Garette Johnson's Blog, page 6

Art + Design: a Collaboration with BFloral NYC

Art + Design

You may have noticed art and design have become an every day fixture as trends in retail and environment design bring delightful experiences to you. No longer is art relegated only to galleries and museums or strictly for the savvy art collector. Art is everywhere, it’s personal and you can bring it home and even to work. I’ve been creating a series of paintings inspired by the Ralph Pucci’s MAD exhibition “The Art of The Mannequin“. I’ve also been obsessed with diversifying my “Natural Selection” series of large scale, expressive and colorful insect specimens. Bfloral, a design company in New York City specializing in branded events, turned out to be just as excited about these ideas. So we got together and created an event to show how art and design can make a memorable branded experience for retail, hospitality and co-working environments. Here are some of my favorite shots.

To see more work from the series “Mannequin Depression” and “Natural Selection” follow this link.  Buying a high quality matte canvas print is easy, check out my store or email an inquiry here. If you’d like to learn more about Art, Design and the Creative Lifestyle, subscribe to my newsletter in the banner below.

 

 

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Designing for Cannabis: Changing Paradigms

Challenging Definitions:

Good Design is not only seamless, functional, and intuitive: it can also dispel stigmas and change long-held cultural assumptions. For one dramatic example, the marijuana industry is discovering that good design can challenge negative assumptions about marijuana, assumptions that predate its legalization for medical and even recreational use. 

The growing cannabis industry is using design to change the way we think, feel and even use marijuana. In January of 2016, New York City opened it’s first medical marijuana dispensary in Union Square. Columbia Care, LLC contracted 10 dispensaries to be designed and built by RPG, a design firm that builds branded retail experiences.

Columbia Care Medical Marijuana Dispensary NYC

When  Bruce Teitelbaum , CEO of RPG told me about his team’s approach to designing the facility, my own assumptions about marijuana were challenged. RPG created an environment that framed an organic, natural driven remedy in a sophisticated, clean and relaxing environment. Bruce felt strongly that natural materials such as reclaimed wood, stone and soft ambient lighting were necessary to the comfort and welcoming atmosphere of the space. The facility comes across more like a SPA than a pharmacy (aside from the security formalities required by law). Suddenly, marijuana didn’t conjure memories of potheads or pain management clinics, it appeared as relevant as a beauty store.

Columbia Care Medical Marijuana Dispensary NYC

Culturally, we’ve had a history of substance abuse. Prohibition was an effort to ban substances in order to protect against addiction, violence and corruption. Cutting cold turkey obviously didn’t work so now we have a regulated and controlled substance. Marijuana, like alcohol, has a stigma of being an addictive drug and a potential gateway for hard drugs. I my self stayed away from it for fear of becoming a “burnout”. Sure as history repeats itself, we’re beginning to change our minds.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T:

The field of medicine has “grown” a certain respect for marijuana use in treating patients with chronic pain, illness and injuries. Marijuana has been proven to be safer than prescription opiate treatments with a 25% decrease in death caused by opiate overdose in states with legalized medical marijuana. These findings give reason to examine expansive benefits to medical marijuana use to individual and public health. Additional research suggests marijuana is a better treatment for common diseases such as cancer, fibromyalgia, ADHD/ADD, MS and epilepsy. Statistics show about 5% of adults have ADHD and about 70% of children diagnosed with ADHD continue to have it as an adult. Suddenly, Marijuana holds potential for regular holistic treatment of common ailments similar to herbal remedies such as green tea or essential oils. 

Growing Business:

Legalizing recreational marijuana remains a topic of controversy, but the door has already been flung open. According to Business Insider, the industry is expected to post sales of 20.2 Billion by 2021. As of March 2017, twenty-eight U.S. States have legalized medicinal use while eight states and our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. have legalized recreational use.

Trending Upscale:

Combining the idea of a medical spa in administering prescription drugs for chronically ill people seems like a design objective that should have happened a long time ago. (There is truth in the old saying that good design is obvious,) Imagine an Amsterdam “coffeeshop” experience vs. an atmosphere designed to evoke a beautiful wine bar. Suddenly, marijuana doesn’t seem like a gateway substance to hard drugs, but a trend that’s as socially relevant to Manhattan as, say, Eataly.

