A San Francisco Treat

One of the best parts about traveling for my work is the opportunity to meet people. Whether I am creating product displays or presenting a seminar at a gift show, giving a presentation at a meeting, delivering a design to a client, or participating in an event like the Victoria Magazine Bliss gathering last September, I most enjoy the one-on-one connections made. Since I've had this blog for a year and a half now, I have had the unparallelled joy of connecting with so many wonderful, interesting people through it. To receive an email or phone call from one of you, saying 'Hey Deb, do you have time to meet up while you're in town?' is something I really look forward to!

And that's just what happened this past weekend... Bacchus has been reading my drivvel here on my blog pretty much since day one. He's been to my seminars at the SFIGF, bless him. We've emailed, I've popped over to his blog, and I laugh every time I see his icon in my comments because I start singing the song that goes with it (you know, "I'm Mister Cold-Meister, I'm Mister Snoooooow"... and I STILL keep forgetting to ask him why he chose that particular character as his icon!) He emailed last week and asked if we could meet up, so we did! He trekked over to Moscone so we could meet 'Outside the cash & carry doors at one' as agreed, and I STILL had to call him and say..."Ummmmm...where are you?...." before he turned around and smiled and I recognized him! (I'm sorry, Bacchus, I'm OLD and sometimes it takes me awhile. Sheesh.) He apparently wasn't phased by that because he gave me a big hug. What a total sweetheart!

So Bacchus meets Mr. Deb, and then we all decide that lunch at the Market is a good idea, and set off on a walking tour. Not that we saw anything along the way - we were heavily engrossed in conversation about every subject under the sun! We get there and he suggests the caviar bar. Hmmmmmn. The sushi bar? Hmmmmn. How about the place with the great organic food? Yes! (OK, Deb is a picky eater, now you know.) This place was FAB. We got our plates and went outside to sit overlooking the bay. We sat and talked for more than an hour, dishing on business, home decor, kids (oh and he has the MOST adorable two year old boy! We shared photos of his son and my grandson), visual merchandising, gift shows....you name it, we talked about it. I feel like I've known him forever! We had a fabulous visit, and I cannot thank him enough for treating us to lunch - my intention was to treat him but Mr. Suave just slipped in there and paid before I had a chance to protest. Payback is coming, my friend!

See that great photo of us up above? Mr. Deb took that. Well, sort of...we didn't actually sit by the railing with the bridge behind us, we sat up against the building with the windows behind us. But the photo was just too busy with all those reflections in the background, so I cropped us and overlaid us into a photo of the bridge. Now it looks like a promo shot for a San Francisco tourism ad... except I'm NOT the model in this shot. I'll leave that to Mr. Suave. (Yes, he was a model! He's blushing as he reads this, I know....but after that 'legend' comment, I owe him some embarassment....) We really should have had wine glasses in our hands, not water bottles!

Bacchus has an amazing family of choice...I love that term. He has a blog where he dishes on his hubby and little boy without telling or showing too much for safety, shares impressions of life in the City, and chronicles the adventures of buying, owning, and remodeling a home. I think his idea should be a reality show: He shows photos of a room in the house (lately, the bathroom), gives a few choices he's considering, and then invites readers to chime in with their thoughts about what direction to take. I love this! (And he knows if that vintage bathroom tile does not get carefully removed and recycled, I will cry... I think it and the clamshell sink would make a perfectly funky fountain in the backyard, yes I do.) I think these guys are incredibly brave to allow others to make their choices, don't you?! The Diva is a control freak and could never be that brave....

Bacchus, thank you so much for a wonderful afternoon. I appreciate you making time in your busy life to meet me, and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. We just have to get together again the next time I am in the Bay Area... and I'll bring the wine!

And now, the news.....

I spent the last four days in San Francisco, for the gift show. (Don't ask me about the weather) Thursday & Friday, I was thankfully indoors, designing & installing two large displays of exhibitor's merchandise at the Moscone Center South Hall entrance. Let me share a few of the things I was given to display:
MARK + PEARL brought me this fabulous jewelry, made of Marcasite and Pearls. Hence the name....smart, eh?! I LOVE the packaging, the logo, and so I snapped up his boxes and said 'Yep, I 'll use those, too!'. He brought me some black rocks - lordie, I love it when people think this way!!! He was very happy with the end result.

