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.....