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!

A New Door for a New Day

Geoff was hired by the building management of Geoff Howell Studio's former space on 22nd st. to design new doors for both the main and service entrances. The original doors went up in flames long before Geoff arrived at the scene some 15 years ago, and were replaced with "temporary" plywood doors. Based on historic examples in similar buildings from the turn of the 20th century, Geoff designed and produced these substantial doors using quarter-sawn oak.  Shown below in the photos are the new service entrance doors. Soon to come will be a second set for the main entrance. The exisiting doors (shown in the photo at the bottom) were installed in the 1940's, constraining the space to a standard door size and sealing the transom. The new tall doors will soar like Gothic is supposed to, and will substantially open up the space, increasingthe light coming in and going out.

Ten years ago when Geoff (pictured above) leased his ground floor space on 22nd st. the landlord asked him to come up with "something nice" for the facade. Using materials common in storefronts from the early years of the 20th century, in this case, wood, chevroned beadboard and gold leaf signage, Geoff put a Gothic twist using motifs from the existing (surrounding) granite building facade.

Stay tuned for a post about our new and expanded space in Long Island City!

Sunglass Hut: Prada, Coach & Bulgari

Here's a look at a recent collection of installation shots of stylish and fancy windows we installed for Sunglass Hut showcasing three luxury brands; Prada, Coach and Bulgari.  Although each window consists of similar elements, they are all unique to each brand.

Here you can see the Prada imagery, lit up by a custom lightbox we constructed, also featuring backlit dimensional lettering for that extra flair.  The giant image in the side window (seen below) requires special expertise as access to the window is a tight fit.

 

For this presentation, Coach required a high-gloss lacquered surface with no seams, with the Coach logo  cut-out and backlit. As you can see in this installation shot, shoe removal helps to keep things looking glossy!

More lightbox imagery for Bulagri as well.

 Here you see a giant curved graphic we produced.

Our favorite element in this collection is the Bulgari snake, all custom created from scratch at our studio! It's based on their current iconography and echoes the design used as part of their christmas decor at the 57th st flagship. It's essentially a lightbox made from lucite, gold foil and hand assembled with multi-faceted sides.

Throwback: Hollywood on the Hudson

Back the early 1990's, when the World Financial Center was starting to make a mark of its own, one fine summer, it had a multi-media, multi-week festival of hollywood movies, exhibitions showing vintage costumes, props, movie posters and memorabilia. In addition to the giant 'HOLLYWOOD' sign shown here (which was built and installed by Geoff Howell Studio), 20 windows throughout the complex showcased the 'cinematic' exhibitions.

Throwback: World Financial Center

Back in the early 90's Geoff was commissioned to create installation art in 20 empty storefront that were basically advertisement for other shops within the WFC mall. The common thread in each window was Geoff's signature illustrative and whimsical painting style.

For Barney's Geoff's took the store logo and illustrated the name using depictions of men's fashion and haberdashery.

The WFC flagship restaurant, the Hudson Grille, specialized in the bounty of the Hudson River Valley and so Geoff created a more rustic and 'farm-like' window overflowing with the harvest.

For this luxury stationer, Geoff created an 'over-the-top' desk laden with pens, pencils and handmade paper and envelopes. The paper scrolls in the foreground help to further underscore their specialty.

Geoff chose the highlights a shop's winter fashion by creating a birch forest vignette, surrounded by a twig and leaf themed frame.

To make a connection between a music store and the World Financial Center, Geoff came up with the clever idea of using a piggy bank being filled up with Compact-disc (in the days before digital music) coins. A sound investment, Oink!!

To add a flair of Roman grandeur for a shop featuring Italian leather goods, Geoff set the merch atop hand painted Roman columns, revealed by tied back draperies.