Building things at the intersection of physical space and digital code.
GRIMMWERKS is the practice of Garry Schafer — a developer, sound designer, and installation builder who has been making digital things that live in physical spaces since 1996.
He once voiced Captain America for Marvel Comics. He also built the control system that ran the Toys R Us flagship in Times Square. The through-line is not a medium. It’s the problem.
Most web devs don’t know what RS-232 is. Most AV integrators can’t write a Rails API. GRIMMWERKS does both — in the same career, sometimes in the same project. The work spans museum kiosks and Rails applications, Crestron control systems and React frontends, spatial audio mixing and PostgreSQL data pipelines. The physical-digital crossover is the rare thing.
Toys R Us Times Square
Built the custom control system for the flagship store: 152 displays, 32 video servers, 7 sound zones, and a 20-foot animatronic dinosaur — all from a unified socket server architecture.
The Statue of Liberty
Programmed safety systems and produced a 45-minute documentary for the 2004 reopening. Seen by over 6 million visitors per year.
Marvel Comics
Created the soundscapes for Marvel CyberComics (cited in Wikipedia). Voiced Captain America in “The Secret Adventures of Captain America” alongside writer Joe Kelly (Ben 10) and artist John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men).
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Programmed Crestron control systems for training rooms, dining hall, and conference facilities. Designed all touchpanel user interfaces.
Smithsonian Museums
Networked multilingual kiosks for the National Museum of the American Indian. Multi-room AV and teleconferencing systems for Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.
Wellinks Health Tech
Co-founded and served as CTO. Designed the web architecture and built the prototype for a wearable health platform. Company was later acquired.
Intrepid Museum
Built an immersive WWII kamikaze experience: SMPTE-synchronized video, MIDI-controlled fog machines, and spatial directional audio inside a decommissioned aircraft carrier.
Bumble and bumble University
Designed and programmed a facility-wide control system spanning 6+ floors: classrooms, auditorium, salon, and 12-channel digital signage — all controllable from WiFi tablets.
Today GRIMMWERKS builds web applications, control systems, and interactive installations — from Rails APIs and React frontends to Crestron-programmed spaces and spatial audio environments. The background in physical-digital integration means every project ships with real-world awareness built in.
If you need a technical co-pilot who understands both the code and the room it runs in, let’s talk.
30 years of making disparate systems cooperate. From museum kiosks to health tech platforms, from trading floors to Times Square. Whatever you’re building, I’ve probably built something like it before.
Start a Conversation →