Moonrise Kingdom International Poster Decoration – A Shotgun Post

Seeing as our movie comes out tomorrow, no more posting procrastinating, shot gun post!

Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom’s designer, called me in early February and asked me to dress the set for the international poster. After a few days of collecting all of the props and various set pieces, we were ready to shoot at Milk! I spray painted that grass with yellow paint to give it that neon green look and went through about 17 lettering options for that held felt sign. Love how it came out!

We had quite a fun day… Fran is the sweetest, and Bill will crack you up all day. Also, that dog was crazy impressive. Here are a few shots from set.

There are quite a few MK posters going around (heres where you can buy em) These two are my favorites…

  

Also, I was sent this by a friend the other day… forgot we had shot this. What a hilarious night on set, that’s me at 2:16 

Hope you all enjoy the film!

 

p.s. After this holiday weekend, I plan to fully update from the past 4 months. Expect a Family Band photo booth for BBC, Rainbow Rooms for  Judy Garland, restaurant openings & redesign projects and a trip to Patagonia! It’s been an amazing year so far xx

Krug in Aspen

Right before Christmas, I was hired to make another video for Krug Champagne. This time with the great help of Joey Termini. We were taken to Aspen, CO, to capture the Krug House and entire set-up. Every year, Krug picks a destination to teach and present their beautifully crafted champagnes, all inspired from the famous Maison Krug just outside Paris. Silkstone produced the whole week of events, and did an exceptional job. They created the Krug House in an unbelievable home on Red Mountain complete with a giant fireplace, an impressive herb planter made from champagne crates and the best view of Aspen mountain you’ve ever seen.

We also made a video for Silkstone to show what a great winter they’ve had… the job certainly had a few perks – a few great days of skiing and zipping around in a Bentley with my camera out the side to name a few. Nothing like that mountain air.

Krug in NYC

This is a bit of a late post, but I wanted to show a video I shot for Krug Champagne this fall, commissioned by Silkstone & edited by their talented digital tech Stephen Lang. I followed the wonderful people from Krug around NYC for a week creating their adventure called Krug On The Field. From tea time at the Plaza, fashion shows on the roof of the Mondrian, to a beautiful award ceremony for a world famous sommelier; what an amazing week we had. And icing on the cake – the amount I learned about champagne that week!

an English New Years

Three days before the new year, Ben & I decided to fly to England to visit his granny, Polly. Nothing better than a spontaneous trip, especially to the English countryside, a place I’ve always wanted to see. I lived a summer in London taking classes at Central St. Martins 3 years ago, but never ventured out of the city.

7am we landed at Heathrow, 7:30am we were in a very small car driving west. On the way, we stopped for a map, a proper English breakfast & fruit cake at Polly Tea Rooms, and the now-roped-off Stonehenge (shame… but still cool). Three hours later, we pulled up to Polly’s beautiful farm in Somerset, Urchinwood Manor – complete with horses, geese, sheep, 4 sprightly dogs, Ben’s uncle Pete racing on his tractor and his aunt, Sally Hall, a world class endurance rider and hell of a cook.

We had four amazing days of walks in wellies, pints at the local pub (from 16th century!), champagne cocktails, counting sheep, lots of tea, butter, cheese & ham and fireworks at midnight!                                    2012 is going to be a great year, I know it.

   

   

The Wren

This past November & December, I helped decorate & source for The Wren, a new restaurant by the same guys from Wilfie & Nell that just opened. It’s a beautiful space on Bowery and a fresh look for an Irish Pub. Be sure to get down there for a pint or Guinness braised steak & stilton pie. And look at the illustrations on the walls, they’re thanks to the beautiful children’s book illustrator, Oliver Jeffers.

