Kerner Designs has been launched to specialize in the conception, design, and production of models and miniatures for corporations, architectural firms, hotels and resorts, and location based entertainment venues. The new division already counts among its clients The Walt Disney Family Foundation, and a multi-billion dollar resort located in Dubai.
Based in Marin, California, The Kerner Group, formerly known as “The Model Shop” of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), and today a group of innovative companies and divisions that offer award-winning creative services to all facets of the global entertainment industry, is the parent company to Kerner Designs. Today’s announcement about the formation of that new unit was made jointly by Eric Edmeades, CEO, and Tim Partridge, President, The Kerner Group.
Said Brian Gernand, Kerner’s Senior Creative Director, “Moving our company into this area of business was a natural progression for our team. In the past, Kerner was sometimes referred to as the ‘ILM Model Shop.’ With that kind of heritage, we felt the time was right to expand our client base while continuing our expertise in conceiving and building highly precise models for a multitude of purposes.”
The Walt Disney Family Foundation commissioned Kerner’s Design Team to build a 12-foot diameter model of the Disneyland themed resort, including attractions that Walt Disney himself developed at various times. Currently on display in San Francisco’s Presidio area within The Walt Disney Family Museum,
the model features extreme detail, including a single white horse in its carousel (which, according to Disneyland legend, people used to fight over, until all of the carousel’s horses were painted white in the 1960s). Please see: http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/museum/gallery9.html
Said Richard Benefield, Executive Director, The Walt Disney Family Museum, “To build a model that looked like the Disneyland Walt imagined, the designers eliminated as much extraneous landscape and utilitarian objects as possible, and focused on parts of the Park that visitors remember best. The team at Kerner tried to put themselves in Walt’s shoes, and think of the details the way he did, to create an immersive experience…it was all about invoking personal memories.”
Kerner Designs was also contracted by Tameer Holding Investment LLC, a leading real estate developer based in the Middle East, to build a model to be shown to potential investors–based on architectural designs–of its proposed Tameer Towers resort in Dubai. Strategically located on 34,000 square meters of seaside on Reem Island in Shams Abu Dhabi, Tameer Towers provides luxurious comfort to its guests within a commercial tower offering spectacular views. The resort also offers townhouses and villas in which scenic promenade walkways along a canal lead guests to the spectacular greenery of a Central Park and through a 60 meter atrium to a marina.
About THE KERNER GROUP
The Kerner Group is comprised of a number of exciting creative companies and divisions. The company is positioned to be a leader in the area of 3-D production and technological expertise, with facilities, camera rigs and expertise that afford unparalleled opportunities to content creators across the entire media spectrum. In addition to its list of entertainment industry clients, The Kerner Group also counts among its client base corporations large and small, and private section contractors. For these clients, the company provides highly realistic special effects, emerging 3D technologies and production services, model creation, and a variety of problem solving, applied research and prototyping services.
The Kerner Group is located at 90 Windward Way, San Rafael, CA, 94901. The phone is 415/448-2000. For more information, please visit the company’s website: www.kerner.com.