Amsterdam Coffeeshop
Eataly NYC Wine Bar
Change by Design:

Several other industries are in a state of flux as architects and designers are working to create environments that reflect changing values. Retail is a prime example, as it shifts from products on a shelf to creating an experience that is educational, entertaining and personalized. Likewise, Health and well-being are entering the workplace and bridging the gap between work life balance.

Human Centered Design:

It follows that RPG and many other design firms are thinking about the branded experience across retail, hospitality and work place environments. Offering a luxury experience in medical facilities seems logical and obvious, but in truth, the trend is only beginning to emerge. What if wellness and recreation weren’t treated as if they were mutually exclusive?

River Rock Denver, CO Medical Marijuana
The Times They Are A Changin:

The Social Science and Architecture committee at AIANY has held lectures and events centered around designing wellness into our every day experiences. On August 8, 2016, I attended a presentation of three discussions on “Wellness and the Built Environment“. Panelists included James Brewer, a Workplace Consultant at Steelcase, Allie Mazur, Director of Growth at Exuberancy, a corporate wellness company, and Suzanne Nienaber, Partnership Director at the Center for Active Design. These panelists are actively advocating designed environments that facilitate health and well-being.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee

Its no coincidence that trends in wellness and the built environment are aligning. Can good design actually change things? In the case of curative cannabis, we’re about to find out. Here are a few beautifully designs spaces that are changing the way we view the use of marijuana, both medicinal and recreational.

Placebo Pharmacy by Lab Architecture
Placebo Pharmacy by Lab Architecture
Silver Peak Apothecary by Tanagram Design
Silver Peak Apothecary by Tanagram Design

 

Pineapple Express Denver. CO
Fruitridge Health & Wellness Collective
Fruitridge Health & Wellness Collective

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You’re Invited! Wine Reception Event @Cafe Grumpy’s

I am so excited to invite you to Cafe Grumpy for my wine reception of the “Natural Selection” series and creative community networking event on September 23rd 6PM-8PM at 200 W. 39th st. NYC. Cafe Grumpy is the first NYC concept space to celebrate my commercial decor series, “Natural Selection”.  Many people have inspired  this project and I want you all to meet and inspire each other. You’ll enjoy some good wine, good conversation and good people! Please RSVP here so I know how much wine to order! Additional surprises will be announced on the Garrott Designs Facebook page in the coming days so be sure to follow for updates. Feel free to share, tweet and invite your friends too. See you soon!

Wine is provided by Kim Crawford Wines

Artisan chocolates are provided by Jessie’s Nutty Cups

Shopping Savannah by Design

In my last post, I showed you travel sketches from my summer vacation to Savannah, GA. My other favorite thing to do on vacation is shop design.



24e. was my favorite stop this trip. It’s a family owned design company with roots in the southeast. I had never been in the shop before and I don’t know how I missed it last time. Located right on Broughton street, it’s a bi-level trove of interesting objects and furniture.





Many of the pieces are re-purposed utility items made into elegant design; such as this antique airplane door, now functioning as a cocktail table.





..or these ship lights that would make amazing sconces for a most interesting dinning room or hallway.



The nautical theme continues through the whole store but this isn’t a Ralph Lauren home goods rehash. Check out these old porthole windows.






24e. maintains a sense of “low country” heritage in their designs, so you’ll find oodles of maritime elements, military and Americana laced with nostalgia.  You will also find a serious sense of laid back comfort which is key to style found deep in the heart of the south.












 You’ll also find elements of nature such as driftwood re-purposed as candle holders. My personal favorite, and what I ended up taking home, was this metal cast deer skull. It reminded me of the Museum of the Hunt in Munich and the three ceramic animal head planters from our last trip to Savannah.





 Frieze is another one of my favorite shop stops in Savannah for exotic home accents. I collect insect specimens and other natural curiosities. Here are a few of my favorite things.












If you’re looking for a fun and well curated vintage store, look no further than Civvies. This store used to be Primary Art Supplies back when I was a student at SCAD, now it’s a well curated vintage clothing, antiques and hand made home goods store.









I also found a well kept secret antique store including a gorgeous library of vintage books at V & J Duncan antiques.



I brought home these vintage lithograph fish illustrations as a house warming gift for my sister’s new home in Northern Wisconsin.



My trip is never complete without stopping at the college book store, Ex Libris to grab a few used books on current topics in art and design.



After all, serious work is born from serious play. Designing and curating your life is an ever evolving creative process.

