Ramping up for the ABC Show

So there are some great pros to living in a small city: Stay inside my home-office and pour into the business during the day! It's so much fun, I love what I do: creating, designing and developing! Ironically, I am not a very "crafty" person, and I'm terrible at decorating anything that has to do with space. Fortunately, my chic little sister, Caroline is very good at it, so she's been giving me some pointers. Right now, I hired a nice handy man here in LA and he's making my hard walls. I have an inline 10x10 booth at the show. 3 years ago, my sister and I did the show together in Las Vegas and the booth looked like this:

We didn't know what we were doing. The little banner on the far left was added during the show because I needed more pictures. Buyers would walk by puzzled by the Chalk mat display, so the banner on the left really brought more people inside the booth. The little stool and table set up was super crowded.  Believe it or not, I spent close to $10,000 on this show 3 years ago: plane tickets, hotel room, food, transportation, signage, dreyage, shipping, press kits, products shipping from overseas, etc.. But this show was well worth the investment.  For such a humble booth, we walked away with some great accounts...

Now for my next post.

Meeting Cynthia Rowley

It's Fashion week here in Charleston, and guess who came in town? Cynthia Rowley, originally from my hometown-Chicago! Now that she is rich and famous, she lives in NY, but she hasn't lost her midwest charm. Witty, graceful and stunning, she was at her store signing her coloring book. My assistant, (but really she should be my boss) and I had to meet her, and we had the opportunity to give her Jaq Jaq products to her daughters, ages 10 & 5. Rowley loved the originality of the chalk mat! She told me how perfect it will be when her girls are waiting for mom getting ready to leave the house, the girls can play and draw on the mat as a creative outlet. We also gave her the Perfect Pouch for them to store hard to travel toys and gears. Rowley commented on our logo, and how she loved the design!

Known for flirty, feminine and whimsical style, I would LOVE to have her design some of my prints for our collection, she is an amazing designer! Some of here clients include: Julia Stiles, Parker Posey, Anne Hathaway, Rebecca Romijn, Scarlett Johansson, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Her recent debut is her Cynthia Rowley Roxy collection, collaborated with Roxy. Joined at hip for their love for the outdoors, surf and swim, she effects her style into the sporty Roxy collection-feminine, chic & ecclectic.

Afterwards, we ran into her again with her Charleston team at Fig. It's one our favorite spots in Charleston. Recently, they won the 2009 James Beard Award, and after coming back from eating at Gotham Grill in NY, I can see why both restaurants are James Beard Award winners.

Rowley, a mother of two, is also working on her first children's book according to the grapevine. (Can't wait!) Even her mini children collection is hands down stylish, eccentric and piece of art. I also loved the Yarni dolls in her Charleston store designed by a Chicago-bred artist, Mike Anderson. Rowley loves them because they just look like little monsters made of an array of fabrics.

Cynthia, if you are reading this, please make sure to email me! :)