At the core of the display are two giant LED tiaras - one 5ft tall and 18ft long, the other 5ft by 16 ft - rigged above the building's two public entrances on 5th Avenue and 52nd Street. Half way up the building is a 14ft-wide LED bow, joining two pieces of red 'ribbon' which wrap the entire building. Containing over 17,000 LEDs, the scenic tiaras and the bow were built by Met3, Metropolis' Swansea-based LED manufacturing operation.
Metropolis US, headed by Richard Ancas, was initially approached about the project by Patrick Benasillo, VP of Visual Graphics Services (VGS). He and London-based Group CEO Simon Harris pooled ideas and technical knowledge, devised the scheme and bid the job through VGS to Grid 2, Cartier's visual merchandising designers. Metropolis' design and construction team of eight was led by Nigel Thomas, who oversaw and commissioned the project on site.
The tiaras contain a mix of 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 3W white LEDs from Luxeon and Plus Opto. Each also features 19 large 'diamonds' fabricated from multi-faceted acrylic layers to give the pieces depth and body. By day, these jewels - the largest is 250mm - enhance the aesthetics of the tiaras and ensure people don't stare into LED 'holes' where the lights would normally be.
The historic 1870s Cartier building is Landmark Listed, so none of the façade could be defaced in the rigging process.
The highly experienced riggers, John Cappelli Erectors, devised a method to secure the pieces to the building by removing awnings and using a series of catenary wires. The location meant that work could only take place between the hours of 11p.m. and 5a.m.
Metropolis also devised a method of rear lighting the 'ribbon' with red LEDs. They constructed 65 metre-square aluminium matrix panels, each containing 36 x 1W red Luxeon LEDs. These were bolted on to an aluminium framework, in turn attached to the sides of the building by more 'invisible' catenary wires. The fully weatherized Winterberry 'ribbon' is fabricated from a new polycarbonate awning material, specifically designed for rear illumination.
For control, Met3 built a series of custom modulator boxes that are factory pre-programmed with a twinkling effect. These boxes also have DMX capability, but it's not used in this installation. The modulator boxes sit between the power supplies and the display, taking mains in and supplying low voltage to the set pieces. Metropolis also supplied Cartier with a fibre optic display backdrop effect for five of their feature windows - three on two on 52nd Street - involving 250 points of light driven by 9W LED lightsources (from Met3), complete with bespoke variable-speed twinkle effect.
Simon Harris concludes: "It was a team effort on both sides of the Atlantic, between Nigel Thomas, Tom Kirwin and the Swansea contingent and Richard's phenomenal efforts over in the US . . . We also all benefited from Glenn Trunley of Grid 2's enormous experience and vision."
