Going to the Show... Again

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Home" (again) by Marc Broussard on iTunes. I like starting my day with that song. It's a show planning day. As I have upgraded to a 10 X 20 booth for the One of a Kind Show in Chicago in December I have to completely redo my booth design.

Planning a booth for an upscale indoor retail show is much harder than any other show for me. I always want to put out too many pieces which gives the appearance of "stuff" rather than "art". And I still do a lot of functional work. In fact my latest, best work is with the the boxes and what are boxes if not functional? "Art" and "functional" do not usually play well together in many people's minds. What I find most interesting is that people want to pay more for things they can't use. So if I make a 16" fused disc and stick it in a stand it will sell for more than it will if I slump it into a bowl. It is the same beautiful glass that can be displayed as art, but it is worth more if I put less work into it... Go figure

But invariably when I have a more minimalist look I will get a regular patron who starts talking about a piece he wants and I have just the right piece... stored. Stored can be in plastic totes under the table or on shelving behind a drapery, but wherever it is, it is inconvenient and often entails me getting down on the floor and rummaging around on my hands and knees with my head under a table. Not exactly a professional look. So this time I want to design accessible, unobtrusive, efficient storage for extra pieces and packaging materials.

And then there is the whole lighting dilemma. I think I am going to bite the bullet and order pipe systems (for pipe and drape displays) as the basis for my lighting and stands for my hanging panels. I thought about getting the colored pipes, but I think I will go for a more durable, less expensive style in silver. My track lighting can be attached to the pipes with zip ties and I can drape the red organza around the pipes to hide them. I am also still futzing around with battery-operated lightboxes for the pedestal shelves. This ought to be a no-brainer, but I am having more trouble than I thought I would finding the fluorescents (can't be halogen--to hot).

Finally I think I will have a four-ft. banner made like the one in the header on this post but without the "glass incarnate". I just wish I could have red carpet in my booth. It would be the best little whorehouse look in Illinois! (Bordellos R Us) What can I say, I like red.