Seattle Gift Show...halfway done!

Here's a peek at a part of the display at the Seattle Gift Show. I'll share more photos and the evolution of the new design plan this coming week - I'm halfway done with my stint at the show because the exhibitor display is done, and now I'm on to prep for my seminar on Monday. Today I wanted to show you a few really neat things! Like, ah, that red flash of color in the photo above....

Swingy trench coat - designed by Samuel Dong, coveted by Diva Deb.
Yes, I've oogled this Audrey Hepburn - style beauty since last February when I discovered it at the Denver Gift Show. I tried it on there in a gorgeous champagne color, loved it, ordered it, and waited.....and waited....nope. Sorry. Not available in that color. I searched everywhere, to no avail. I finally gave up the ghost that I'd ever own it.

Yesterday afternoon, as I sat weary and covered with dirt on the convention center floor, a man's voice said "I brought this for your display". I looked up (probably with a weary look on my dirty face... and hopefully not a dirty look on my weary face!) to see a very nice man holding a lovely mannequin dressed in MY COAT! Well, my coat in red, that is. I asked him about ordering the champagne color and he said "Yeah, sure, I can get that for you." I am in love with this man. (And Mr. Deb is perfectly OK with that!) So tomorrow, I'm ordering my coat, again. Happy girl!

Edited to Add: Uh, yeah well, notsomuch. It wasn't an authentic Samuel Dong Bubble Trench Coat. And even the copycoat doesn't come in that champagne color. sigh. However, miraculously, a lovely woman named Vanessa found my previous blog post (wherein I effused passionately about the coat) and emailed to let me know she sells them. Just not in Champagne. So I have to choose another color. Deep Pink, maybe? White? (Don't hold your breath...)

A few marvelous products were so much fun to see & work into displays - like jewelry made from antique & vintage buttons, from Linda at My Mothers Buttons . She's a doll, and has a true eye for displaying her merchandise. Just look at the vintage slide case she brought me to drape the jewelry on! Perfect.

THIS stuff is just tooooo adorable, especially for a gramma like me. Darling baby towels, blankets, and socks packaged like cakes from Lambs & Ivy. Check them out at lambs & ivy

OK, this one is a long story...
At some point on Friday...not sure when, it's all a blur now....a very funny guy named Ace (yes that's really his name!) came sidling up to our work area and actually started to SCHMOOOOOZE me. Yep, he did. (He's clearly had much success with this maneuver before, I tell ya'. He knew exactly how to schmooze!) What is funny is that he was schmoozing me, the designer of the exhibitor display area, so that I would let him set up his own display. Because, you see, he has a photo of the setup that has to be replicated exactly.

And of course, me being me, the Display Diva that I am, I totally agree with the kind of OCD thinking that creates planograms and photo reference sheets so that displays will be perfect. I get it, believe me! I have my own control issues! And I have no problem with exhibitors who have their own plans and ideas for how their merchandise is to be displayed in these areas. If they want to do it themselves, I am absolutely fine with that. Only, Ace didn't know that. Apparently, Ace had just come off of a massive run-in with some display designers down at the SFIGF who had no intention of letting him have anything at allllllll to do with the way his product was displayed in 'their' showcase. (I cannot tell you how hard I am biting my tongue on this one......)

So anyway, Ace stopped talking and I finally got a word in edgewise to say 'Hey, have at it! You have this space to do whatever you want with your products. Have a blast!' To say his expression was one of shock would be an understatement... he basically sat there, mouth agape, eyes wide, then ran his hand through his hair and shook his head while saying "Madam, you are most certainly a breath of fresh air and the most REASONABLE designer I have ever met!" Thanks, Ace, I appreciate that! Wanna' see what he did?
A nice bit o' display work! And as shown in the background, you can get a gander of these lovely products in the current issue of Romantic Homes. Ace is the business partner of Cathleen, and they own Vintage Home Lifestyle . Sunday, I'll get a chance to go by their booth and see how well he did in setting it up using photo reference sheets... I'll try to get some photos to share. Wonder if I'll have to SCHMOOOOZE him?! ;0)

Counting Sheep...555-1234....

Look closely at these furry little guys...
These sheep are made entirely of recycled phone parts. Receivers, Handsets, and Coiled Cords.
Absolutely amazing!

The artist is Jean-luc Cornec and the sheep are grazing (or have grazed) at the Museum of Communications in Frankfurt, Germany.

Sometimes, it's the unexpected that really makes something worth noticing. Taking a literal concept and expressing it creatively. Using an unexpected material or scale. Thinking outside the phone booth, as it were. Now, how can you use that concept to enhance your store displays?

The Little Things

I'm in the midst of prepping for the upcoming Seattle Gift Show. As part of that, I'm stocking my toolbox (a rolling three-chamber dealie with a rounded top that I lovingly refer to as 'R2' - as in 'R2D2', get it?!) and filling a crate with miscellaneous items to be used as props in the New Product display. I throw all kinds of stuff in there because I never know what I'll need - until that small item shows up allllll by it's lonesome little self, desperate for some proppin' to make it shine!

The photos here illustrate how just about anything can be used to lift, elevate, spotlight, and assist in the visual presentation of small items like jewelry. Even bubble wrap, as seen above, adds a playful element to the colorful and contemporary beaded jewelry and gives it a sense of movement.

Placing necklaces around the necks of these stunning glass vases causes them to curve and drape, just as they would when worn on a woman's body.

Jewelry is created to be worn on a living, moving, breathing body - and it usually looks its best when the prop makes the necklace or bracelet curve and sway and reflect light, much like our arms and necks & shoulders do when we wear it. Earrings are meant to sway from our ears, so lying them flat to show them off is just a sure-fire way to make them look bland. Hang 'em from something, drape them over or on top of fluid fabric...anything to give a sense of movement. Even rings look best when worn - if you've ever gone to Tiifany's to just try on a huge rock, you know that it only really begins to sparkle and shine when it is slipped onto your finger and you lift your hand to the light. It's all truly just rocks and metals, until it moves and catches the light!

