By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Team America goes Calcutta: David Rockwell and Pantaloons
The design firm of ace set-meister David Rockwell (who did the itty-bitty puppet sets of Team America), the Rockwell Group, is going to town in India. Reports Subhro Saha in Calcutta’s Telegraph, “The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood… America’s largest retail complex, Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey… and now, retail and entertainment space in Calcutta. The New York-based Rockwell Group is set to rock the city with its unique “storytelling style”. Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd has tied up with the US design and architecture major for its upcoming Central in south Calcutta, as well as another 300,000-sq-ft-plus mall that will be independent of the Pantaloons brand… A 3-member Rockwell team is on a reconnoitre tour of the country. It studied the city’s retail racks on Tuesday, meeting some prominent players in the industry as well. “At this point, they are here primarily to understand the way Indian consumers shop, eat and celebrate, so that our malls can emote local sentiments,” said Kishore Biyani, managing director, Pantaloon Retail. “Our style of articulating a brand through storytelling is an entirely new concept. We use architecture as the DNA to grow the brand, delving deep into our scenic design competence, since architecture and movies have such a wonderful chemistry,” said Mark Patricof, president and CEO of the Rockwell Group… The new mall in Calcutta, funded by Kshitij and designed by Rockwell, will “enable ordinary people to buy what only the rich could afford”, promised Biyani.