ABOUT MATTHEW
Matthew is a widely recognized creative visionary, brand strategist, commercial and retail designer known for his revenue generating iconic visual presentations and marketing strategies. With over 25 years of experience, his vision has guided corporate leaders of brands worldwide.
Matthew spent his growing up years working in his father’s design workshop. He learned the values of hard work, the freedom of creative entrepreneurship and the advantages of developing a global vision. After graduating from Boston University in 1990, he spent a few years in New York commercial real estate before starting his first business incorporating art and artifacts from West Africa into bespoke furniture design for Neiman Marcus’s Horchow Catalog.
His gift for creating iconic public experience for major brands started in 2001 by cladding Bloomingdales New York City flagship with over 1 million LED lights. His next big hit was the world-renowned multi media sound and LED light show on the façade of Saks Fifth Avenue across from Rockefeller Center. This led to a career of high profile venues seeking Matthew’s vision and talent to create timeless, evolving, public experiences driven by his natural innate sense for pairing brand values, architecture, scale, materials and technology.
The successes that followed over the next decade and a half included Holiday Under the Stars at the Time Warner Center, an immersive high tech light show with bespoke programming to custom music compositions. The 14 foot aluminum stars have been hanging in the space since 2007, receiving numerous awards and gaining worldwide recognition. Cartier, Macy’s, Lord and Taylor, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany’s, AT&T, Westfield Properties, Taubman Properties, Brookfield Properties, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The Chrysler Building, The Empire State Building, The MTA are among those to tap Matthew for his experience and vision for lasting, iconic, branded public displays.
His retail experience includes designing, building and implementing worldwide distributions of bespoke window and in store props for Gap, Ann Taylor, Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Sephora, H&M and others.
Matthew served as Founder, President and CEO of award-winning design firm, Holiday Image until December, 2018. The company serviced the shopping center, retail and commercial real estate industries for over 15 years, with deep commitment and appreciation. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, CNN, The New York Times, VMSD, DDI, Fuji TV and an HGTV special presentation dedicated exclusively to his work.
In 2019, Matthew started a new chapter with Matthew Schwam Design Solutions. As consumer behavior continues to disrupt retail and commerce, the opportunities for shopping centers and the retailers within them to evolve are ever present. Creating new and innovative immersive experience to connect Brands with their Customers has never been more important. This is the focus of MSDS. MSDS’s use of and approach to space represents the future of brand interaction and experience.
Matthew is committed as the lead visionary and designer for each project taken on by MSDS. His hands on approach ensures his customers a highly coveted level of excellence in vision and implementation on every project.