The Seattle Gift Show is this weekend!

I'm revving into high speed, prepping for the Seattle Gift Show this coming weekend - supplies to buy, props to make, my car to load up - all for the exhibitor display setup on the 4th floor.

My design partner Karen and I will begin early Thursday morning, unpacking crates and boxes and making a general mess all over the lobby area. What fun! By that evening, we'll have the fixtures and lights and props in place, ready for the influx of products & merchandise the next day. It is always fun to see what the North Hall exhibitors choose to send to us....is it new? Is it a best seller? Something they are known for? Or something completely different that hasn't been seen here before? We often feel like kids on Christmas morning when we see items coming out of boxes, or being wheeled up to us on a cart. (And yes, truthfully, sometimes we are disappointed!)

It's a challenge creating a cohesive display presentation with disparate elements like this - we can't pre-plan it more than deciding what the color groupings will be and what the fixture setup is. We DO usually create a theme (like the 'Breaking News' one last August; this time it's all built around the tagline 'The Complete Package' and the artwork you see above). It's just an exercise in constant creative thinking and revision, a giant jigsaw puzzle where new pieces just keep showing up! At the end of day two, the night before the show opens, we fine tune it all.

And then I walk in on Saturday morning and find more products dumped into the display by vendors who ran late or forgot all about this, and even vendors who aren't located in the North Hall.....O the DRAMA. :O)

If you will be attending - or exhibiting at - the SGS, stop by to say hello, and enjoy the show!