GDC branded interiors & furniture design

Grant Design CollaborativeThe following work represents the projects I worked on as the project

manager of the branded spaces we created while I was at Grant. Detail of my responsibilities can be found on my LinkedIn Page.

AdobeTraveling Exhibit / Design Conference – Vancouver & New Orleans

This exhibit was classic Grant experience design. There was a rose on this exhibit for each and every attendee of the conference. The rose had a note with the attendee’s name and an invitation to share what design meant to them. I revised these panels so many times to

fit the growing number of attendees. Timing was critical – we needed the roses to look great.

AdobeTraveling Exhibit / Design Conference – Vancouver & New Orleans

Non-stop pruning, inserting roses & name tags and checking off names – that’s how we got this ready. Attendees loved it! I video interviewed people during the show getting feedback about Adobe products. Later, I compiled the video which their marketing team used with the wealth of information collected from the attendees. This was an incredible success.

MuzakTraveling Exhibit / Global Shop

The exterior was clad in a dark veneer. We had recently seen that one of our vendors, Ball Chain Manufacturing, had come out with a new ball chain curtain. I approached them and with all of our combined efforts we were able to get them to provide the curtains for the cost of shipping – which

wasn’t exactly cheap but we still saved lots of money and they got to show off new product.


Grant Design Collaborative has a great reputation for experience design and this was really brought to the forefront in the Muzak exhibit. They wanted us to help them illustrate how music could evoke distinct feelings and emotions. This was done in part by pairing up strong visuals

with great music from their archives. It was all complimented by a 40x60 modern space.


The inner sanctum was a circular enclosure made up of clear suspended acrylic shelves. For each of three days of the show attendees were greeted with something new on the

shelves. A Rose the first day (what does “love” sound like), Eight Balls the second day, and Lemon Twists in a martini glass on the third day. 300 of each changed out each day.


Each corner of the space had a swank seating area and, of course, excellent music played throughout the show.

MuzakTraveling Exhibit (Second Time Around) / Global Shop

We took the original exhibit we had created and re-skinned it in a white laminate with a micro perf sort of texture. The openings were broadened and photographs were

superimposed on acrylic tubes. Our designers worked with Muzak to organize a photoshoot where people were asked to express themselves in various ways.


The pictures on the tubes were backlit with a beautiful glow. Positioned in different locations around the center well were plasmas that played a continuous loop of the portraits of people

displaying a variety of emotions illustrating the power of music on mood. After standing there staring for several minutes, I felt compelled to go out and buy something – anything!


To complete the experience, a photographer was located in the center well and clients were invited in to capture their images displaying whatever emotion they wished. Muzak’s design team did something really cool and developed a website to immediately upload the images

where they could be viewed while the show was still in progress.

The Merchandise MartChicago

This giant structure became very familiar to me during the time that I worked for Grant Design Collaborative. We created Branded Interiors, 3D Design, and Corporate Identity

Plans for many a client within the Contract Furnishings Industry. Most of those efforts were showcased annually in June at the industries leading trade show – NeoCon.

Blueridge Commercial CarpetChicago Showroom / Merchandise Mart

My first project at Grant Design Collaborative involved working with Bill on the development of Blueridge Commercial Carpet’s showroom at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. This

showroom debuted in 2001 and won Best Showroom award at NeoCon.


Key elements of the design included custom maple cabinetry throughout the showroom. This picture features the main entrance to the showroom with cabinet insets displaying 60 colorways of product. Floor insets like the one in the foreground were designed to feature

new product; in this case a new modular wool carpet tile.


Key elements of the design included rotating carpet displays (seen along the wall)

Muraspec Wall CoveringTemporary Exhibit / Chicago Merchandise Mart

We worked with Muraspec to develop this simple elegant solution for displaying wall covering product. The wall covering hung like window shades and the pull tab acted as a product

identifier. The table was custom designed to hold product binders and other literature. I stood on those stools every year at NeoCon to adjust the lights – fell several times.

Geiger InternationalChicago Showroom

Each year we coordinated our current brand strategy in both the Geiger permanent showroom (two blocks from the Merchandise Mart) and within the mart in Geiger’s temporary exhibit. The latter acted

as a draw to entice the NeoCon audience outside the Mart walls to see the breadth of Geiger’s offerings. We were an inconvenience to the showroom staff but chocolate makes all things better so I

made sure to come baring gifts. That kept them smiling despite protests of unwanted calories.


Grant worked with Geiger to tailor each furniture vignette to a specific target audience. Among my other duties I would help designers source and purchase the items that helped

articulate that effort.


I worked with our design team to define a scope of work for the showroom and then gather estimates from the various vendors and, in the end, see that all of our efforts were carried

out within our specified timeframe.

Geiger InternationalTemporary Exhibit / Chicago Merchandise Mart

The temporary exhibit had transluscent walls on the inside that were lit from the inside which made for a beautiful dramatic effect. All elements of the showroom are echoed here resulting in a clear cohesive brand strategy. One space is clearly connected to the other.


The challenge was to find a way to create translucent panels that did not break our budget. As with any design, we went through rounds of product samples, and stain samples before

arriving at what became a beautiful solution. It helps to partner with great vendors.


