David Stark Sketchbook

OMG! It Looks Just Like the Rendering: Tory Burch Takes Tokyo

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This past December we produced a fashion show and party celebrating the opening of Tory Burch’s flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo, and it was such a phenomenal night!  While the photos don’t exactly show the same view as our rendering, you’ll have to trust me when I say it looked just like it!

We took over a large, blank slate of a space, transformed it into Tory’s distinct and chic world, and Tokyo’s celebrities and A-listers came out in droves to meet Tory and to celebrate.  The focal point of the room was a grand, tiered platform that floated in the center of the space, a revolving gold Tory medallion topped the platform like a cherry on a sundae while bars capped the ends at ground level, replete with huge arrangements of the most opulent, pink hydrangeas.  The concept was simple but bold, and all of the details were right on.  From the gold trim on furniture and pedestals to the vases for the flowers that were custom colored in Tory’s signature purple, we made sure that every last detail spoke to the brand.  

Often I am drawn to event schemes that are direct and simply powerful.  You don’t need a lot of stuff, just the RIGHT stuff.  Tory brings such pizazz with her already that our job was easy.  After the show, the crowd erupted into a roaring dance party.  Like storming the Bastille, we took over the model’s platform.  This multi-leveled dance floor kept the party going way into the night.

Dear Tory and all of our friends at Tory Burch, it was our great honor to be there to help you guys celebrate all of your accomplishments.  You ain’t bad dance partners either!

xo

D.

   
 
 

 
 

OMG! It Looks Just Like the Rendering: Target ToGo !

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We ADORE creating pop-up stores, and a week or so ago, we pulled off an ambitious retail feat that I am proud to share!  We opened three different stores,  in three different cities, New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, all on the same day!  Target is well known for innovative thinking and for essentially inventing the pop-up store model, but these were not typical shops where you go inside, walk aisles, and try on clothes.  Rather, our TARGET TO GO shops were one part roadside ice-cream stand, one part, drive through, and all parts fun. 

The concept was simple:  A menu board showcased 50 numbered gift items for the entire family.  You marched up to the window, ordered by item number, and then quickly, a satchel of pre-wrapped gifts was handed right to you!  FAST.  EASY.  FABULOUS.

We were right beneath the Highline in New York City, and our structure beautifully melded into the surrounding architecture of the city’s iconic Meat Market district.

In San Francisco and DC, Tudor style structures were scaled to their respective locations and propelled guests to a slice of North Pole holiday cheer.  See the rendering below and images of the real-life structures that follow.

These shops were only open for four days, and it was particularly exciting and challenging to create the actual structure of the stores, something much more complicated than creating a store interior in an existing building.  The weather was not necessarily on our side, but we were water tight and the shoppers came in hordes anyway! 

This was an amazing project and BRAVO to my good friends at Target!  You guys always WOW me with your appetite for change and for the new.  Thank you for including us in your groundbreaking endeavors!  The honor is ours.

D.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

OMG! It Looks Just Like the Rendering: Kids For Kids

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A couple of weeks ago we produced such a lovely party, a carnival for kids and their families.  Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has long held a gala unlike adult galas to raise money to eradicate pediatric AIDS and beautifully teach young children the importance of giving back.  I have long admired this special project from afar and feel very fortunate to be part of it for the very first time this year.  On a crisp Fall Sunday, we invited 800 people to JOIN THE MOMENT.

Coming off the recent  David Stark Design clock contest and the clocks we made for a West Elm store opening, we still had clocks on the brain.  How perfect?  For Kids for Kids, the clocks become a metaphor and a call to action.

The event was held at Industria Superstudio in the West Village.  Upon entering the event space, our clock wall set the tone for an afternoon of fun.  All floors and ancillary tents were filled with games, face painting, fabulous food, storytelling, crafts, an art room where the kids painted side by side with some of the most renowned artists of the New York art scene, and finally a station where the kids and parents alike packed packages, mommy and baby survival kits sent to Africa after the event.  Take a look at the pictures below.

 

A special shout out to our buddies at Innovative Philanthropy.What an incredible job you guys do with this event!  Thank you so much for including us.  The honor is ours.

D.

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Love Letter: Master Cheng

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My friend BZ introduced us to a truly amazing talent who we were lucky enough to have join us for a recent event.  Master Cheng takes impromptu orders at parties and within seconds, in front of your very eyes, he cuts elaborate animals, silhouettes, and anything your heart desires out of everyday paper.  I asked for a Noah’s Ark of animals.  Master Cheng did not disappoint.   And the guests were pretty amazed too!

Cool, huh?!

D.

 

 

  

 

 

 

OMG!  It looks just like the rendering: 

A Private Celebration

Master Cheng was situated within a glorious and zany “garden” of flowering cherry blossoms, sculpted boxwood hedges, dappled moon light, and really BIG boxwood topiary of the host’s ever ebullient poodle Peaches!   Peaches is not only an important member of our client’s family, but she played a critical supporting role in the evening’s drama.  She appeared first on the save-the-date, then on the invitation, and as the cherry on the sundae of our cocktail hour – a boxwood nod and wink to Jeff Koon’s infamous Puppy sculpture.

