Origins

So why 'Flatiron'? Flatiron is a reference to the infamous Fuller Building at Broadway and 5th Avenue. It wasn't the tallest building of its kind when it was completed in1902, but it became New York City's first iconic symbol-- New York's brand as it were.

The site of the Flatiron Building was also the location of the first moving electric sign created by O.J. Gude before the end of the century. O.J. was the Manhattan-born son of an immigrant tailor from Hanover,Germany.  Oscar started his electric sign company with $100. Soon Broadway was lined with 'Sky Signs' or 'Spectaculars'-- the advertising wonder of its era-- and he was a tycoon.  The New York Times credited Gude with naming Broadway 'The Great White Way'.  O.J. Gude was my great-grandfather. It seems advertising runs in my blood.

fi

Flatiron is the name of my consultancy, but I call it 'fi' for short.  The acronym alludes to its phonetic cousin 'Phi'-- a ratio of 1.618:1 also known as the 'Golden Mean' - a measure of aesthetic appeal.  This is where art and science meet-- aesthetics is not entirely random or subjective.  Art, it seems, has deep mathematical roots-- not merely the fluffy stuff of madmen.  Form and function are inexorably connected.

Brand Architect

I am the founder of Flatiron Brand Architecture. Graduating with a degree in advertising I discovered there was a lot more to branding than just advertising. Over the past 17 years I've touched on virtually every form of branding there is from advertising, to sales, to experiential marketing.  I keep digging and keep finding more.  Branding combined everything I loved—art, science,and people.  Branding was complicated, elusive, misunderstood and brutally competitive.  Perfect!  Sounds like the job for me.