Aged by Hand, Again
Sign painter Alicja Polachek came back on for the finish, hand-painting the piece so it looked weathered and sun-worn, like it had been sitting in desert heat for years. That aging work carried the whole concept. The sign had to read as found roadside Americana rather than something built two weeks earlier.
Engineering for Extreme Wind
Install day in Palmdale, California brought extreme desert winds. That is a serious problem for a freestanding structure this size, especially with a VIP artist scheduled to stand directly beneath it. Working with welders and fabricators, we engineered two steel base plates of roughly 500 pounds each as counterweights, paired with 4-inch by 4-inch hollow steel poles that slotted into the sign's structure. A crane set the whole assembly in place.
There was no room for error. The shoot was locked to that exact day around Rosé's schedule and the production's contract, so delay was off the table. We rehearsed the full install in advance and it held. The only surprise came at strike, when desert sand had half-buried several crew vehicles and everyone pitched in digging cars out before heading home.
The Moment It Came Together
Watching the shoot happen was genuinely emotional. Rosé posed beside a vintage car at golden hour while the desert sky slid into sunset behind the glowing neon, and the mix of that light with the glass felt close to magic. We also built a flickering, "failing" neon effect into the sign so the production had another option to cut into the campaign's video.
The campaign's director had originally considered using drones instead of a physical sign. Choosing the neon sculpture instead, and watching it come together exactly as envisioned, against real odds and a nearly impossible timeline, visibly meant a great deal to him.
An Encore in Las Vegas
The story didn't end in the desert. Neon Flamingo was asked to transport the sign to Las Vegas for an activation tied to the Formula 1 race weekend. While installing the sign there, the campaign officially launched, Rosé's Speedcat images, featuring the same sign, appeared simultaneously on a massive billboard across the Las Vegas skyline, visible from the install site. Paris Hilton attended the Vegas event and took photos with the sign.
A Global Campaign, Spotted Far From Home
Sometime later, while traveling in Athens, Greece, Neon Flamingo's founder walked into a shoe store and spotted a small LED replica of the exact Speedcat sign built for this campaign, a detail that made clear just how far the concept had traveled. The campaign had gone global, with scaled-down versions of the sign appearing in stores internationally.
Why This Project Matters
Speedcat remains one of the studio's biggest builds: a freestanding, structurally engineered sculpture delivered on a brutal timeline, standing safely over a major artist on set. It shows what the shop can do under real production pressure, where the engineering has to be as sound as the glass work and the deadline leaves no margin.
Client: Puma (Speedcat campaign, featuring Rosé of Blackpink)
Collaborator: Alicja Polachek, aged sign painting
Dimensions: 10 feet wide x 12 feet tall, freestanding
Locations: Palmdale, CA (original shoot); Las Vegas, NV (F1 race weekend activation)
Timeline: Approximately 2.5 weeks, concept to install