Sketch Journal: Savannah, GA

Nothing helps relax more than traveling to beautiful places and sketching favorite places. I haven’t traveled much this year as other projects are taking my attention. However, a little get away for a long weekend to familiar and laid back Savannah, Georgia was a perfect respite between projects. We stayed at a tranquil and historic Bed n Breakfast that was everything we wanted.





We were delayed, getting in around midnight to our room “The Library“. A green eyed, black cat (named Midnight) greeted us from an above terrace as we were shown to our room. Once there, I had to peruse the book shelves for something dreamy before going to bed. “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice…!”



We picked the sunniest room they had, taking our time in the morning was such a luxury and I just loved the colors. You would never be able to find this particular shade of salmon in a million years if you tried, yet it is such a Savannah hue. The salmon, white and green were such a fresh combination, my first sketch was our room in the morning light.









Breakfast was served in the garden with three options we could mix according to taste. The cats would come and sit near the table while we sipped coffee and took in the morning. I came back for afternoon tea and sketched the cats taking naps.









 Before dinner I like to find a pub with outdoor seating and sketch from behind a glass of wine or beer. I found the Savannah Taphouse with a full menu of brews on Broughton street and a good view of the SCAD Theater. My senior fashion show was in this theater, J. Alexander opened the show while Diane von Furstenberg, Zac Posen and Andre Leon Tally were guests of honor.






Cathedrals are a fun challenge to sketch. St. John the Baptist was under renovation for many years with scaffolding obscuring some part of it. On this visit I was able to stop and sketch it in the time it took two couples to get married.






It was a short trip but I managed to get in a sketch a day. If you happen to visit Savannah, stop in at E. Shaver Booksellers for a cup of tea at The Savannah Tea Room and pick up a souvenir postcard print of one my sketches. If you do, tell Becky and Elizabeth hello for me.



If you’d like to see some posts of past sketchy travels, follow the links below.
Paris 2014
Munich 2014
Sleepy Hollow, NY 2014
Savannah, GA 2015
Spain 2010

 

Spring Cleaning Like a Designer

It’s that time of year when we freshen our spaces, take a deep breath and enjoy a fresh start. Spring cleaning! I love to take this time to wrap up projects, anticipate new ones and reevaluate what inspires me. This year I needed to get under cabinets, beds, desks and into filing cabinets to push out the old leaves and make way for new, budding ideas.



Deep cleaning can be a daunting prospect. Where to start? Before Feng Shui neurosis sets in, start with this basic map:

 Biggest pain point (clothing, storage, bookshelves for example)
Every day business and materials
Reference and art supplies
Reorganize & regroup all of the above
Dust, sweep, vacuum and mop
Light candles, plug in new season appropriate fragrances
Pour a glass of wine, sit and look around because you are beauty and creativity manifest!
Love your life because baby, you designed it this way!

My biggest pain point was that the book shelves were spilling out onto the floor, stacks of magazines, notebooks and loose leaf mental notes fluttered on desktops making them cumbersome to use. It also stood as a daily reminder that I have lots of ideas I have not yet acted upon. Who needs that kind of guilt?! They needed to be organized into an accessible place. I moved old information to the hidden but accessible places and the current material to cabinets and drawers. Top of Mind!



Give yourself one full day to do the big pain project. It’s tedious but will be worth it. Once you check off the biggest pain point, you’ll feel so accomplished and the rest will move rather quickly. It’s amazing how everything just fits into place once you get rid of the old fluff.






Organizing and regrouping things goes a long way towards long term productivity. I’ve kept a journal since moving to NYC, each book holds ideas, insights and happenings that I often reference. I finally got around to labeling them by year so now, I can find exactly that time when I wrote down that perfectly worded phrase that I need right now for this project. I freaking LOVE P-Touch!



I file away loose swipes and art project in my filing cabinet, cleanly labeled by concept and in alphabetical order, so that I can pull them out when I want them. Thanks to “Getting Things Done“,  fifteen years of fashion swipes and art projects are easily found. If you suffer from reference mayhem, I highly recommend the GTD system.

What to keep and what to throw away? Marie Kondo has an eye opening book out called “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-up“. In it she instructs you to ask yourself, “Does this bring me joy?” as a designer, I elaborate on this further, “Does this continue to educate or inspire me?” “Will I enjoy discovering this again in five years?”  Just because you haven’t touched it in a year, doesn’t mean it’s not useful to you.

