Cheers!

I grabbed this photo from somewhere awhile ago, and since I am feeling a bit like I have been drained, it seemed an appropriate image for this post. Cute display idea, huh? Or, event decor for a winery dinner?! I've always loved plopping candles into champagne saucers, but this? SO easy.

I'm working on some photos for you....this may take awhile, so be patient! There will be before shots, design sketches, and after shots of a showroom I just redesigned. I'm arranging them in sequence, and then I'll post a few and share the transformation of the space.

Everyone is emailing me asking about the Seattle show - what was new, what is 'IN', what's 'on trend' this season. Frankly, my dears, I can't answer that!!!! I was so busy working, I didn't even notice! When I shopped the market for the winery on Monday, I noticed more pastel colors than in the past, but also more brights. Also neutrals, coinciding with 'green'/environmentally conscious design. So, a little bit of everything, really. Shabby. Retro. Mod. Primitive. Woodsy. Beachy. You name it, it's out there.

The trick is to figure out what statement you want your store to make, who your customers are and what they are seeking, and buy according to THAT. You can't be everything to everyone - try it, and you look like a garage sale. YUK.(That reminds me of a sign I saw years ago: 'GROJ Sale'. Funny!) Trends come and go - good design lasts forever. Style is open to personal definition - and truly, expressing ourselves thru our home's decor is as important and common as doing the same thru the fashions we wear. We find the basic style we love, then just add our own FLAIR! It's the same with a shop, no matter what you sell.

Design Evolution

Start with THIS: This season's Seattle Gift Show logo, on collateral sent to me by the marketing director of Western Exhibitors:

Envision THIS: A 3-D replication of the logo. White boxes, artwork, aqua 'bows' on top.

OK, well, truthfully, that photo is NOT how I envisioned it.
I saw each of the four squares in the logo shot being enlarged and printed separately, then I would attach them to the fronts of the boxes so they would be a larger and exact replica of the logo. Apparently the printer had some issues with the jpeg image that the graphics department sent him, and this is all he could do with it. Hey, display necessitates flexibility - we do what we can with what we've got! It worked out ok.

Using the white cardboard Easy Pedestals, MDF tables, acrylic cubes, and now these white boxes with logos on them, we set the stage.....



Here it is, ready and waiting for product....
You can also see the mannequin heads with stylish coiffures in aqua blue. Paper is our friend! Cheap, bright, colorful, attention-getting paper whimsy. I just can't resist!

Once the products/merchandise are brought to us and added, in sections that correspond to divisions of the show this time, the whole area takes on a different look:

This is a shot of the whole display, taken at about 6 PM on Friday. Four hours past deadline for product submission. Approximately two hours later, we had added many more items and were too exhausted to shoot final photos.
May I just say God BLESS all of the exhibitors who brought their merchandise to us before the deadline! I felt like a teacher listening to excuses why the homework was not done on time: My dog ate it. My truck broke down, My shipping container isn't here. My hotel screwed up. My flight was late. The taxi got lost. I couldn't find my booth space. I couldn't find YOU. I came by but you weren't here. (Sorry. Nature calls occasionally in a ten hour day....) Oi.

I think at the next show, I'll have some sort of reward for all who do plan ahead and bring us a box of merchandise as they unpack to set up. Or who send it ahead to the marketing director. Maybe candy, Starbux gift cards, SOMETHING. When you are on time, polite, helpful, and understanding that the deadline exists for a reason, this 15 X 30 foot space has a design plan created to maximize visibility for each display cube, each vendor gets ONE cube space, and that not everyone can be "front & center", we love you with undying devotion. This is a tough area to merchandise, it is many long, hard, physical hours, it is constant re-working of the setup to make everything fit, and it is free as a show courtesy to North Hall exhibitors. We are determined to do our VERY BEST to assist you in having a successful show. Trust me, we really are good at it. See?



So, there you have it. Display from start to finish. Concept to Completion. Inspiration to Exhaustion! And yeah, I love it love it love it. So did exhibitors, attendees, and Mike & Wendy Dean (owners of Western Exhibitors show production) - they all complimented the design use of the show logo & colors, as well as the setups that made products such standouts. Thanks, we really appreciate that!