Zina Kao jewelry reps brought me...a cello bag full of tiny little jewelry. That's it. No forms, no props, nuthin'. Big sigh.

OK, Deb, time to get creative. Flip thru the show magazine looking for anything I can use...the jewelry is hearts, maybe I can find a candy box photo or something... AHA! What's this? A photo of a statue at the current Asian Art Museum exhibit. I take the photo, pop some earrings into the extended earlobes of the statue, and rip out some black paper to add contrast. Fold the cards that holds the other bits of jewelry. Later, go by their booth and grab a photo postcard to slide in the back. Badda bing, a display I'm proud of.

Then these appeared - the bag is from The Inconvenient Bag, and is made from post-consumer recycled materials. LOVE THAT! It's also got a trendy retro design that I love, and the young man who runs this company was thrilled to no end that I fit his product into the display. And that is what this is all about - helping exhibitors succeed through exposure & visibility.

No, that's not Shirley, Keith and Laurie Partridge.... but they made me smile! I grabbed my granola bar and sprinkled a few chunks to look like birdseed, then laid one figure down like he was eating to add whimsy. I saw people pointing at it later, so I know it captured the eye... I hope the folks at Casa Collection liked it!

Candlevida provided ample products for me to work with, and a great display idea of their own: Those tall cylinders of tealights are held upright in a glass candlestand. Normally, you'd put one tealight into each of the three holes in the glass candlestand. They put their cylinders in there instead - making a striking statement. Brilliant! I opened the bath salts bottle and spilled some out - placing it right at 'nose level' so that everyone would be sure to get a whiff of this amazingly fragrant product without touching it! PS: go Boston! (They get it...)

For more info on any of these exhibitors, go to http://www.sfigf.com/ and search by exhibitor name to find their web link.

Saturday morning, I finally had a moment to really look at what was being offered at the show. When I'm out running around picking up products from exhibitors for the display, I am pretty focused on getting to certain booths and doing my job. Plus, most booths are in a state of disarray while they are being set up, so you really can't see what the exhibitor is offering at that point. So I wait until show opening to view everything... And I found some great stuff, and great displays, but I wasn't allowed to take ANY photos. Show management has apparently empowered show security to accost anyone with a camera. I almost got thrown out for photographing my.own.displays. yikes. So, I'll share links instead:

http://www.lollialife.com/index.asp/ has the best booths at the show, no doubt. We already know the products are stellar - the booth & display design are perfect brand image, a case study for anyone wanting to learn how it's done.

http://www.kategrenier.com/ has fun products and was a great booth, full of color and whimsy.

http://www.erinsmithart.com/ also had trendy funky artwork designs on canvas and new card lines that debuted in Atlanta. Her booth is like a walk-in version of her art, great effect. Such a nice gal, too!

http://www.mirrormirroronthewall.net/ is for retailers only - you need to register to view the site. But oh, what gorgeous stuff!

http://www.remembermejewelry.com/ designer Michelle Meade has a FAB product, FAB packaging, great presentation in her booth and every display area she was in at the show. Plus, she has a great sotry to go with it. In fact, she's writing a book 'The Sky is Always Blue', available soon on her website. It is difficult for a newcomer to make an impact in the jewelry market - she's done it!

http://www.mixingwhimsy.com/ was a first-time exhibitor at this show, and I am SOOOOO impressed with their visual presentation. Their booth in the Vintage Collection was perfect, and very similar to what I do with retreat. After seeing their web site photos, I know that they do everything with this much style....and will be very, very successful. Hailing from Healdsburg, these gals have success written all over them.

OK, so I saw one other thing that was a great idea, at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. An exhibit of Colors included this plant display:

Totally current, cool, hip, 'Brocade'-style way to display a plant. Or maybe jewelry? Or a candle? Or a purse? SO simple and so many possibilities!

This has been the Decorating & Display Diva, reporting from San Francisco.....

What's Deb 'Up To' This Week?

