Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Not So Corporate Affair

I've been MIA. Off in the corporate world.. doing something, actually, a little non-corporate.... 

The last few weeks have been the Global Brand Conferences for Wolverine's 10  footwear brands. I work for two of these brands: Hush Puppies and Cushe. 

Let's talk today about
Cushe. Cushe is a young brand, born in the UK in 2004.  (Wolverine acquired in 2009.) It's three primary product categories operate under a simple philosophy: We live in a Urban Safari. We are Universal Travellers. And we strive for Coastal Supremacy.

For the spring conference, we worked with Grand Rapids artist Bill Taylor, who made us several display vignettes from repurposed materials. These included, an urban street cart from a discarded bicycle, a beehive from corrugate cardboard, butterfly inspired pedestals from reclaimed barn wood,  and a wave from, believe it or not, last year's display. But in my opinion the piéce de résistance was the two massive palm trees that surrounded the structural poles of the Wolverine lobby. That, combined with the orange glow from the gelled lights, was enough to make you forget you were in a corporate facility. 


  
The auditorium was transformed: seating was rotated, a dock was built, a pond and waterfall were created and sand brought in. Outside, a graffiti artist from Detroit tagged the side of a shipping container that will soon be a new Cushe pop-up shop. And, for the final cherry, the night ended with fireworks—a little something to wake the slumbering residents of Rockford, Michigan. 



All these great photos were by Alicia Magnuson. Check out her amazing work here.

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