About Deb

Debi Ward Kennedy

I've been a Retail Visualist, Display Stylist, Store & Brand Concept Designer, Writer, Blogger, Speaker, and Consultant to many businesses within the retail industry for over 35 years. 

Please peruse my blog for resources, information, and inspiration that will serve to educate you as a retailer or designer. From sidebar links to other blogs & web sites, to my own posts & articles, videos, photos, and reading recommendations, you'll find a wealth of assistance there. On my web site, you can view the six videos on visual merchandising that I produced & filmed in 2008. If you are interested in my written materials, or having me write something for your publication or blog, please contact me at debi.wardkennedy@gmail.com for permissions or info.

I wish you the best as you continue to learn and expand as a business owner!

Debi Ward Kennedy

_________________________________________________________________

My service as a designer & consultant is to create a visual plan and concept design for retail spaces. That service ultimately creates a product: the setting in which retailers do business. Creating a Coordinated Visual Presence helps to sell not just merchandise, but a business' own brand image and the value of all that it offers.  

My design goals have always been foremost to utilize the space effectively for cost, operations, and use, and to express the brand image of the business through choices made for use in the retail environment. Design methods that I utilized were to help clients use their retail space tell the 'story' of their business – a visual representation of what the core values, mission statement, purpose, and history are AND allowing space for the growth of their brand into the future. In over a decade of consulting, I never replicated designs for clients - in my mind, every project is an opportunity for growth and vision. No two clients are alike, so no two designs have ever been, either.


I've helped many business reach their 'Visual Impact Potential' across all visual media – through the way their store or booth looks, in the print ads & online presence they use, even down to the personal appearance of the staff. My services enable retailers to Tell Their Story consistently and effectively through every opportunity to reach new and existing customers - in a way that no other business can. I empower independent retail merchants to succeed.


Whether I work one on one with a client to redesign their store or style it for a photo session, am writing articles for retail industry magazines & blogs to share information, or educating audiences through seminars and panel discussions at trade shows, my goal is to empower retailers and assist them in putting their best visual foot forward in every area of their business. 

For over 35 years, I have worked in, studied, and was an educator & consultant for the retail industry. That includes stints as an employee for amusement parks, hospitality (hotels and event facilities), mall chain stores, big box stores, independent retailers, small businesses, big businesses, running retail 'pop-up' shops for churches and schools, and as an entrepreneur with my own retail boutique. From event & holiday/seasonal decorating to display styling & merchandising, I've had hands-on experience with the food, wine, fashion, home decor, furnishings, textile, and gift niches of the retail industry. I've been an active stylist since 1975.


My design clients include The Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, and Denver Gift Shows, and the Northwest Flower & Garden Show (exhibitor product booths and displays, several of which have won awards), Seattle’s Pacific Marketplace wholesale showrooms, major Washington State wineries Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia, and Hogue, Five-Star Hotel Willows Lodge, international retail trade publications and online resources, and independent niche retailers & artisans across the country.  

In May, 2010, I made the decision to discontinue pursuing new clients, and to focus on the furniture and home decor design business that my husband and I started three years ago. I am still available for writing assignments and seminar presentations. Please inquire at debi.wardkennedy@gmail.com.

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!

SweEt IdEaS for tHe SwEEt...

Deb's got a sweet tooth in more ways than one, let me tell ya.
That's my kitchen window above, loaded with candy dishes heaping full of yummy tidbits (that I'll never really eat, truth be told....my weakness is chocolate) and a few trompe loeil treats...

Inspired by THIS photo from a past issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine , I gathered up some round cardboard containers, metal tins, fabric, ribbons, and froufrou, and got to work. (I know, I know, this is not WORK. Let's call it a 'Creative Exercise' then, OK?) I came up with two versions:
Here is the first, in white and pink. It's tucked into the kitchen window. The top layer? One of my white china cups, flipped upside down with the handle in back. And here is number two, a bit more cheeky but romantic just the same as soon as I added my actual cake topper (circa 1980, hence the cheesy factor). In this photo you can't see the fun pink scalloped edge of the lower layer - it's one of my set of six napkins, so sweet and pink and French 'GiGi' in style that I use them every spring. Love LOVE love them.