Traveling Photo Booth – Bullett Magazine party

For Bullett Magazine‘s 1 year anniversary party, Silkstone hired my brother and me again for our famous traveling family photo booth. This time our theme was magical wilderness! So I ran to the flower district again for butterflies, birds, nests, feathers & lots of flowers to make headdresses… For the boys props, I wanted rifles, coonskin caps & lots of skins. I wanted the guests to feel like they were stepping up into an old school tree house – so I grabbed a massive tree trunk & lots of branches. I hung vintage lanterns with candles, a birdcage with birds and set up a little wooden table & chair. Paddy manned the polaroid camera and captured the night beautifully… what an evening we had.

  

Here’s a shot emailed to me the next day by a very hilarious guest

And a shot from the very end of the night, loved these guys so much.

With the genius work of Brenton Wolf, the beautiful venue Angel Orensanz on Norfolk street was transformed into an enchanted forest complete with trees, large vines and an entire bar covered in moss. Watch this cool little video Silkstone did of all of us setting up…

And one of my favorite shots of the set up – my good friend and amazing fabricator, Joey Lasagna

Sometimes the shopping / set up process of a job is just as fun. Here are a few shots of my adventures in the flower district – those succulents are fake! And so is the moss. Oh man, that wall of ribbons was a tough one.

Christmas comes & goes

Well, well, the holidays were very exciting for me this year – after Thanksgiving it was non stop. With all the holiday decorating jobs, I was in the flower district practically every morning – double parking my truck Walker Texas, running in and coming back with 3 guys with their hands full of wreaths, garland & holly a plenty. Here are a few photos from the holiday decorations I did for Wilfie & Nell.

  

  

  

work & ski in Aspen

Since February, I’ve been working on our house out in Aspen (see previous post). The little house was a total junker however it had a beautiful Victorian exterior we wanted to preserve, so we gutted the inside and started from scratch. As these things always take longer than expected, our goal became Thanksgiving for move-in. I flew out a week early and decorated the entire house preparing for everyone. Here are a few shots from the week of work… some really great furniture shops down valley from Aspen, like The Farmhouse in Glenwood Springs. I found some great wool blankets from my new favorite shop Toast in the UK. Working out in the mountains is pretty unbelievable – morning hikes & lunchtime ski breaks… I’m afraid I’m hooked.

   

Still lots to be done, but here are a few snaps I took before I flew back yesterday.

And of course, a few shots from the mountain. From tequila lunches on the slope by a bonfire to sipping hot chocolate at the World Cup giant slalom… We do have fun. It’s going to be a great season. I cannot wait.

Brooklyn Flea ‘Smogasburg’

Last Saturday, I walked the bridge with Sophie to Williamsburg for the final ‘Smorgasburg’ of the year. I was hungover & hungry, so the cold sun on my face was just what I needed. The festival was great, right on the east river with over 100 vendors, selling homemade beer jelly to steamed oysters. We grabbed a hot apple cider upon arrival & took a few laps before making any decisions. We ended up basically visiting each vendor and sharing about 6 dishes. We ate a lot. Sophie’s schnitzel was the best, but my pumpkin spice s’more was a close second. There aren’t many desserts better in my eyes… no bonfire though sadly.

Wilfie & Nell

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been doing some interior & exterior decorating work for Wilfie & Nell, a beautiful little irish pub in the West Village. I hired my brother Patrick (aka Pallet Paddy) to build 2 flower boxes for me, which he did from pallet wood. Some might say he lives the Bushwick dream. Take a stroll down west 4th and stop in for a cider and fish & chips, really great food. It’s a perfect place as the weather gets colder …come back in December for holiday decorations like vintage color lights and a light-up santa & snowman!

Turquoise Barn

This past weekend, I went upstate for my birthday to a little place called Turquoise Barn in teeny Bloomville, NY. The bed & breakfast is owned by a lovely couple Michelle & Mike, who have had the land since 1999. The farmhouse has very cute rustic rooms and a great kitchen, where you can find Michelle creating amazing vegetarian dishes; she opened my eyes to raw/whole foods. Similarly, Mike is a very talented woodworker. He’s made most of the furniture in the house and built-up the cafe & gallery in the beautiful turquoise painted barn on the farm. In the barn, he sells his artwork and Michelle sells vintage clothing, records, all natural paints, homemade honey & apple cider from their orchard. Bloomville is rather small, but there are surrounding towns with a bit more going on. Sandwiches & hiking in Hamden. Antiquing in Delhi & Bovina. And Andes for a Saturday night at The Andes Hotel – a great dive bar with good food and live tunes! There was a Tom Petty cover band when we were there… I was very sad to drive home back to the big city on Sunday.