I traveled to New York for the ICFF show to oversee the installation of this exhibit.

Featured in this photograph is the Scissor Chair and a credenza from the Ward Bennett collection. I felt that Geiger should have sent them to my home after the show but they saw

if differently. These pieces were exquisite.


Talk about serious drayage costs! Those little tables are called fittingly called I-Beams and are part of the Ward Bennett Collection. They are almost exactly what they appear to be –

sections of I-beams, albeit a more refined cousin of the structural one.

Geiger InternationalNew York Showroom / Carnegie Hall Towers

This was an existing showroom and there was limited time & space to carry out the brand strategy. Our team worked with Geiger and I created countless drawings to consider ways

we could comfortably create the space to say what we needed to say. The final product was a modern elegant space that wonderfully showcased Geiger’s beautiful furnishings.

Geiger InternationalNew York Showroom / Carnegie Hall Towers

The left view is of the reception desk and is the first thing you see as you come off the elevator – rather striking. Behind the desk is a veneered wall that I laid out with a simple alternating pattern that created an understated quite rhythm On the right is a conference

room framed with a ripple fold drape to add a little drama.

Mannington CommercialChicago Showroom / Merchandise Mart

This was a beautiful showroom. We worked with multiple vendors to pull it off and that was a challenge in and of itself. One group fabricating these pieces, another fabricating those,

and all of them trying to match the same stain spec which was custom to begin with.

It all worked.


This reception desk was one of several pieces I developed with Bill Grant and Matt DeFrain.

Every client’s showroom required different solutions and we were good at defining the needs and designing within those parameters. This was one of my favorite aspects of the

work I did at Grant Design Collaborative.


More custom furnishings. Lots of powder coated fixtures with just the right color to give these pieces that extra touch. This seemed to be the year that everything swung away from

satin nickel finishes to oil rubbed bronze. I was ready for the change.

Mannington CommercialPieces in Production / Canton, GA

It is good to have great resources close to home. Thank you RJ Pannell & Co.

Mannington CommercialFinished Pieces Ready to Ship / Canton, GA

Crated & Shipped to Chicago with nary a scratch - Thank you RJ Pannell & Co.

Aquafil USATraveling Exhibit

This rendering found its beginning in Matt DeFrain’s initial sketch for this project. Matt was prolific in his conception of ideas. He had a great illustrative style of rendering that captured the essence of what the exhibit might look like. They were simple but evocative. Later we would discuss the needs of the exhibit and I would begin to work out scale and dimension.


Aquafil USA is a producer of premium carpet fibers and when this exhibit was finished it contained framed prints of the latest ad campaign, new product literature, video content,

and other thoughtfully designed elements – all by Grant Design Collaborative.


This rendering includes the custom museum bench that we ordered. It turned out quite nice and was an excellent compliment to the display. You could not imagine how many conversations it

took me to get that bench just right. Just another example our attention to detail.

Genesys WallcoveringSet Exbibit for NeoCon – featuring the Grant Collection

This project marked the beginning of Grant Design Collaborative’s foray into product design. On display is the Set Collection by Grant Design Collaborative for Genesys Wallcovering. I can’t begin to explain the amount of thought and research that went into the creation of this wallcovering and the marketing strategy behind it. It was all consuming and very rewarding.


Wallcovering product inside and out was designed by Grant Design Collaborative. Everything about this was important and well thought out. I collapsed with a drink in one of

those rocking chairs when it was all said and done.

Jaipur RugsLas Vegas Showroom at the World Market Center

Jaipur came to Grant Design Collaborative to have us revise their identity and design a line of rugs for the modern residential market. This branding campaign also involved the design of their

showroom in Las Vegas at the World Market Center. I worked primarily with Jason Moody on this project. He was the brand manager for Jaipur and coordinated our product design efforts.


We looked at every way possible to display rugs in this space. I held numerous conversations with the rug rack manufacturer to understand it and maximize our use of the space. Once again we

incorporated custom furnishings into the space. I designed wall shelving, console tables, and a coffee table. Jason and I considered many finishes and designs before arriving at the final pieces shown in

these photos.


This was Jason Moody’s first involvement in showroom design and he was a natural. We were a good team. This was 2008 and our process for designing showrooms was a familiar one. We had our

method down quite well. The floors are stained concrete and a perfect backdrop for Jaipur’s rugs.


A modular wall unit was created to display rugs from various collections and of course the Grant Collection was featured among them. Each division of the showroom featured furniture vignettes with product

highlighted underneath. It was typical for Jason to say, “I want something like this” and then I would send him a flood of examples. From that he would select and make it all work.


One of several vignettes designed to showcase and illustrate Jaipur’s rug selection.

Jaipur RugsWork in Progress / Canton Georgia

This is the coffee table seen in earlier photos at the front of the Las Vegas Showroom


These are the console tables seen in earlier photos at the front of the Las Vegas Showroom


These are the shelves seen in earlier photos along the length of the wall in the Las Vegas Showroom

And there you have it.

Thank you for taking the time to look over my work.

Please contact me with any questions.

[email protected]

GDC branded interiors & furniture design

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