Well, I was on a roll so I just kept going...

Another china cup holds an impromptu pincushion that looks like a cupcake. The cherry pin was hanging out in my jewelry box wondering if it woudl ever see the light of day again - tada! Those CUUUUTE pink & white 'marshamarshmarsha'mallow candies, BTW, came from Dollar Tree. Yes. A Dollar a bag. Conversation Hearts did, too. CHEAP props!

And this, this is Miss Ami, nestled in close to the velvet heart box that holds some lovely glass hearts and a few diamond rings, plus a VERY old creation of mine - the button heart pin. Miss Ami is named after Miss Amy because she looks just like her and Amy loves cute things, so now I create cute settings for my Miss Ami each season in my kitchen window. Yeah, yeah - I can see your head shaking from here. I've gotta get the cute stuff in here somehow, you know.... and if you paid attention, you'll find a treasure trove of ideas for retail displays for Valentine's Day!

I Heart Display!

A few posts ago, I talked about restyling 'old' products to create a new look, theme, etc. It's nearly as fun for me as opening boxes of new merchandise and creating a design plan...okay, yeah, I know that makes me sound really dorky. It's okay, I own up to my own dorkiness when it comes to my passion for design! I love to take something and make it look totally different by combining it with something else, using a different color to set it off, etc. And it really is an effective way to lengthen the 'shelf life' of merchandise instead of just putting it on clearance. Keep those profit margins UP, that's the goal.

Along those lines, I had some grand plans for Christmas 'leftovers' (...not of the edible kind, mind you!) that I was going to incorporate into a Valentine display. Well, you know how it goes - in display as in life, the best-laid plans go astray: Several of the items I wanted to use sold on clearance, others were packed up for use next year. So I took what was left and combined it with a few items that are Valentine-specific, and built up this small display.
I DID get to use the red table and red pottery that I mentioned before, plus leftover white & red linens and some of the silk flowers that we keep in the retail stash just to add a flourish to displays. The candy shown is, sadly, NOT Seattle Chocolates (my apologies to the lovely person who left a comment on the other post!), but is eyecatching just the same. To that, I added the Reidel glasses in boxes with red hearts, heart-shaped red fondue pots, and some chocolate fudge sauce & bing cherry sauce. I also nabbed the last six regular fondue pots from the 'kitchen' area in the shop, and tucked them into the display. Crystal votive candles and bud vases and bottle stoppers (with hearts, natch) and some FAB.U.LOUS Cabernet Sauvignon wine finish it off. Something in every price point, really, and if you wanted to have a blow-out V Day evening, everything you need is right there in one display. (Ummmm...except someone to share it with! And even if you are currently single, don't despair - there's always Hugh Jackman on DVD!)

The rest of the red pottery and all of the white ceramic trays, casseroles, bowls, etc. that I was planning to incorporate into the Valentine display went into THIS one. There was simply just toooooo much for one display, plus Lisa bought the fun Rooster ceramics & figures, and I wanted to make them a focal point. (Lisa, the buyer at Columbia, has a 'thing' for birds. Any bird, really. And pigs, too. It's like a farm around the shop sometimes!!! But they are always funny...and they SELL, which is the point! So I guess she isn't the ONLY one with a bird 'thing'....)
In the background of the display you can see a birch tree. O yeah, it's a whole TREE, right there inside the winery retail shop! I sweet-talked the man at the storage facility out of it when I saw the storm had blown it over. He thinks I'm nuts, I think I'm thrifty and eco-friendly for giving the tree another shot at usefulness! It will remain here year-round, as a great prop to hang things from and a perfect visual draw to the rear corner of the shop. How does that work, you ask? It's huge, it takes people by surprise, and have to come over and check it out...that means they get close to the display, see the products, and....voila. Objective acheived.[[ My very public THANK YOU DEAR! here for all to see, to my handy hubster for bringing this tree down to the winery for me just MINUTES before the snowstorm began and stranded him here (2WD truck....what was he thinking?!). We ended up eating Redhook food and drinking D2 wine with friend Tracy, at DeLille winery a few blocks away - not such a bad way to while away a few hours waiting for the roads to clear!]]