Traveling Photo Booth – Red Hook Wedding

Something the lovely wedding photograher, Ro did not capture at the wedding was the photo booth we built. I hired my photographer brother Paddy to bring his polaroid camera & lights, and my little brother Mike to assist. I like to keep it in the family when I can. I filled the 20′ x 20′ makeshift photo studio with patriotic props & costumes. Guests had their photo taken sitting on a saddle or large stuffed bear called Georgina, all before a breathtaking Yosemite backdrop. Two photos were taken for each group, one photo was to keep, the other photo was stamped on the back with the bride & groom’s address and sent as a postcard the next day. When Mollie & Andrew returned from their honeymoon, they had 200 postcards from their own wedding adventure. Endless fun. Take a look at a few of my favorites…

a very Americana wedding

This August I was asked to decorate a wedding reception at the Liberty Warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Philip Winser, one of the two masterminds behind the events company Silkstone, came to me with the job because of the couple’s request for a ‘dive bar’ transformation of the empty warehouse; this is a favorite aesthetic of mine. I hired my good friend and great decorator Kris Moran to work with me and we had a blast finding materials & furniture, so many details! We found 200 year old taxidermy, created a 20′ x 20′ photo booth, flocked & even wheat-pasted walls with the wedding graphics (all done by the impressive Ro&Co) and had proper diamond-tufted diner banquets custom made. Mollie & Andrew were quite a unique client, their requests ranged from a vintage refrigerator full of Budweiser & the neon sign from Desperado. FUN. Thanks to the amazing photographer Ro Agents-Juska of LES LOUPS, all that hard work and all those details were captured beautifully. She’s got a totally unique style, stunning colors. See the entire wedding here.

Silkstone promo video

Shot, directed & styled promotion video for Silkstone & The Fat Radish / August 2011

work + play in Aspen

Since February 2011, I’ve been working on interior designing a small family home out in Aspen, CO. Here are some photos from the renovation site & drawings. It’s set to be finished for Thanksgiving out there in a few weeks, finished photos to come. Can’t wait to get in there and start decorating this winter.

       

Here are a few snaps from my most recent site visit in August. I could get used to working in Aspen.

work + play in Austin

        

LookBook art direction & styling for my great talented friend Katie Maennle (lookbook currently in production) August 2011

I LOVE AUSTIN! Everything about it.

work + play in Martha’s Vineyard

Having worked on Moonrise Kingdom, I had the pleasure of meeting & partying with Bill Murray. He’s a legend. Kris Moran, my boss, friend & head decorator for Wes’ films, is a great friend of Bill’s and invited me out to help her decorate Bill’s Martha’s Vineyard home. What a place. We had quite a lot of fun. (more photos of the interior with request & permission) July 2011

Montauk finale

When Moonrise Kingdom wrapped, I packed everything in Walker Texas and hopped the ferry to Montauk for 4th of July. It was a very Americana weekend of tie-dyeing, hamburger dates, paella on the beach, fireworks, bonfires and midnight ocean dives. I tried surfing and failed.

Happy Birthday, Walker Texas

Here is my trusty Ford Ranger pick-up, Walker Texas. He’s been with me through a lot – and a year ago today, I drove him out of that used car lot in middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania.

Scout packaging

Packaging for the Khaki Scouts and some Emergency products I made & designed for Wes Anderson’s film Moonrise Kingdom. I cannot explain or show much more until the film is released. Silkscreen on aluminum done by The ADDS Co. USA Inc in Jersey City, NY.