lowelldown

Hi Everybody,

I’ve noticed that there’s been a lot of tweeting recently about my installation at the upcoming World Market Center (Las Vegas) at the end of the month. Any of you who heard the recent podcast (see last blog) got a bit of a preview of what we’re doing there. I know that I will probably run into many in the biz whom I’ve been tweeting with recently. If you see me in the halls, please say hello. While many of you know what I look like, I many not recognize you from your postage-stamp-sized twitter avatar. So please, please do not be offended if you don’t immediately register on contact.

The installation we’re doing (at the request of the Mart) is for specialty light stores who often have a hard time connecting with their consumer. Anyone who’s ever been to a conventional lighting store knows that it’s often floor to ceiling ‘fixture-overload.’ As a matter of fact it’s an outlet that many consumers say builds more anxiety then even being at Home Depot on a weekend – LOL.

In struggling economic times these retailers need a way to connect with their audience—not by offering more product, but by placing edited product into a context that will inspire a new consumer rather than confuse them. Teaming with the accessory and furniture venues, we want to show lighting retailers that simple display and use of color will help them make that consumer connection – and that the new visual aid tools that we encourage can become brand extensions for sale to boost their bottom-line too.

However, when sales are down, money to overhaul a space-challenged showroom is simply out of the question. So our job is to show these (often Mom & Pop) retailers how to create pre-coordinated displays using primarily what they ALREADY have on a very tight budget.

I will confess, when my team first heard about designing a lighting showroom, we got very excited and threw around a lot of futuristic ideas about what a showroom of the future could look like. But in the end we realized that our job was not to indulge ourselves, but to serve the local economically challenged retailer, who often have little ‘display’ expertise. So we too had to edit. Gone where the groovy ‘space odyssey’ concepts we’d imagined in favor of teaching basic merchandizing techniques that really could help these struggling merchants.

So, for those who might be expecting a typical Christopher Lowell no-holds-barred extravaganza, I just what to remind ‘non-lighting attendees’ that that’s not the point. It’s not a Rose Bowl float, it’s a hardworking tool for these folks to duplicate no matter what budget they have. But you’ll be surprised at what a little color, texture and accessorizing can do to really put the spotlight on the great lighting designs available today by editing and pre-coordinating into a more recognizable home décor context. It can really change the whole dynamic.

A final note: I’ve received many invitations from industry folk via Twitter. Currently my press obligations are filling up, changing everyday and still in the process of being finalized. So while I would truly love to attend some of these cool events and hang with my peeps, I simply do not know whether I’ll have the luxury to do so, but we will do the very best we can.

Later,
CL

Hey Everyone,

We have a busy rest of the month coming up. Getting our little showcase home in Santa Fe ready for filming next month has been a great process. I say ‘little’ because I’ve always believed that principles done right in small spaces can easily be enlarged and reinterpreted to bigger ones versus the other way around. If you can meet a great pampered living standard in a small home and defy square footage by being clever, then going bigger is a breeze. Plus, smaller spaces look bigger on camera and work better.

So, we’re loading the filming location with not just furniture but the everyday things in pantries, drawers, closets—you name it. This is really where my years of being in other people’s homes, while designing sets for plays, movies and commercials have really paid off. It’s always been a fact (to those of us who have done character-driven set design) that what the camera sees when a character opens a drawer is often more revealing then ten pages of spoken dialogue. In truth, what every good set designer knows is that it’s harder to do “real” and really make it look real, then anything done for the cover of Met Home.

I remember doing the sets for a live TV revival of The Odd Couple in Boston during my theater days. I thought it would be a piece o’ cake to show Oscar Madison’s sloppy apartment. So I focused more on how the place would look once the fastidious Felix Unger moved in. Oscar’s a slob – how hard can that be? Just throw a bunch of stuff around, right? WRONG! Not only was it way harder then I’d ever imagined, but it also had to be recreated during shooting several times from various camera positions – the prop master was nervous and I didn’t know why? But I soon did!

What I learned in short order was that believable chaos and authentic mess happens out of one’s habits and over a course of time. And if that slow, layered process is not evident, the chaos looks stylized and fake. So I had to literally place myself into the characters shoes 24/7 to finally get it right—and re-produce-able, a lesson I never forgot. In past series where we’ve had to recreate a ‘before’, JB my art director (also a set designer like me) would cringe and plop her head down on the table. And we all knew why.