Props should reflect the nature (pun intended) of the product, as well...these chunks of bark add texture and roughness, which draws attention to the smoothness and shiny surface of the stones used in the jewelry.

Sorry the lighting in these photos is so off... but you can still see that using even simple photos on paper and adding jewelry to them in a playful way, brings a spark to already beautiful merchandise. This exemplifies a typical last-minute brainstorm situation: I was given a ziplock baggie of eight pieces of teeeny tiny jewelry to put into a large display area. (Oh yeah, and make it look STUNNING! ahem.) I paged through a tourist magazine nearby, found an article on the Chinese New Year celebration and subsequent art exhibit at a museum, and started cutting out the photos. I also went to the exhibitors' booth and grabbed a few of her postcards to use.

The lovely face of the statue in the photo works well with the 'heart' shapes of the jewelry, her ears obviously lent themselves to a pair of dangling earrings, and the modern black/white/gold combination of props actually elevated the product from simply 'sweet' & 'delicate' to 'classic'. (Damn, I'm good!) They loved it, BTW.

My friend June Beach is a jewelry designer with an eye for color and display. She makes the most amazing things, including beach glass / sea glass jewelry. When she photographs it, what props do you think she uses? Why, sand and driftwood, of course! Do visit her blog at Beach Haus Designs for more great jewelry display ideas. (She sells wholesale, too!)

If you are exhibiting jewelry at a show, or arranging some in a display case in your store, remember to get creative with props and add movement to your displays!

Are You KIDDING Me?

Mobile Homes. Not exactly a scion of design excellence in our minds, right?

I dunno'....check out this article on AOL and you'll realize that any room, any building, can be decorated to look like a gazillion bucks. Even if it does have wheels underneath it!

Country Living features mobile home decor

(Oh this would be a FAB challenge for the DesignStar competition!!!)

And Another Thing.....

OK, so Bacchus and I are having a convo about DesignStar contestants in the last posts' comments, and I thought I'd bring it up here into a new post...

He's bugged by the gays on the show acting straight by saying 'I don't have a wife at home' and ignoring their partners by not acknowledging them on camera. Kind of like when Hilary Swank forgot to thank her husband on Oscar night... OOOpsie. Excuse me, but your disrespect is showing.

I'm bugged by the gays on the show acting like cartoon stereotypes, whether by their own choice or network dictate. (A caveat: I do not include Sparkle Josh from last season in this category. Nope. He's the real deal! If it wasn't for his accent, I'd wonder.) I was incredibly bothered by one contestant on another show - Shear Genius - going ON and ON and ON about the beautiful wife he had at home. As if to say "I am the only male hairstylist here who is NOT GAY but I can't say that out loud so I'll drop 'my wife' into every line I utter..." I am just so frustrated by it even being an issue. Gay, not gay, whatever. These are competitions of skill and talent, are they not? Living arrangements, sexual preference, number of or absence of children, annual income, credit rating - non-issues!!!!

But I'd like to steer this in a parallel direction: Do you believe what you see?

Are those characters real - flaws and all, intensified by close quarters, timelines, no sleep because Matt snores like Mr. Deb, and stress? Or are they manipulated by carefully-edited footage to support a dramatic build in tension through the season? (One could ask this question of any reality show.) It's television. What do YOU think? Reality Schmeality.

I mean, Tracee just bugged me from day one. She's the kind of designer... ummmmmmmm.... decorator...... that people think of when the term 'DIVA' is used. (Yes, you hear me shuddering) But in all honesty, is she really like that? Is she really a hothead self-absorbed irresponsible troublemaker? I seriously doubt it. At least, she's not that way ALLLL of the time, which is what the show implied. Even though she wreaked havoc, she wasn't eliminated - why? Because there is no decorating without drama, people! They had to build her rep as the beeotch, and then keep her on to stir it up. How sad is that? I mean, this woman has a family, a business to return to...will this portrayal damage her reputation and affect her business? Will clients avoid her because they think she is a P.I.T.A. to work with? Will her kids be hanging their heads in shame at the way the world views mommy?

I've heard more than a few times from friends and clients that I should enter the DesignStar competition. Yes, I possess the ability to handle the design work. But it's the fallout that scares the bejesus outta' me. I may be more Jennifer than Tracee, but I am scared to death of which 'character' in the drama they'd cast me as: the beeotch, the ditz, the whiner, the perky one (not so bad, actually), the den mother, or the Diva - and I mean that in the worst way.

Shining Star

So...what did you think about the results?

Did you vote? Matt or Jennifer? Do you even watch this show?

Based on the last challenge alone, Jenn nailed it and Matt missed by a mile. Design is all about function, yes - but it's also in the details. And those roll-up blinds on Matt's windows just killed me....

Matt came up with some incredible design solutions throughout the entire show, though - like the giant bunkbed, of course. Jenn's artwork really put a stamp of individuality on every space she designed, and she was fearless with color.

In the end, I voted for Jennifer. But I thought that Matt would win the popular vote. (I also thought that Matt looked like Elliot the photographer on the old TV show 'Just Shoot Me'!) I'm glad it was miss bubbly personality who won - I bet her show on HGTV will be fun to watch, and very inspiring. But we'll have to wait until January to find out!

And after the Design Star wrap-up was 'Summer Showdown' - OI. I really was looking forward to this! I wasn't sold after watching the first one, and I think it was distracting that the contestants were stealing each other's supplies - but then, there has to be drama in a reality show, right?! There is no Decorating without Drama. sigh.