Banana Republic
Chicago, IL

Black and Rusted Steel Railings & Glass Staircase

For Banana Republic’s flagship store in Chicago, designer Robert A.M. Stern wanted to create the feeling and experience of walking on a monkey bridge over a gorge. Jaroff Design helped achieve this sensation, fabricating a custom glass staircase, with a thin metal railing and dematerialized stringer, that pairs each element down to its essential structural components. The translucent glass stair treads reinforce this walk of trepidation, while the metal railing emphasizes the combination of rough and refined that is the store’s trademark – black and rusted steel gives a natural leathery feel to the material that is balanced by the precision of the thin, cut-out geometric detailing.

For over thirty-eight years, Jaroff Design under the leadership of Joseph Jaroff has provided design and fabrication of custom architectural glass and metal for the construction, architecture, interior design and, art communities.

Joe received a BFA in Metalwork and Sculpture from RIT’s prestigious School for American Craft and studied Art History at Harvard University. During the time he was a student, Joe received several grants for public art projects including those from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council for the Arts.

After graduating, Joe moved to New York City to pursue an art career, supplementing his income with architectural metal and glass design and fabrication work for contractors and commissioned projects. This early work led Joe to the realization that he could fill an unrecognized need within the building and arts community through blending his skill sets of designer, fabricator, coordinator and project orchestrator.

Jaroff Design has developed and realized design solutions for projects by architects such as Tony Chi, Herzog & De Meuron, Richard Gluckmann, Peter Marino, Toshiko Mori, Polshek Partnership Architects, Ennead Architects, S.O.M., Phillipe Stark, Adam Tihany, Annabelle Selldorf, Andrew Berman and The Rockwell Group among many others.

Fashion Clients include showrooms and flagship locations for Armani, Issey Miyake, Alexander McQueen, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Stella McCartney, Barneys, Louis Vuitton, Van Cleef & Arpels, YSL and Chanel.

Fine dining clientele have seen JDwork at Asiate, Le Cirque, The Sea Grill, 11 Madison Avenue, Bruno’s Wine Club and, the Hudson Hotel Bar. Cultural clients include Jazz at Lincoln Center, MOMA PS1 and, New York City Center.