DESIGN IS ART IN THE SERVICE OF COMMERCE

We share our building with music studios, film production companies, a trendy fashion magazine and architects.  Jay Z even has a studio called Rock the Mike.  It's a pretty creative place.

And like any creative space, it has it's share of creative types utterly fed up with the business realities of design.  A common refrain in the elevator - "we don't do art anymore" - but I ask - did we ever?  This is not a new question - it has been asked for centuries.  Oxford University Press has a paper on the subject in its Journal of Design History discussion the issue in the 18th century.  In it I found the core of the issue...
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"The conflicts arising from the different objectives of commercial success on the one hand and the protection of [creative] standards on the other" has vexxed creative types since the time of the Greeks.

Of course we create- and often with beautiful results, but it is for the benefit of another -and that is what makes it "design" and not wholly "art".  When commissioned to solve a problem on behalf of a client or customer our immediate challenge is to solve an aesthetic problem on top of practical and economic ones.  

Perhaps one of the most inspiring lives in design was lived by Buckminster Fuller... who best summarized our philosophy toward our work:

"A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong"    - R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER

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We take the creation of a beautiful solution very seriously...  and we seek to create experiences that deliver more than just beautiful spaces. We create experiences that serve your business objectives and net you concrete results.

Ours is the art of the aesthetic solution:

Bottom line – our success is measured by your success in the marketplace.