Listenin' to my tunes on my MP3, and totally enjoying the sunshine we are gettin' here in Seattle this week...


Creating a whole brand concept and facility floorplan in eight hours. Yes, really. I am THAT good. LOL It's not an architectural rendering, just a concept drawing...I'm not ALLLL that...

Creating products and installing a new display in the retreat booth...

And prepping to install displays at the gift show. I gotta' get packed!

...just for the 'enquiring minds' who want to know..... ;o)

Spring Fling

It's still cold, gray, wet, and miserable....and winter isn't about to let go yet.
But are you offering your customers a healthy dose of Spring Inspiration?
You should be!

Pull out all the stops and bring a blooming garden into your store or showroom. Grasses, flowers, natural elements like cherry blossom-bedecked branches and moss will give your store a shot of energy in more ways than one. Even silk flowers added to a display bring a sense of life and movement into it. (Make 'em messy, tho...bend the stems wildly, pull a few petals off of a tulip and scatter them on the table beneath the vase....make it realistic!)

Mix up merchandise you have had a while with a few pieces of new stuff in 'the' hot color of the season (gold, hot magenta, robin's egg blue - still - and earthy greens, by the way!), or a new color of linens & candles, perhaps. Use props that tie in with spring: terra cotta pots, a garden fence or trellis, topiaries, a wheelbarrow. Here's an idea for you: Simply cover a table with burlap, pile up terra cotta pots, add a large silk potted tulip and then place all white ceramic dishes & serving pieces on the pot stacks as risers, do a placesetting and lay a garden spade alongside it - instead of a a fork & spoon. Place a garden trellis behind the display, whether it is in the center of your store or against a wall. Whimsy, imagination, and a simple color scheme can make fast work of a new display. (Wish I had a photo of this idea to show you!!!) Portmeirion china would be perfect for a display like this - playing off of the floral images on the dishes.

Offer tablescapes that evoke lovely afternoon luncheons and teas on a sunny day...even if there is four feet of snow outside! Escapism and entertainment is what shopping is all about, so give it to 'em! Color, inspiration, and freshness are what people are looking for at this point in the year.

Get creative, put on some snappy music (I prefer big band or classic 40's crooners, but that's just me!), turn on ALL of the lights, and start spiffin' up. It's a proven science that when you are working, rearranging, restyling your store, you charge up the atmosphere with good energy - and customers respond to that with enthusiasm!

NFS

Mr. Chuck Denton left me a very nice comment on the 'Gilt Complex' post. (Thank you, Chuck!) In it, he brings up the subject of 'NFS' tags ( that's 'Not For Sale', for those of you who don't know)...and I thought this subject was worthy of a bit more discussion.

I am a big proponent of the idea that everything you use in your store/shop/booth/space/etc. is for sale. If you are going to sell china, then sell the linens and table & chairs that you display it with! However, sometimes, this is neither practical or possible... like the fifteen foot tall birch tree I hauled into Columbia Winery last winter. It's a great display piece, but not exactly something you can have a customer haul out the door and onto their vehicle!!!

When I have a stellar piece of fabric or furniture that is mine and I love it, but that will just 'make' the display, I use it - and put an NFS tag on it so it won't be sold or removed. (Such as the darling white lawn chair in the photo above....I found that dumpster-diving, and use it all the time). We all know that if you don't tag it, a customer will move everything on it to get to it, remove it, and drag it up to the register to buy it. The poor cashier will have to explain that it's not priced, then the customer will argue that they want it so give a price already, and then the cashier either calls the dealer (in a booth/space scenario) to get a price, or she calls the manager to put a price on the item. Meanwhile the customer is getting impatient. To avoid this, just pin a visible NFS tag on the item, or 'Display Only, NFS'...something to indicate that the item is not available and should not be removed from the display. (Of course, this being retail, a tag does not guarantee that the item will not be removed from the display and chaos left in its wake - you know this, right?!)

