by Tim Girvin | Brands, Cool People, Interior Design, Places | Mar 18, 2013
Making a Statement of Identity in the Procession of Experience. Sometimes, as a designer, one cuts to the chase and puts the story right there, out in front. Big. So too the dynamism of Scott Brownrigg’s designed installation of monster identity in the...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Interior Design | Mar 13, 2013
Designing story, in place, the allegory of nature, space — in making a place I find myself in the study of the symbolic, the metaphorical — and, to the end, the magical. I recall when Apple defined the iPad as ‘magical.” An interesting choice...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Cool People, Interior Design, Places, Trends | Mar 1, 2013
Small living, the Footprint of Micro places The delicacy of small, thoughtfully crafted, green-built and well-organized places to live in. Working with a housing development team in Seattle, Girvin’s ideator® naming team built a naming strategy to support the...
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...
