Projects US

For 20 years The Markuse Corporation has dedicated itself to celebrating the role architecture and design play in our daily lives. Our purpose has been to raise the collective consciousness of design, regardless of what form it may take: watches, alarm clocks, wall clocks, mailboxes, weathervanes, house numbers, bath accessories or homewares.

For 15 years, President Jack Markuse acted as ALESSI’s exclusive US Distributor, dedicating himself to offering the finest and most innovative home products to the US Market. Those efforts contributed to making Michael Graves, Ettore Sottsass, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Philippe Starck household names synonymous with good design.

In 1990, PROJECTS began producing a series of Architect designed accessories for the exterior of the home. Michael Graves, Stanley Tigerman, Takenobu Igarashi and Smart Design contributed designs for Mailboxes, Weathervanes, exterior House Numbers, and a line of bathroom accessories. This group of production can be viewed in our Archives.

In 1992, PROJECTS began it’s enduring romance with timepieces by producing Michael Graves’ OH Watch. It quickly became recognized as a classic design with an affordable price. Notable watch designs followed from Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman, and Laurinda Spear of Arquitectonica. PROJECTS recommitted itself to bringing fine design, at a reasonable price, to market.

In 1998, PROJECTS launched Building Timepieces I. Seventeen renowned Architects, who had each designed a museum or performing arts center, were commissioned to design a watch in the image or essence of their building. The resulting collection is as varied and textured as the architects and structures themselves. Contributing Icons include: Michael Graves, Stanley Tigerman, Richard Meier, Charles Gwathmey, Maya Lin, Kisho Kurokawa, Francois de Menil, Cesar Pelli, Antoine Predock, Moshe Safdie, Laurinda Spear, James Wines, Coop Himmelblau, Thom Mayne, James Freed, Eric Owen Moss and Richard Gluckman.

In Spring 1999, PROJECTS launched Building Timepieces II-Alarm Clocks. Several of the contributors to Phase-I returned to create a collection alive with color and style.

In Summer of 1999, Phase-III of Building Timepieces enters the marketplace as a series of ten 13 1/2″ Wall Clocks designed by Projects’ Architects Richard Gluckman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, Kisho Kurokawa, Antoine Predock, Laurinda Spear and Stanley Tigerman.

The year 2000 witnessed the introduction of our Architect designed Cookie Jars. This limited production run turned out to be a project that garnered interest from everyone including cookie afficinados to collectors and ultimately lovers of great design. Michael Graves brought his Italian Villa, Palazzo to life, Stanley Tigerman did the same with his Sam/Emma (mom and dad) while Cesar Pelli and Arquitectonica designed Volcano and Innovative Technology respectively. Other contributors included Antoine Predock with Stealth, Richard Gluckman with Inside the Cube and Richard Meier with The White Chocolate Chip!

2001 brought us back to our roots…innovative timepieces. In particular, the introduction of the Reveal watch proved to be one of our more innovative designs as it showcased an analog watch that reads in a digital format. This was designed by one of Projects’ best kept secrets…Daniel Will-Harris.

The Fall of 2002 will bring us into a new area…Scarves designed by architects based upon their drawings, sketches and interpretation of architecture. Architects not doing fashion design, but architecture in its true meaning. Look for Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Richard Gluckman and Michael Graves to lead these new introductions.

All of us here at Projects wish to thank you, our customer for all the support you have provided us over the years not just by purchasing our products, but with your comments and suggestions in both the design and product development.

Yours in good design,

Jack Markuse, President Projects

Source: http://www.projects-us.com

website of the manufacturer: http://www.projects-us.com