For a few weeks last autumn, television came alive in Midtown Manhattan’s Cassa Hotel and Residences, when Showtime Networks collaborated with leading designers, technology partners, and print providers to transform the top three penthouses of the 48-story building into a showcase of digitally printed, multimedia graphic displays. Inspired by seven of the cable network’s leading original series, the Showtime House 2010 featured innovative décor items emulating the style and persona of each program, and highlighting the integration of technology and creativity.
For their part of the project, designers John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon (jloeckeinc.com) collaborated with HP as well as print provider Olson Visual of Hawthorne, California, on the project.
Olson Visual worked with the designers on some of the items in the “Weeds” room, producing, for instance, “Weeds”-inspired lampshades with its HP Scitex LX600 printer, outputting onto HP Premium Vivid Color Backlit film.
Loecke and Nixon also worked directly with the HP Wall Art team to produce that room’s splashy floral wall graphics. The designers drew 16 different floral and vine designs and provided these along with the wall dimensions to HP, which output the graphics using an HP Designjet L25500 onto the company’s PVC-free Wall Art media. To create the 3-D effect, Loecke and Nixon cut out some of the florals and vines, then decoupaged them along walls and ceilings.
On another front, Grandville Printing of Grandville, Michigan, also worked with Showtime on the project, producing high-end invitations and resource guides for the house using its 7-color HP Indigo 7500 digital press.
Proceeds from paid tours of the Showtime House, which was open to the public through October 2010, benefited the Harlem Children’s Zone, a community-based organization serving more than 17,000 inner-city children that works to end the cycle of generational poverty.
Olson Visual
olsonvisual.com
Grandville Printing
gpco.com