Creativity comes naturally for James Geier, president and founder of Chicago-based 555 International. Three decades after launching the company, he continues to work alongside his team on each phase of the design process. Here, Geier discusses how his background and early experiences have led to a project portfolio spanning restaurants, retail, and more.
Where did you grow up? Did it influence your career path?
I was born in New Jersey, but moved to Chicago at a young age and have been there ever since. Growing up in Chicago and the surrounding area has influenced my career path—beginning as a paperboy in Skokie, Illinois and branching out from there. All my jobs have been tied to where I live and hospitality, and have ultimately led me to where I am now.
What is your first design memory?
My earliest design memories were visiting the Playboy Club with my father, who was a Gold Key member in the 1960s and ’70s. The style, fashion sense, rich texture, and feeling the Playboy Club emanated was something that has stayed with me, and influenced me when 555 International was approached to design the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Francois Frankie in Chicago
What is your greatest lesson learned?
Learn to live on half. My mother told this to me after I received my first paycheck for delivering newspapers. I was 9 years old when she took me to the bank to open a savings account, so that I could start saving the half of the money I made. This wisdom has served me well in life and business.
When and why did you decide to launch 555 International?
We were incorporated on April 1, 1988—it is an inside joke to myself that I was starting a company on April Fool’s Day. A former client, Liz Claiborne, approached me for consulting work to design environments so I needed to start a company. It wasn’t anything that was planned, but 555 has evolved from that day since and I’ve never looked back.
How would you describe your firm’s style?
Besides designing something that is beautiful, functional, and enhancing the guest experience, it’s all based on client and customer needs.
Andros Taverna in Chicago
Describe your recent hospitality projects.
Located in the heart of Chicago’s Logan Square, Andros Taverna conveys a modern homage to a generational family tradition of simple, sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine. The atmosphere is inspired by the architecture of the Greek Islands but modernized.
[We] set out to make RealGood Fulton Market an environment that stays true to the brand’s fun and casual core ethic. The brand’s newest location in Chicago’s hottest destination neighborhood is a fast-casual option that embodies healthy lifestyles and puts all of the RealGood pieces together.
Marvin’s Food & Fuel is a corner restaurant that offers casual, high-quality, and affordable dining and drinking in a neighborhood that is populated with a number of Michelin-starred venues. Guests can dine inside at a table or at the bar in either of the two dining rooms, or in the outdoor café spaces on one of the most highly coveted corners in Chicago. With Marvin’s, like our other projects, we created an inspiring environment that is engaging—something you’ll want to tell your friends about and come back to often.
What do you love most about hospitality design?
Knowing that the environments we create are critical components of the guest experience and will generate actual smiles and sales. The built environment shapes how customers engage with products and services, and creates connections between companies, brands, and consumers.
The bar at the AC Hotel Tampa Airport
What is your dream project?
It’s a project I already have in the works called TRANSFIX, the world’s first immersive touring experience devoted to large-scale sculpture, illuminated art, design, sound, and technology. As a lifelong sculptor and arts benefactor, creating TRANSFIX is truly a dream job as it’s all about the art, the artists, and the immersive artistic experience.
What’s next for 555 International?Â
I’m very excited about Industry Ales, a restaurant and brewery we are creating on South Wabash in the heart of Chicago. We’re helping breathe life back into downtown.
If you weren’t in your current career, what would you be doing?
I’d be building sculpture and a river guide in Wyoming.