In my current retreat display at Faded Elegance, I used a gold brocade tablecloth on a low round table. I tagged this NFS for two reasons: One, it's not really a table. It's an MDF round balanced on top of an old green potato chip tin that just happened to be the correct height for my setup. Not exactly gilded and gorgeous, so I don't want anyone to see it! If that tablecloth sold, then the ugliness would be visible. It would ruin the display. My second reason is that I have a large, heavy crystal lamp sitting on a small table on top of the damask tablecloth and ugly 'table'. In order to purchase the cloth, the rest of the display would have to be removed. I don't want that messed up or broken. So, I removed the temptation for a customer to undo the whole display, just to grab the tablecloth and inevitably hold it up, see it's square, and say 'Oh, I need an oval...' and toss it onto a chair.

Now, a store selling a line of linens can easily unfurl one across a tabletop and add accessories in the display - and put a basket full of the same linens on a chair next to the table, or on a shelf nearby. Many shops do this and actually put an NFS tag on the linen used in the display - then when the stock gets low or the display is dismantled, the used linen is priced at a discount. In a situation where things are one of a kind (antiques, collectibles, handmade, art), it gets harder.

When I want to use a tablecloth in a display but I also want it to sell, I'll drape it across the table diagonally or only on one half of the table (never laid flat, by the way - fabric should add a fluid sense of movement to a display), then place accessories on the surface of the table itself instead of on the cloth. This makes it easy for a customer to pick up the cloth, feel it, look at the size, and then place it back if it's not right for her. The display may then have a less-than-artfully draped piece of linen in it, but at least the whole display design is not totally destroyed.

The other thing tagged NFS in my current retreat display is the sign 'Gilt Complex'. It's Scrabble letters and a gold pipe cleaner - not irreplaceable, not expensive - BUT it sets the stage for my story. I don't want it to go because it gives people a laugh, and makes them see that this is a bit of merchandise that has been thoughtfully prepared for them to enjoy.

I often use things in a display that are not 'merchandise' - that birch tree, for example. An old wooden fence, or a garden trellis, a rusty bike or a wheelbarrow, perhaps. These items get an NFS tag, as well, so that they remain trusty helpers for all kinds of displays. (The white chair in the photo is a grat example of this).

That being said, if I can purchase a new garden trellis at Lowes and use it in a display, I'll price it to sell. That way, customers can re-create the whole look if they desire. Yes, I know I could put a little tag on there saying 'You can buy this trellis at Lowes!' but no one is ever going to go buy a trellis at Lowes to use on their dining room wall to display china plates with flowers on them - the way I did in the display. Trust me. If they love the idea now, and can buy it now, they'll do it. If it's any more effort than that, forget it. And if I bought the trellis new at Lowes, it isn't irreplaceable and therefore should be sold.

Knowing when to sell a prop and when to tag it NFS is not an easy thing. But selling an item that you really do love or use frequently, only to regret it later, is worse. I still lament the darling little childs' chair I sold years ago.... never seen another one like it. (Maybe that's why I hang on to more things now?!!!)

By George, I Think She's GOT It....

I haven't disappeared, really! I'm just finishing up all of my post-holiday decor removal for residential clients, and with these long days I have no time for blogging or anything but packing decor away in boxes! I completed my last client's home last evening, and today I am finally getting my OWN home into shape.

I'll have some winter inspirations to share very soon...in the meantime, THIS is pretty inspiring, dont'cha think?!

That George...He sends me stuff like this all the time. LOL

SUper GENius.....

You have GOT to check out what the guy who invented the 'Joe Boxer' brand is up to now:
William Good. Daring. Creative. Inventive. Smart. Eco-friendly to the NTH degree. Like Wylie Coyote, this guy is a SUper GENius. Hilfiger? Nah. Lauren? Phooey. Badgley Mischka? Harumph. Give me someone who can create interesting fashion and make the world a better place at the same time. This guy's got it goin' on.

(There's something about that name....William Good. Short version: Will Good. Or is it - maybe - Goodwill? Hmmmmn???) When I am in San Francisco at the end of the month, I'm heading over to the Filmore Street store to get a peek at it myself.

Gilt Complex....

On Wednesday we installed the new retreat display at Faded Elegance....for Winter, the theme is focused on warming things up with the hot shade for 2008: gold. Go check it out for great home decor ideas!