 

Based on our client’s drawings of Peaches, we first created a sculpted foam armature for the boxwood to be affixed to.  Take special note of Peaches collar, though.  It’s hard to see in the photo, but the strap is created from pink carnations, and the buckle is a silver photo frame (on its side, sans glass).   The part of the buckle that catches in the holes of the belt (does this thing have an actual name?), is a nail clipper.   (BIG smile)

Brilliant, right?!

Bravo, my team.  That little detail, as silly as it might seem, blows me away.  Thank you for that inspiring surprise and for the inventiveness that makes what we do ART.  It’s what keeps me going every day.

xo

D.

P.S.  Jeff Koon’s work was on my mind a lot while we were playing around with our Peaches.  I was lucky enough to experience Koon’s huge puppy both in Spain and in NYC – such different experiences, both wonderful.

 

This guy greeted us in Bilbao, Spain when we went to the Guggenheim Museum there for the first time.  What a magical site he was – all abloom in Technicolor!  And huge.

 

And this Puppy is pretty fabulous too!  He was so cool on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art last summer.  Where is he now?

 

 

And this one?  I don’t know where he is, but he is cool in that color too.

 

 

 

OMG! It looks Just Like the Rendering : Travel + Leisure Design Awards

O.K.  So . . . Travel + Leisure’s event happened about a year ago, but I am posting this now in tribute to my pals Emily and Sabrina over at the IAC Building where the party took place.  We were lucky enough to spend the last couple of days with them while we completed the very first wedding to occur in their home.  It was a FABULOUS one too!

Emily was explaining to one of her colleagues what we did for Travel + Leisure a year before, and it reminded me that this was one of the very first events where we literally stood back and had that epiphany:  “WOW – It really does look like the rendering we created, doesn’t it!”

  

Both a stylish entryway and photo backdrop, this oversized suitcase played double duty as a magazine dispenser/display unit for copies of the issue being celebrated. 

 

 

 

Beyond this giant suitcase, an elegant and modern cocktail pavilion was revealed.  The design was spare and sleek, relying upon mirrors for both the bars and the floating canopy above them to reflect and multiply the ever changing imagery appearing on the room’s stupendous digital screens.  I am really proud of the relative simplicity of our statement, and many of the guests told us that the décor looked like it was meant to be in Frank Gehry’s space permanently.  What a nice compliment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t wait to share what we did for this weekend’s wedding, and I will as soon as we get the photos back.  Mirror played a big role again, but there were many other very cool surprises too.  In the meantime, a BIG shout out to Emily and Sabrina:  We ADORE working with you both.  Thank you for truly wonderful collaborations and for having us be a guest in your stunning home.

Fondly,

D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG! It Looks Just Like the Rendering : Huffington Post Pre-Inaugural Ball

My pals and I ushered in the start of a “New Day,” Obama-Style at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. this past Monday and WOW, what a wild ride it was! 

 

This is the first time we ever produced and designed an inaugural ball and it certainly was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.  The sheer quantity of people teeming in the streets of D.C. was overwhelming (sometimes maddening), but the energy was always jubilant and the excitement from young to old was truly palpable.  Same at our party. The numbers clocked through the door were rather incredible! Our photos show just how well attended our ball was, but it is important to note that of the 3,500 guests (!), all were celebrities, top government officials, writers and A-Listers from all walks of life who shared the same joy and excitement as the average guy on the street: OBAMA FEVER.

Obama’s win is often attributed to his trailblazing use of technology.  Thus, it is fitting that Arianna Huffington (one of the smartest people I have ever met!) and the Huffington Post, the trailblazing media leader on the web, owned the night before inauguration day ushering in this new age.  We did it New Year’s Eve-Style with a countdown at midnight, hats, noise-makers and hoopla as well as amazing performances by Sheryl Crow, Sting, Will.i.am, and an innovative décor that brought the connectivity of the web to our party, creating the first internet inaugural ball.

As our rendering shows, we created jumbo laptops in which live twitter feeds, live blogging, thousands of photos and video clips all lived on both the Huffington Post website AND live at the Newseum.  Thus, the internet served as a window into the party for those that could not attend, and those partying with us at the museum were in direct dialogue with the world at large.  My buddy, Keira Alexandra of Employee Number One, is the genius behind the graphics, video, and internet connectivity. The essence of “surfing the web” and community interaction was brought to life with fabulous style.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

I am really proud of the sculptural object-ness of these grand laptops which is really a trick because they are essentially flat.  Note that the hands typing away are video (also shot by Keira) and the keyboards are an enlarged photo we took of an actual laptop.  But I am enthralled, too, with the conceptual breadth that these flat objects have because they embody the landscape of real communication and interaction reflected in the content on the screens.  That tightrope walk looks effortless, but those of us behind the scenes know just how much invention went into that.

