Monday, September 20, 2010

Peacock of the Walk

From design to reality, here's the before and after of Geoff's latest window for (luxury french linen maker) Porthault at their Park Avenue store.

To highlight the latest collection of bed linens with peacock feathers hand silkscreened in shades of blue and gray, we created a magical 'floating' silver tree; home to a silver peacock with expensive taste in linens! Here, he is comparing his own glamorous train of feathers to those on the fabric. In the other window, the linens feature hand embroided ranunculus in the same chic color palette.

The 'ground' of the installation is a Porthault-hued plexi base with hand painted silver tufts, invoking the idea of a fluffy pillow.


To finish off, Geoff refreshed the interior with new product arrangements in shades of blue to make Porthault truly the 'Peacock of the walk'!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Dream Ball

To help celebrate the American Cancer Society's 26th annual Dream Ball, Nordstrom's asked Geoff to design and plant a garden of paper flowers at Cipriani on east 42nd st. The main sculpture we produced was a giant 12 foot arch comprised of hundreds of paper flowers in various hues of pink. Also tapping into NY's Fashion Week, the arch also incorporated a welcoming hostess, dressed to the nines in an extravagant paper gown.




A closer look at Madame's cascading gown.



Here's a look at the paper flowers close up during production.
For the table decor, this time the paper flowers serves as a simple backdrop for the real floral centerpiece which included silver and gray paper leaves.




As a final touch, pink gelled uplighting illuminates the arch and surrounding architecture.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Dapper Digs

Last year we were given a wonderful opportunity to work closely with two very talented clients to design and produce a modern interior for their new home. Initially hired to design their closets to maximize space, the project then expanded to designing furniture, custom ceiling, floor and wall treatments. Using a modern monochrome palette, the furniture was a luxurious mix of grey stained walnut and oak, white lacquer, black, brown and white leather, and a warm natural oak.





A look at the grey walnut bed with black leather upholstered headboard and matching nightstands.



A closeup of the nightstand.


Also in the bedroom, we built a grey walnut paneled wall with cantilevered underlit shelves and a long low cabinet with a stone top.



The bedroom also features a shiny black lacquered ceiling.


The home office features a custom work surface with cantilevered steel underlit shelving above and lacquered filing cabinets below.

Also featured in the home office are additional floor-to-ceiling storage units.







To tie into the history of the building, a custom finished tin ceiling was installed in the guest room.








Here are some shots of the custom closet interiors lined with rift oak.











Size Does Matter


As the latest model of the Nintendo DS is released, we were asked to recreate a giant exact replica of the new video-game gizmo. Installed in the windows of Toy R' Us in Times Square, the copies features dual plasma screens and exacting reproductions of the rounded and concave control buttons and flip top angles seen on the actual product.


(a photo of the actual Nintendo DS for comparison)

Shades of Madonna

To sell-a-brate the launch of a new line of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses designed in collaboration with Madonna, the main floor of Saks 5th Ave's flagship store was spangled with large video towers, rotating graphics, outposts and kiosks that we built.

a look at MDG's rotating lightboxes above a cosmetics counter



We also built a video wall made of 6 plasma screens
synchronized to show one large image as well as several smaller images.







In addition, we built display vitrines showing off the celeb shades 'runway style'!






Saks Beauty Towers

Here's a look at some Saks 5th Ave beauty towers we recently built for display on the main floor of Saks 5th Avenue. These towers are a weekly part of the Saks 5th Avenue beauty promotion program. Each week highlights a new product or brand. Over the years, we've built many of these free-standing towers for a plethora of different brands including Armani, Balenciaga, Bulgari, Cartier, Chanel, Chloe, Clarins, Clinique, Dior, D&G, D-Squared, Estee Lauder, Fekkai, Gucci, Guerlain, Hermes, Jimmy Choo, Juicy Couture, La Mer, Lancome, Lanvin, Issy Miyake, Nars, Nicole Miller, Prada, Sisley, Luxotica, Tom Ford, SK-II, John Varvatos, Vera Wang & Yves Saint Laurent. Each one presents a unique challenge to elegantly showcase a particular fragrance within the context of the brand's identity as well as managing the logistics of wiring, lighting and producing a tower that looks likes it defies gravity! Below are a few examples of these lofty beauty towers.


For Guerlain's "IDYLLE" fragrance, we built a ten-foot tower that features three metallic inset 'teardrop' niches

For Guerlain's Terra Cotta fragrance, we created a tower with an inset display vitrine that was lit from top and bottom.

We also made one for this NARS beauty tower.


A little more off the beaten path, the Chanel beauty tower features a smaller vitrine half inset, thus drawing the curious observer to this unique effect and implying a more minimalistically modern 'outside-of-the-box' style.


For Saks' in-store beauty event "Brushes with Greatness", we produced these curvy towers featuring an inset bright light box with a red floral pattern. This set of towers also came with their own custom set of 'upside-down obelisk' stands for display of flowers and products.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Safari Reliquary




For the latest Steuben Glass store window, we designed and produced a modern interpretation of a curio cabinet showcasing African tribal relics to evoke a kind of sunset over the Arican savannah. A burnished bronze color and various 'indigenous' heirlooms are juxtaposed with Steuben's Safari collection of animal shaped crystal.

Geoff's quick sketch of the design before production.


Burnished bronze panels were also used inside to reflect the main window.