Dallas Morning News: Getting Designs on Santa

Corporate Artist dresses up Buildings for the Holidays...by Cheryl Hall Dallas Morning News, November 27, 1994

Stephen Stefanou's deadlines and travel itinerary might make Santa sweat.
The last month has been a bit of a blur as the Dallas designer has scurried from city to city tending to last-minute details for his decorative Christmas displays.
By today, every oversize wreath, ornament and gilded bow has to be out of his workshop and ready for prime-time seasonal viewing in New York, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Minneapolis and, of course, Dallas.
When NBC Today cameras scan outside NBC studios Monday, Mr. Stefanou gigantic ornaments and toy soldiers will take front and center in their glitzy Rockefeller Center setting.
When traders stream onto the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, their early start will be brightened by an 8-ft, motorized, jeweled ornament representing the globe.
And when Dallas workers return to Trammell Crow Center after Thanksgiving greeted by old acquaintances --two greater-than-life angels hovering above the lobby.
"My biggest success is when a corporate executive walks in and for a second is a child," says this transformational designer. "For that moment he smiles and giggles. It's amazing to see it happen."
Unlike Santa, however, this harbinger of the holidays can't rest now that his deliveries are made. A second incredible rush lies ahead. He must make his goodies magically disappear after New Year's --- and not a day sooner.