While our show and house will not be presenting “befores” per se, it will be our home for the first season in every respect. And it must accommodate everything most people own and need.

So, from the Band Aids and shoe polish to vitamins and Post-its it’s been a real job to create a home that looks personal, collected over time and authentically down sized—or should I say right-sized. So it’s a place where I myself would actually be able to live, entertain, cook and chill while also answering many of your questions. In short, teach the basics and the real along with the bold and the beautiful.

More Later!
CL

PS: Here’s a link to a recent web cast I was interview for. It’s self-explanatory. Enjoy!

http://bit.ly/dkKHgp

Hi Everybody,

Firstly, thanks for the torrent of reactions (both here and on Twitter) to my dissertation about ‘Flirting.’ There were as many from men as women BTW. It just proves what a smart and interesting group we are. Fundamentally, we all agreed. And many of you added even more subtle aspects as well.

Secondly, thanks for all your nice comments on the Office Depot videos we produced. We had fun making them. Because of your visits you helped us discover that Office Depot had not added the all important “place your order” links. They have been working on it and I believe have solved the problem. So I’m sorry if it drove you crazy — while we supply and edit the content, the rest (mapping logistics) is in Office Depot’s hands. Whoops!

The Ask Christopher web series is moving along. Much of our efforts have been in creating the right architecture for the multiple platforms required but we’re still gearing up for the cameras to roll mid August. While the internet/sponsorship balls are spinning, I, in the meantime, am writing segments every day. The goal of course is that once we start airing, we do it right and keep it going and running the way it’s suppose to. We’re not just doing a video blog. It’s a full series that is even more complicated then doing a TV series. Several of you have asked about that too. Yes, we do plan to do more TV and have some interesting meetings in the works but none will be more galvanizing then the development of this new web series. Here’s a recent entry from my production journal….

Series Development log June 14th:
…So much has surfaced while creating this new web series. Already, I could write a book! Keeping old TV production history, fan & business expectations at bay is a constant battle. Creating without those often-catalytic constraints has been a journey. Making sure I’m doing it for all the right reasons has gotten very personal—hey isn’t this suppose to be fun? Gee, forging a new more intimate style that would have never cut it with network dictum’s seemed so freeing in thought. But while guarding to keep the content simple and pure and honest I’ve found myself re-examining my motives at every turn—really putting me through my paces as it should be with anything new. I used to write an entire episode in my dressing room between shows. Now, more often an entire 6 paragraphs often gets highlighted then deleted leaving only four important sentences on the page in which to build a segment around. Then I say to myself, is this enough? Thank God I’ve been through this creative process enough times to trust the core instincts. What are the new perimeters that one must not step over? Where’s the line between compelling and well, creepy—between holding back and TMI? Thank God for editing…

SEE? LOL, it’s been a very strange process where one’s history does not necessarily serve one’s future.

And we all evolve as humans too. I know most certainly that I’m not the same guy I was even 2 years ago either. While my design philosophies are the same, I feel even deeper about what ‘home’ means then I ever have before. When I stopped living by ‘other’s’ celebrity standards and returned to living with really careful thought here in Santa Fe, my home meant so much more to me again. It’s only strengthened my resolve that it’s not about creating gorgeous spaces it’s about creating harmony in thoughtful environments that defy all social economic bases and most of all square footage. WHY is that there? WHY does that work, in and of itself, so much more importantly than (camera pan) “isn’t this a groovy room?” I can decorate a cardboard box, but that’s not the point. Does it really work on all the other levels? Am I happy I invested in that thing? Anyhooooo…

Lastly, the recent podcast, which we linked on Twitter got some very nice comments from many of you who only read my tweets or hadn’t heard my voice in awhile—and I thank you for that. It was evidently apparent to many of you that my passion and energy is still uncontainable – LOL – what can I say? That podcast represents only one of many interviews (along with radio and magazine) that I do on a weekly basis. So I’m happy you had a chance to hear one of them via web. We will be doing more linking here and through social network as time permits.

That’s it for now folks. Live, laugh, learn!

Later,
CL