Considering he's the visual director for Saks Fifth Avenue, perhaps the most famous and extravagant national franchise in Charleston, Ben Rodriguez’s aesthetic philosophy is surprisingly understated: "Less is more," he likes to say.

"Everything is constantly changing," says the 29-year-old of Saks’ fast-paced design scene, as he takes his morning walk-through before the 10:00 a.m. opening.  In addition to keeping fresh aesthetic ideas coming, Rodriguez is responsible for every detail of the store’s displays, such as arranging cosmetics in a glass case and selecting a lone orchid for a table.

The face of the 30,000-square-foot Majestic Square store sports four window displays, three on King Street and one on Market Street. Rodriguez points to a lime green window on Market Street that he changed right after Valentine's Day. Boasting a “Message in a Bottle” theme, a single bottle of bath oil sits on a pedestal, with a screen-printed text about love on the wall behind.   "I'm very much a minimalist, so it's not hard to change things quickly," he says.

A southern take on the Saks Look

While the Charleston store was set up with some local touches--oil paintings with a tropical motif, bird cages designed to look like Southern homes--Saks retains its distinctive style so that customers walking into the store anywhere in the country would instantly recognize it.

For that reason, the spring colors for the Message in the Bottle window were sent to Rodriguez by the corporate visual department.  “There's an aesthetic standard the company wants to keep," Rodriguez says. "But every [franchise visual director] has his own style."

While an educational background in marketing and merchandising has been helpful with his work, Rodriguez says a love of art and fashion is the major asset. He lists his favorite designers as Armani and Yamamoto, and favorite artists as Cezanne and Monet. “Monet's not necessarily minimal, but I like him because of his use of color," Rodriguez notes, and also cites an affinity for the photography of Annie Liebowitz and Herb Ritz.

Raised in Florida, Rodriguez got his start with the Palm Beach Saks as a temporary student worker. In those days the company hired students to come in and take inventory by hand when the stores were closed overnight.

Not that Rodriguez is a hands-free artistic visionary now.  "One important aspect of Ben's job is that it takes a good bit of physical strength," says Glenda Byars, public relations manager for the Charleston Saks. "He's climbing ladders, moving around these enormous display cases, and at the same time handling items that are very delicate and expensive.”

In Charleston for over a year now, Rodriguez seems more than happy to be involved in the look of Saks. "The ideas coming from the corporate office, and mine, well, we're really on the same level," he says. "Even though [the visual directors] are spread out all over, it's like having a bunch of people who all think the same in the same room.  Overall the image we're striving for--clean, sophisticated, elegant, modern--is the same."

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