Keep On Moving

M OVEMENT IS A dynamic element that has been in the toolbox of visual merchandisers since the profession began. Nothing attracts attention more than movement. And if you wanted motion in your window displays, interior presentations – or in a celebratory holiday extravaganza – Lou Nasti was your guy.

Raymond Mastrobuoni was a dear friend and colleague of Mr. Nasti. Ray created magic on Fifth Avenue for 40 years as the window designer for Cartier. While Mastrobuoni’s mantra was, “If you can imagine it, you can create it,” he often turned to fellow magician Lou Nasti to help him bring an idea to life.

Over the years, New Yorkers have endured many labor strikes and work stoppages. They’ve survived them all, including teacher, newspaper and transit strikes. None, however, was more odorous than the sanitation strike or, as New Yorkers fondly remember, the garbage strike. The work stoppage affected the entire city. Stacks of garbage were everywhere. Apartment buildings and private homes had mounds of smelly refuge piled on the sidewalks, and businesses large and small had their buildings festooned with pyramids of garbage bags. Fifth Avenue was not exempt from this horrible situation. All of the fine Fifth Avenue retail establishments were sporting heaps of rotting garbage alongside their stores.

This particular strike was a serious affront to everyone’s olfactory senses and even threatened to become a health crisis. Tempers were running short. Both the mayor and the union president were taking a lot of flak. New Yorkers were not happy as the situation seemed to be getting desperate. In his inimitable way, Ray sought to cut the tension by making fun of a horrible situation. He wanted to make people laugh. Never afraid to throw his wit and satirical humor into a social situation, Ray dreamt up a scheme that would give even the most hardened New Yorkers a chuckle. “I’ll fill Cartier’s windows with garbage,” thought Ray. “That will catch someone’s attention. That will make them laugh.” And that’s exactly what he did. It was controlled urban chaos in the most exclusive windows in the world.

The concept began with a beat-up old tin garbage can and a load of New York City refuge.  Of course, any good urban landscape that features a garbage can needs a mangy feline to complete the scene. In this case, however, this meowing marauder would become a very fat cat. The garbage pail was placed in the center of the window, and it was indeed filled with garbage: Everything from orange peels and apple cores to soda cans and beer bottles to crumpled newspapers and half-burned cigarettes.

The plan was to have this street-wise furry scavenger pop out of the pail wearing a pavé diamond necklace. Like many a scurrilous pussycat, this character was going to be wearing a bell around his neck. This bell, attached to the diamond necklace, was a pavé diamond bell. To animate the scene, Ray called on his old friend Lou Nasti.

Ray knew quite well, that if you wanted it to move, you wanted Lou Nasti. With a motor here and a few gears there, Lou could bring anything to life. Ray went off to Lou’s shop in Brooklyn where they put their wits together to flush out the idea. Ray wanted the cat to pop out of the can, lift the lid up and turn to the left and right while wearing the necklace. The scheme wasn’t as simple as it seemed. First, Ray found the perfect stuffed cat. A wily character that had the ideal devil may care, “Who, me?” kind of attitude. Lou easily devised a cover that would open and close. Next, they positioned the cat to lift the cover and turn left and right with his paws on the edge of the pail as though he was pulling himself up and looking around. When the cat went back into the pail and the cover went down, it dropped on his paws. A new mechanism was needed. Lou wired the paws so when the lid lifted, the paws came out for the desired effect, looking like he was pulling himself up. But now, when the lid went down, the cat retracted his paws.

I first met Lou Nasti while I was the Director of Visual Merchandising for Sterns Department Store based in Paramus, N.J., long before I had the honor of befriending Ray Mastrobuoni. Looking back, it was clear to me that Lou could make anything move, including viewers’ emotions.

Distinctive in his looks, bespectacled with a big, bushy mustache, he was distinguished in his innate ability to bring inanimate entities to life. From Toyland displays at a Brooklyn mansion to the “Holiday in the Park” display in the atrium of the Fisher Building on 52nd Street – featuring fountains, wrought iron fences, lampposts, skaters, puppeteers, fishermen, chestnut vendors, lovers on a park bench, bird feeders and a central kiosk with a musical quintet – Lou brought the wonder of movement into this and everything else he created.

Lou’s genius was first noticed with the creation of Mr. Obos, a blue-eyed, 6-foot-5-inch giant of a mechanical man, made of five-gallon oil cans and a lot of imagination. So popular was Mr. Obos that he earned Lou an appearance on the Johnny Carson Show.

Sadly, Lou Nasti passed away Feb. 28, leaving behind a legacy of joy to all who saw the magic of his work. “Rome wasn’t built in day,” proclaimed Nasti in a New York Times interview in 2017. “You know why? I wasn’t the Forman on the job.”

Lou’s wit, creativity and humor will be sorely missed by the retail design community.