme. 

Here you can see our custom kitchen lightboxes, fitted for this market with large industrial-sized louvers.

Branching off the clubroom are two showrooms with various areas dedicated to all the different brands. Large displays from a previous installation (See: I Go Where Hugo) were repurposed in their specific areas.

This shot shows many of the stainless steel racks that we produced, installed the HUGO signage panel and display units in the foreground.

For the new "Haberdashery" area we installed a custom black oak floor, selected new furniture and built  a cement wall with a fireplace and video monitor. We also built the shirt and tie fixtures and round table in the foreground.

The men's accessories are displayed on lacquered shelves surrounded by blond oak framed fixtures that we built.

I go where Hugo

This just in! Breaking news in New York, Hugo Boss dazzles its investors!! Word on the street is Geoff Howell Studio is behind their fabulous displays!

Seriously, Hugo Boss had a special meeting with investors to keep them updated on company directions. The clubroom in their NY offices was transformed with designs from their corporate headquarters into a large meeting room containing displays of their 7 major divisions. Each display consisted of angled risers, a large shard-like logo panel, placed in front of custom etched lucite panels fitted with electro-luminescence bands.

Note the custom sharply angled coat rack we made!

Pool Party!!

In the season of heavy coats and scarves, the Rootstein showroom in New York took a decidedly more tropical outlook this December. Evoking the mood of a black and white photograph, the entire monochromatic showroom is produced shades of grey, black and white. Reminiscent of high fashion photography from the 80's (with a nod back to the 30's), the mannequins, wearing genius costumes custom designed by the artists at Rootstein, frolic in a glamorous poolside environment created by the team at Geoff Howell Studio including diving boards, MC Escher-like stairs going up and down, in and out, all surrounded with gleaming chrome railing and ladders. Even the water is a black and white photographic image.

Here in the front window,  things heat up with palm trees, hammocks and skimpy bathing suits! For our part, we created the perfect white box in which the three silver palm trees, which we also produced, sway in the imaginary warm breeze.

On a particularly sad note the NY director of Rootstein for many years, Michael Steward, recently passed away after an all too short battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.