Elevated by Design.
Built to Last.
Tiny Penthouse Studio is a full-service creative branding studio based in New York City - specializing in brand strategy, brand identity, experiential design, and campaigns that move culture.
Founded in 2005 by Melanie Rothwell, Tiny Penthouse Studio has spent two decades building brands that stand out — from Fortune 500 campaigns and immersive experiential activations to emerging tech, health and wellness, and purpose-driven startups.
Melanie Rothwell
Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Melanie is an award-winning Executive Creative Director — currently serving as Founder & CCO of Tiny Penthouse Studio — with 20+ years leading creative at the intersection of strategy, identity, and experience.
She built that expertise across 15+ years at some of New York's most respected agencies — Publicis, Grey Group, Peter Arnell, and Jack Morton Worldwide. At Jack Morton as Experiential Creative Director, she designed large-scale brand activations for Hilton, Reebok, Waymo, and Belvedere Vodka across New York, Dubai, and Cannes — including Reebok's ComplexCon activation, which delivered 8+ minute dwell times and a 3× agency profit upsell. She also designed global launch campaigns for the Range Rover Velar and E-PACE at Jaguar Land Rover, and as Executive Creative Director built the complete brand identity for Genentech's Hemlibra from logo through FDA approval.
At VaynerMedia as Creative Director, she led some of the most talked-about digital campaigns of her era — including the Budweiser × FIFA World Cup's first-ever real-time NFT activation, reaching 10M+ people at 2× engagement benchmarks, and a record-breaking Olay Black Friday that drove $1.5M in a single day. She directed Red Bull × Doodles, launched Bose QuietComfort globally, and helped define how Fortune 500 brands show up at the intersection of Web3, culture, and IRL experience.
Today, through Tiny Penthouse Studio, she partners with Fortune 500 teams and ambitious founders — bringing the same hands-on craft and strategic ambition to every project, regardless of scale.
Effie Gold & Silver · Cannes Lions Health · Mohawk Design Award · MM&M Gold
Formerly known professionally as Melanie Gargano and Gargano Group.
Industries Shaped
Luxury goods · Health & wellness · Pharmaceutical Advertising · Automotive · Financial services · Education & ed-tech · Technology & Web3 · Consumer packaged goods · Experiential & live events · Nonprofit, charity & purpose-driven organizations
Our Philosophy
“ The best brand experiences make people feel something they didn't expect to feel. Not spectacle for its own sake — design with intention, rooted in what the brand actually means to people.”
- MELANIE ROTHWELL / Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Ready to build something unforgettable?
We work with a select number of clients each year - founders, CMOs, and creative leaders who are serious about building brands that earn attention. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear about your project.