I did not leave D.C. with any Obama souvenirs.  I regret not purchasing an Obama air freshener for my car, actually, but I am really proud of what we accomplished artistically and, for me, that’s the best souvenir of all.

GOBAMA!

D.

p.s.  Hats off to my buddy Mario Ruiz, Vice President of Media Relations for the Huffington Post.  He was there side by side with us, creating this evening every step of the way.  Bravo, Mario.

p.p.s. Super hats off to our fabulous Liz Holden who REALLY made this happen in a Big Way!

 

 

 

 

“OMG. It looks just like the rendering!” : The Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Awards

In 1981, my parents took me to see an exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, “Puppets – Art and Entertainment.”  What a mind blowing affect that show had on me!   I was simply transfixed and have had puppets and the Cooper Hewitt on my brain ever since.

 

It is with great love and pride that almost 30 years later, my team and I collaborate with the Museum on their National Design Awards Gala. As a child, I would never have predicted a full circle relationship with the institution – never in a million years.

 

We had a mean task in front of us to top last year’s décor in which a year’s worth of our shredded office paper waste was turned into a stylized “Garden of Versailles” to great critical delight.  With expectations for this year’s gala high, we embarked on a new take on “green” entertaining, making the décor entirely out of the typical items that that we rent from Party Rental – chairs, cushions, plates, coffee mugs, and the like all to be returned to the rental company after the party.  Nothing gets thrown away.   There’s no waste.  Someone else rents these same elements for another event after (albeit used in a different way!).

 

Conceived as a topsy-turvy Alice In Wonderland tea party, this year we delved into glorious COLOR – all colors.  In previous years, in contrast, palettes were cool and modern – black and white, as if the décor was stating, “This is SERIOUS design, you know!” 

 

But serious design can be delivered with humor, can be colorful.  And right about now, when the world is shouldering the deep burdens of imploding economies, we all could use a little rainbow, right?!  I am happy to report that at least for the night, our rainbows made the most serious and important members of the design community smile and forget whatever woes were nagging them.

 

 

 

The entry to the grand dining tent was framed by a vivid archway created from hundreds of Party Rental seat cushions.

 

 

 

A couple of months prior to installing the décor, Melissa’s client rendering beautifully foreshadowed the look and feel of the fantasy setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A topsy-turvy world of seat cushion rainbows, grand table cloth lampshades, and floating teapots suspended in mid pour were all created from thousands of rental items from Party Rental, all returned the next day.  Waste not, want not!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floral cake slices and cupcakes populated the table still-lives with a wink and a smile.

 

 

 

 

 

“OMG. It looks just like the rendering!” : Whitney Gala

It’s tricky to show infinity and the reflection of mirrors in a computer rendering, but it is often the best shot we have to get an idea across. Case in point, the Whitney Museum’s recent and glamorous gala was all about the Museum’s past, present, and future -- conceptual ideas that we made materially tangible with light, reflection, and color. Inspired by the magical infinity boxes of the artist Yayoi Kusama, I wanted the guests to feel like they were dining within one of these optical works.

 

The dinner was held in the third floor galleries between exhibitions. To transform the gallery space, we first painted the walls a deep purple and hung floor to ceiling mirrors tinted in hues ranging from purple to smoky gray. Next we suspended hundreds of indigo bulbs from the ceiling in a perfect grid and created a floor plan that flowed perfectly, mixing rectangular and round dining tables in equal parts. Custom light boxes were created for each of the tables. Illuminated panels of the light box were upholstered with plastic slide protection sheets filled with squares of lighting gels and reflective papers instead of slides. The resulting effect was a deeply sexy supper club whose boundaries and points of light seemed to go on in glorious infinity.

 

Elated from a fantastic evening, Mr. Lauder, the Museum’s fairy godfather, apparently stated on his way home, “We don’t need a bigger Museum. We just need mirrors!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored room, Love Forever (above), was constantly in my mind as we conceived and refined the design for the Whitney’s Gala.  The piece is visually exciting, but is also the perfect marriage between the abstract concept of “infinity” and physical, sensual materiality – a pretty hard tightrope to walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“OMG. It looks just like the rendering!” : New Yorkers for Children

When we finally get to event day, stand back, and take in what we’ve created, we are always surprised and delighted by how closely the installation resembles the initial renderings we’ve created for our clients. Case in point: We recently designed an event for the wonderful organization, New Yorkers for Children. Our décor incorporated participants’ notes thanking the non-profit along with a giant version of the iconic grade school composition notebook. Our studio ran with the renderings and hatched a plan to bring the oversized book to life. Below is the project evolution from rendering to final installation. I am especially fond of the giant paperclip !! [wink]

 

I thought it would be fun to kick-off a series of postings on David Stark Sketchbook with this example from New Yorkers. Look out for more of our project evolutions that “look just like the rendering !”

D.