Story by James Mason

When entering an exceptionally designed hotel, nightclub, or restaurant, the first thing you notice is how the ambience sets the tone of the space and leads you want to discover more. For years our staff has wanted to know about those who set the tone and create the magnificent spaces that we have admired from Macau to Chicago, and to our delight we were introduced to one such company, 555 Design Fabrication Management.

They are designers, developers, and manufacturers of high-end commercial environments, including nightclubs, restaurants, bars, and retail and entertainment venues. Specializing in custom products, signage, and metal and wood architectural products, 555 has done work for several companies you’ve seen on the pages of both eCityofStyle & eCityofTravel, such as J. Paul Getty's Museum, Northstar Ski Village in Lake Tahoe, The Nine Steak House and Ghost Bar at The Palms Casino and Resort, Las Vegas, Armani Exchange, Burberry, Chanel, DKNY, YSL, Valentino, Tumi, and Guess Jeans.

James Geier, President and Founder of 555, and Karen Herold, VP of Design, sat down for lunch with our very own Ken Panton, President of Wali Media owners of eCityofStyle.com to talk about the inner workings of 555. They design, develop, and manufacture everything in-house, and with their focus on retail design as well as fixture-related products, they are becoming the one-stop shop for the high-end retail and hospitality industry.

James Geier and Karen Herold are with you all the way from concept to installation. They develop their customers’ projects “With key objectives in mind: design, image, quality, budget, time frame, and functionality. We work at several levels depending on the client's requirements. Our involvement may be in all stages from design and development through manufacturing and installation, or development and implementation of client design."

They start by asking the questions to get an understanding of the project, time frame, budget, function, or special design integration needs. Then all this information goes back to their 300,000 square-foot office space where their 100 plus employees make design and style come to life.

One of the many fans and clients of 555 is Stephanie Izard, who brought on James Geier & Karen Herold to convert an old manufacturing facility at 809 West Randolph Street in Chicago to her new restaurant, Girl & the Goat. The food and location are true matches of jet-set perfection designed to showcase the exceptional cuisine in an environment that is welcoming, surprising, and elegantly rustic.

www.555.com