MANAGEMENT CHANGES
Cincinnati-based design and branding firm FRCH Design Worldwide promoted nine team members including Young Rok Park to vp; HeeSun Kim to vp; Lori Kolthoff to creative managing director; Tobias “Toby” Harris to creative managing director; Robyn Novak to creative managing director; Matt Erdman to director; Jennifer Nelson to director; Doug Bunker to associate director; and Katie Gottlieb to senior professional.
Parent company Sandow Media Corp. (New York) appointed Susan Towers to the position of vp, marketing and communications at global materials consultancy Material ConneXion and its sister company, Culture & Commerce Inc., a design management firm. As part of her role, Towers will oversee branding, marketing, strategic communications and provide senior executive counsel for both businesses.
STORE OPENING
Luxury retailer Roberto Cavalli (Florence, Italy) opened its renovated New York flagship on Madison Avenue. New features include illuminated glass, walnut parquet mosaic floors surrounded by brass, silver and glass edging in the shoe department, dark brown quartzite flooring mixed with crystal dust, backlit crystal displays set into the walls and python-printed leather upholstered furniture.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
Lighting manufacturer Nora Lighting (Commerce, Calif.) released its 7th Edition Pocket Guide, a supplement to Nora’s 800-page Product Selection Guide. The Pocket Guide serves as a source for product lines and LEDs.
Visplay Inc. (Allentown, Pa.), supplier of modular systems for retail and service interiors, opened a 240-square-foot showroom in New York. The space showcases the company’s fixturing and merchandising systems, including Invisible, Mono, Stripes, Xero and Beam.
Lighting manufacturer Schréder Lighting US (Addison, Ill.) received a Platinum ADEX Award for Design Excellence for its OWLET system of intelligent street and area lighting wireless controls.
Lighting manufacturer WAC Lighting (Garden City, N.Y.) received an LED Award for the “Most Creative Use of LED/OLED” for its Sol Organic LED Chandelier at TheLEDShow in Las Vegas.
FRCH Design Worldwide’s (Cincinnati) design of the Liverpool Polanco department store in Mexico City was named a grand winner in the New or Renovated Department Store category at the 2011 Superior Achievement in Design and Imaging Awards (SADI). The design and branding firm also received an honorable mention for its work on the Merrell store in Rockford, Mich.