Last month the New York Times had an article about the holiday store window displays in the city. I’ve always loved looking at these during the holidays, especially the ones I saw as a kid while visiting my grandparents in Germany. Magical little storytelling worlds with characters in colorful costumes and twinkling lights made my childhood imagination run wild.
Reading the article jogged my memory that I actually had a very brief stint designing windows in NYC. In between my time in London and heading back to Los Angeles for the job at Walt Disney Imagineering I created several windows for the iconic Fifth Avenue F.A.O Schwarz toy store. Please excuse the poor polaroids; they’re the only photos I have of them and this was pre-smartphone days. Obviously the art of Mary Blair was one of my early influences, as you can see.
(photos by Ann Telnaes, 1987)
(Interior of F.A.O Schwarz on Fifth Avenue)