Marc and Sara Schiller have transformed the white-washed and dry corporate meeting room into a modern, artistic and technologically-advanced creativity incubator.
The two are the masterminds behind MEET, a creative corporate meeting and event production company.
After producing 19 meeting rooms in various venues around the city and opening their first location, MEET at The Apartment in SOHO, they recently unveiled their new flagship, MEET on Chrystie.
The flagship, at 195 1/2 Chrystie St., is a 3,600-square-foot space comprised of two meeting rooms that can each fit 40 people sitting or 75 standing. There are also three bathrooms, a kitchen and wall-to-wall luxury, art and technological features.
Rates are case-by-case, but range from $250 an hour to $7,000 for use of the entire flagship space for a whole day.
Each meeting room has its own concierge, who can do everything from run to the drug store to taking care of a last-minute special diet request from a guest, as well as two projector screens, a sound system that plays Spotify, a wireless microphone and an iPad to control it all.
Upon entering, guests — who often hail from Fortune 500 companies and global corporations like Facebook and American Express — are greeted with a shot of a fruit smoothie. At the end of their meeting, they are treated to a wine and cheese tasting before parting.
“All of these little pieces aren’t that much, but when you add them all up you’re having an experience that you’re really not finding anywhere else,” Sara explained.
MEET is a collaborative effort combining Sara’s background in hospitality, most recently at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Marc’s experience from founding BOND Strategy and Influence, a digital marketing, branding and strategizing firm, and is funded by their personal savings from their previous successes.
The husband and wife are also the founders of the street art blog the Wooster Collective, and their love of art is pervasively reflected in the design of their meeting spaces. MEET on Chrystie is decorated with pieces from their personal art and photography collection which includes Banksy, Faile and Ryan McGinley.
Guests are also invited to decorate the meeting rooms, called the Bee Room and the Salon, to fit their brand; for example, an interior design company could add elements from its new collection.
And to give its clients an added artistic boost, MEET on Chrystie is also designed to incorporate the energy and culture of its Lower East Side locale.
“We want the space to be part of the neighborhood that it’s in and that area, Chrystie Street, is rapidly growing and is an exciting place to be,” Marc said. “We really want people to feel a part of New York when they come to our space.”
Altogether, the decor pushes people into a creative headspace, the couple said. They added that guests often ask questions about the art and design and are welcome to peruse the in-house library for creative inspiration.
“You want a space that brings people out of their element, in terms of it’s got to inspire them,” Marc said. “To create, they need to be brought out of their element.”
