Throwback: The Paper World of Mrs. John L Strong

"This Mrs. Lives in a World of Paper" was the theme for a  Mrs. John L Strong window at their Madison Ave. flagship a few years ago. Creating a cardboard and craft paper environment, various objects were wrapped and created using paper including Mrs. Strong's  extravagant dress and lustrous hair.

Sunglass Hut: Hello Sunshine

Hello Sunshine!  Here's a look at a recent  'splashy' installation we did in Macy's on 34th for Sunglass Hut, celebrating the unbreakable connection between Sunglasses and Summer. Large clear spheres were retrofitted with stands and holders for the sunglasses and placed among custom made high-gloss beach balls. Custom dimensional hanging signage and large graphics round out the display.

Sunglass Hut: Aerospace

For Sunglass Hut's Ray Ban 'Moonwalk' window, we were asked to create a life-sized, floating astronaut jumping around a moon like surface with a large photo blow-up of the earth behind for thier flagship store on 5th Ave.  The astronaut's body was created by one of our own genius pattern-makers and a spacesuit was fitted over the sculpted form.  The astronaut was hung in the window from a motor to replicate a slight up and down, side to side floating motion. We also created a grouping of glowing moons to showcase the Sunglasses.

Tekserve - We Know Storage

For Tekserve's latest announcement touting their expertise in yet another important aspect of technology,  namely: storage. We were asked to help design and install this display of their 5 best storage options for professionals, amatuers and aesthetes alike. Each storage option is displayed upon an underlit plinth, each describing the distinct virtues of that option. Behind the plinths is a large frosted plexi sign boldy declaring WE KNOW STORAGE.

MAKE BIG SMALL! @ Tekserve

Tekserve wanted to make a big splash with a brand new small wonder! They were given the exclusive rights to launch the new MAC pro.  To 'make small big', the focus on the window was the giant orange sign, visible from across the street, using frosted plexi and vinyl lettering. The MAC pro is the star of the show lit with theatrical spotlights. A bright and shiny orange floor helps finish off the item and keeps with apple's 'reflective floors' motif.

For Tekserve's other smaller storefront window, we created a young film editor's studio using their state-of-the-art computers and fancy monitors and all the personal ephemera that would orbit the equipment; like used takeout containers, m&ms, old movie posters, and of special note, an actual Emmy, awarded to the new CEO of Tekserve for his previous work in television.  As a side note, the reason for the emphasis on the Village Voice cover is that 'The Social Network" movie was made using a similar Adobe set-up as that displayed in the window.

Armani Glam Rock

It's only apt that fashion blowups inspired by glam rockers would be framed in black 'undergound' velvet. We built the giant frames and carefully upholstered them in black velvet and trimmed them in blackened chrome.  Encased within the frame and in front of the large light box, we applied custom made plexi shelving 'grids' to display Armani's latest accessories.

Midnight in the garden of Versailles

The holidays bring their frosty touch to the gardens of Versailles, I mean, D Porthault...  Carefully clipped boxwood topiaries dusted with snow and glowing lights below a hand painted midnight sky create a wintry atmosphere around the cherub sculpture centerpiece bedecked in the latest of D. Porthault's luxurious linens.  The side windows  also carried the frosty theme.

The interior dining table featuring linens embroidered with silver and gold thread along with D Porthault's signature monogram candles.

Giorgio Armani: Black Velvet

For the summer window,  the Madison Ave Giorgio Armani boutique hired us to produce a series of large black velvet frames with blackened chrome trim holding a double image of the same photograph. One image was printed on acrylic and the other on sheer fabric with the effect being a double exposure that 'holographically' changes focus as the viewer walks by.

D. Porthault: A French botanical moment

Inspired by the gardens of France, luxury french linen maker D. Porthault's current window on Park Avenue features 18th century style statuary,  swathed in floral motif pillows and sheets in front of an impressionistic, lavender hued landscape.

The interior was also restyled to reflect the botanical theme.

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.

Tekserve: Kids' Stuff

The latest window at Tekserve is all about kids and technology, highlighting games and learning apps. The amazing robot was designed and made by one of the founders of Tekserve years ago and has been re-purposed as a digital gardener.  Each flower growing in his electronic garden features a blooming ipad or ipad mini featuring a specific game or app.

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.

Many Armani

Always a study in the precise and geometrical, this Armani installation is no exception.  Using Ombré-d printed plexi-glass, each row of shingles were meticulously cut-out by computer and applied to the face of a large light-box fading from dark turquoise to a lighter shade at the bottom.  Because of the angle at which the shingles are placed, light glows from in between the rows. And because of the highly reflective surface of the plexi glass lights from many other sources reflect in the shingles and create a sparkling effect as you walk by.