This is a 'money shot' from the display in the very front of the shop. It features the new label on the wine and a few of the more sculptural pieces of the Vietri pottery, along with gorgeous brown linens and some whimsical dotted glassware. It's a perfect mix for this 'bridge' season of late winter - early spring. Simple, contemporary, classic, and interesting merchandise is what we focus on here...as well as the WINE, of course!

I love this area & love coming up with seasonal themes for it - it's the first thing you see when you walk into the winery. Because of the location and the logo tile wall, it is dramatic, so I go with large scale accents like the huge mossy branches and rusty planters. Merchandise is always in warm, earthy tones to coordinate with the wall tile colors, and wine is prominent. This area serves as a statement of who Columbia IS and what they offer their customer - branding 101.

I was short my regular assistant for this reset, as Karen went to Atlanta for the Gift Show! Lucky girl was sent by Molbaks, for whom she designs retail displays. (That's where we met all those years ago...at Molbaks doing displays, not Atlanta!) I called in my OTHER fave assistant, my daughter Anni. I really love working with her...she just knows how things need to be paced: what comes first, how to build up, light/viewing angles/composition - all those artsy things, because she's an artist (and FAB writer) with an innate sense of spatial awareness that really lends itself to great ideas. Case in point, photo below:

More Vietri from the front display, this time a cake pedestal. Anni took one look at it and said "It needs a cake!" A few stacked nested baskets and napkins later, this confection appeared. Tied with ribbon and sporting a ceramic bell as a flourish, it looks every inch like it migrated here from the wedding show last weekend! A perfect finishing touch. Thank you, Miss Imagination! Someone asked me if I get piqued when my own kid ( tho she's not a kid, she's nearly 21) thinks up a cute idea before I do....heck, no! I just feel like maybe, perhaps, possibly, she really HAS been listening to & watching things I've been saying & doing all these years!!!!! ;o)

Here Comes the Bride!

I spent today at the Seattle Wedding Show, with the youngest of my three daughters. She became engaged on December 26th, and her wedding will be next winter (Most likely late January, since my Nov/Dec/early January is so busy!) ...but it's never TOO early to begin planning. So, off we went. In the midst of the cakes and dresses and flowers and musicians and DJ's and videographers and photographers.....sheesh. No wonder we don't take the men to these things.....well, anyway, I found a couple of fabulous displays. (I can't help it, I just gravitate toward these things....) Check out the photo above. Now, see the two below.


This is a painted backdrop for a floral designer's booth. I just LOVE the clean, simple, graphic forms and the sculptural floral arrangements - which are 100% REAL and held in a vase attached to the backdrop. It just makes your eye go directly to the flowers, which IS the point of her booth after all. Fabulous job! Can't you just imagine all of the many, many products that you could highlight with this type of display? Shoes. Jewelry. Handbags/purses. Backpacks for kids. Baby diaper bags. The hands could hold pet leashes. Amazing possibilities!!! You could paint it on your actual wall, on posterboard or heavy paper, on a screen of FomKore, or a roll of canvas. Joanne LaVassar designed this, and she is the owner/designer of LaVassar Florists in Seattle. Go to www.lavassar.com for more lovely photos of her work. Nice gal, too - she was happy to let me photograph her booth so I could share it with you. Thank you, Joanne!!!

This was REI's traffic-stopping display feature. Cracked me up!!!

Anything that catches the eye and makes the customer stop and stare is GOOD when it comes to display - be brave and go out on a limb a bit! (And don't doubt for a MINUTE that there have not been people who have been married looking just like this. As the mother of a daughter who was married in a stellar Star Wars stage production wedding, I can tell you that just about every interest and hobby can be made into a wedding theme!!!)

Here is REI's version of a caketopper... And YES, you CAN buy this at REI stores! The cake was real climbing rope for display, but I'd bet you could get a bakery to replicate it in frosting. (Check out www.amazingcakes.com for some truly...ummm....amazing....cakes!)

So, when it comes to wedded daughters, score is: two down, one to go... and when my SON gets to this point, I'll happily throw the rehearsal dinner and then relax!!!!