Cleaning out the closet!
 My closet has fallen out of the wall twice in the past year. (Thank you Mister for just putting it back up no questions asked) I’m a sample sale foraging fiend! So much of what I have collected over the years are great ideas from fashion houses that never cut for retail. Discarding and donating is a huge undertaking for me. “Does this continue to educate or inspire me?” is the question.

I donated three large bags of hardly worn designer clothing! That was after my friend came over and took what she wanted when she heard that I was desperate to purge. Friends are great for unloading things I love but need to be done with.

 If something keeps popping up in the wrong place during your day to day life it is not serving you properly; put it where it belongs, get rid of it or rework it to be useful again.



Once you’ve tidied, dusted, swept, vacuumed and mopped; it’s time to fragrance your home with smells that make you happy the minute you walk in your door. My studio currently smells like Tiki Mango Mai Tai. This is a very important part of the process, do not over look it. This is the pay off, my friend! Now, pour yourself a glass of wine and toast, for this is your corner of the world and it is where your best self creates your best work. Cheers!










Create Your Space. Design Yourself.

 

Project Planning- Problem Seeing vs. Problem Solving

Lately I’ve been working on several projects which require very careful planning and time to execute. So what happens when you’ve finished a project and you find out it doesn’t solve the problem you created it to solve? This was the topic of conversation at a with The Design Gym last week on my quest to become an expert at Design Thinking. Coincidentally, I was suffering for this very conundrum when I walked into the lab. I love being properly prepared for class!



Sometimes we start a project with so much energy and vigor, blazing a trail forward only to find we’ve not quite answered ALL the right questions. This happens a lot, especially in organizations. It is exactly this problem, that Design Thinking intends to solve.  Turns out, I went there with one problem and I ended up finding out that I have another problem. Now why would I ever go back to practice lab if they are going to help me figure out that I have more problems than I thought?



Problem SEEING vs. problem SOLVING.  What problem are we trying to solve? We practiced reframing the problem to view it from different angles, broader and more narrow picture, to decipher the actual need. Sometimes the bigger problem is having the right question.  For example, I went there with the problem of finding a logistic solution to a website structure that enables Garrott Designs. I was going to design think a new website. Turns out, I have more abstract issues that need to be clarified before creating a structure to support them. How did they show me to this door and get me to open it?



We talked a lot about Empathy. Who is the user, how are they using it, what do they expect? Can you put yourself in their place and see the world from where they sit? How did we do this? Well, they put us in new groups of two every twenty minutes. Everyone in the room was a complete stranger to the other. For a few minutes each, you had to explain the problem and what you are trying to do. Having a totally fresh mind react to your ideas and ask questions sheds a tremendously bright light in very dark corners. You just wouldn’t get this kind of fresh mind from a friend who knows what you’re trying to do.



Talking with perfect strangers became a brainstorm session. I could feel myself getting excited about their ideas just as much as my own. I had suggestions and could see places into their dark corners they weren’t able to recognize while focusing on other assumptions. By the time the lab was over, I felt like I had made new friends as well as acquired a new approach. Not bad for a three hour workshop after working hours!



Design thinking isn’t for every problem. Some solutions are obvious and actionable. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when considering how far down the rabbit hole you need to chase a problem.
Is the ideal solution ambiguous?
Are there unknown user needs?
Is it a high impact challenge?
If the answer to some or all of these questions is YES, you should come down to The Design Gym and Design Think it out loud with us. Here is a link to the next lab session: #DesignThinkit

 

Fashion Burlesque Sketch Night NYC

I love life drawing from a model, especially when those models are curiously fabulous in fashion or costume. Society of Illustrators in New York City offers a weekly dose of fashion and costumed sketch opportunities most every Thursday night. I go as often as possible,...

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Motocross Wedding Style

On the other side of the family tree, my Motocross cousins grew up on bikes, tearing it up and competing to win in all categories of extreme sports. Their passion for what they do has become a global touring brand known as the “Smagical Bros.“. You may have seen...

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Creativity Triggers: “Tea Time”

Have you ever spent the work week anxiously anticipating the weekend so you can get to that personal project you’ve been dying to create? Then, when Saturday morning comes you inexplicably can’t seem to get your head in the game? It’s not a creative block,...

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