by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Interior Design, Marketing 2.0, Trends | Jan 29, 2013
The Touch of the Hand, the Human Presence, Retail Experience Design When I work on a restaurant, I always ask about the chef: “is he, or she, planning on being there, being present, consistently?” That, alone is a compelling proposition to managing the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Interior Design, Places, Retail | Jan 18, 2013
Designing the Brand: Yogurt Culture Company, Exploring the Process of Restaurant Brand Ideation Girvin has a deep history in the restaurant trade, particularly in building new brands. The legacy of 30 plus years has led to insights working both sides of the counter,...
by Tim Girvin | Cool People, Interior Design, Places | Jan 9, 2013
The Restaurant for Guillermo Del Toro The Vibe of Gitane, San Francisco Spending time studying the production design sketches of writer, visual stylist and cinematic director Guillermo Del Toro suggests a certain “spanish” visualization that moves from the...
by Tim Girvin | Interior Design, Places | Jan 4, 2013
Retail Brand Language: The Layering of Patterning. The design language of brand patterning. Brand patterning, psychic patterning — the hidden and the obvious messaging of place-making and experience, designed. I was watching some people in a place, and watching...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Interior Design, Marketing 2.0, Storytelling | Jan 2, 2013
Windows as the Eyes of the Soul of Wellness The tradition of windows in the merchandising of ideas. At the street level, a building’s windows are, in a manner, the eyes and soul of the bridge between the heart of the building, its occupants and the brand that...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Designers, Interior Design | Dec 12, 2012
Innovations in retail place-making strategies When I first heard about the idea of a new shipping container shop for Starbucks, I’d presumed that it might be the new modeling for the Evolution Fresh shop that was masterminded by Arthur Rubinfeld. But it’s...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Interior Design, Retail, Scent | Dec 7, 2012
Diptyque | Paris Perfumed Environments: The Design of the Fragranced Retail Experience To every product, there is a story, to every story, there is a telling — and in every telling, there is a person that offers that tale. In this sequence of blogs, the notations have...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Concepts, Cool People, Interior Design, Places | Nov 28, 2012
The sense of place, design, imagination and spectacle. The seeing eye, touching place, designed inspiration of Robert Irwin Earlier in my life, I was on the COCA team that ideated bringing James Turrell to Seattle — decades before, “seeing the light...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Interior Design, Places, Retail | Nov 21, 2012
Quickshift: the value of fast change Speed of change counts, there is surprise value in accelerated shifting from one modeling to another. Working with the teams at Starbucks, learning from their move to the next, the new — the effort was rarely casual; usually...
by Tim Girvin | Interior Design, Places, Retail, Trends | Oct 15, 2012
THE RICHNESS OF STYLE, STORY, CONTENT AND EXPERIENCE PLAYED LARGE Above, The Blue Frog Lounge, Mumbai, India Sound branding | integrated music lounge ––––– What about the sheer implications of style, design made manifest? I have no information on these places, just...
