Scott VanderVoort is an artist, designer and educator interested in the challenges of
contemporary aesthetics and expanding the reach of industrial design. Inspired by the overlap between the manmade and natural worlds, Scott's work provides subtle yet surprising artistic epiphanies intended to engage viewers in a larger dialog about our sense of space, motion and meaning.

He's an Adjunct Professor in Pratt Institute's Industrial Design Department and held senior positions with several renowned design firms and worked with marquee clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Coca Cola and Ernst & Young. Most recently he served as creative director at Rockwell Group, leading projects in environmental branding and strategic retail planning and design.

We're at the Bond Street Residence inside the elevator he designed for his company, LIFTnewyork. It is brushed stainless steel with two entrances and two large glass windows. Through one window you see the mechanics of the elevator: the cables, rails and a giant piston. Through the other is a
 
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and a giant piston. Through the other is a painted mural by Doze Green and David Ellis that slowly reveals itself as you ride the elevator.

Michael Chuapoco: What was the process for the mural?

Scott VanderVoort: They first did the layering of the orange to saturate the wall and then watched lines and different elements coming out and then they came in with the heavy black to start to set up some real dominant movement.

Then came the detail of Doze's iconic graphic forms and creatures and David Ellis's line-work. One guy would do a line and the other would pick it up, like poets rifting off each other.

MC: How did the project come about?

SVV: The building was modernizing the elevator and the original was an old freight elevator with windows. That for me was an immediate design opportunity, which was to maintain the feeling of movement. So I put these windows in that are actually a very similar proportion to the ones in the freight - that's why they're this size and at this height. So it's a very close connection I was making with the old to this new. It didn't occur to me right away to get artists to do the mural; it was only after I saw the opportunity, the movement, the texture, and I was like, ok great, this is actually a wonderful place to have a conversation about a lot of different things; it was like an open canvas.

MC: What do the neighbors think?

SVV: The big comment is, Wow, I haven't
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seen this before," and comments about the incredible work that the artists did. One thing that I did require from the artists is that they indicate when you land on a floor; that it's indicated somehow graphically. [I see two dots indicating we're on the second floor.]

This hand painted mural is definitely one aspect of what LIFTnewyork embodies. The other avenues are more experiential way finding navigation, moments in space kind of effects, maybe lighting and projection of content onto walls. Then there's this more sort of obvious product or solution which would be to put advertising in certain contexts into more commercial buildings or headquarters.

MC: Like corporate branding? SVV: Yes. LIFTnewyork's mission is to activate urban spaces and transform these overlooked spaces into dynamic works of art. Then there are these other second and third products I'd like to provide.

MC: Your website said something about texture. How would that work?

SVV: That was more of an approach for a building that already has an architectural feel, and to continue a certain finish, like a material, onto the wall. Continue the feeling of the environment; brand it in a way to make it cohesive.

MC: How did this work logistically with the residents?

SVV: The artists worked at night to avoid impeding accessibility. They worked for five straight nights from five at night to five in the morning.

MC: Wow.

SVV: Yeah, they ripped it up. You can see the level of detail. You can see the two very distinctive styles and the really nice way they married each other. In future installations I want to get involved in some of the art. I want to do layers to add depth, adding a relief into it. But I love collaboration - it makes everything so much more intense, unique and specialized, you know?