Jan/25/07new york
it is thursday, jan. 25th, and i am posting a new blog today because i will be leaving for new york in 2 days and will be out of pocket for a while...we will be at the ny gift show until next thursday, or so...poor billy is already on his way to get a jump start on set up...always hellish
i am excited about this show because i am so excited about our new product...i think it is really pretty cool...we have some new tole lamp bases that i really like, and a couple of new iron lighting sconces that i think are very good looking...but, it is the papier mache that i am really, really thrilled with...it is just sooo different from anything i have seen out there...and it has such a great, organic feel to it....we have about 7 lamp bases now, and i love every single one of them...and we did some new stool/accent table things that i LOVE...we used them at the atlanta show (you can see one in the pictures of our showroom from the previous blog) and they are so strong and so comfortable and so functional and just so fabulous...i have not been this pumped about new designs in ages, and it feels good.....we also have some fun birds to sit around and a couple of mirrors in the papier mache that look great....and it is all white, which is so unlike me...but i love it! i think it looks so sleek and fresh and universally usable....but i also can't wait to add color to it, which we will do for the next round of shows...i have tons of other designs in to the manufacturer, and i can't wait to see the samples...my head is just spinning with all of the possibilities....
anyway, i hope that the buyers in ny will be as pleased with the new line as i am...we had a great show in atlanta, but sometimes they can be very different markets...here is what i am not excited about -- the weather...i just heard that there is going to be an arctic blast descending on new york for the next week(the week we'll be there, naturally)...what is an arctic blast? it doesn't sound very friendly, does it? so, if you are going to be at the show, please come see us and bring a nice hot cup of coffee....jane gray/designer/stray dog designs
Posted by Stray Dog at 11:22 AM
Jan/22/07showtime
today is january the 17th and i am finally getting around to posting blog #2-yeehaw!
i returned from the atlanta gift market the night before last and i am still pretty dazed...january tends to be quite the whirlwind...new samples arrive, either make the the cut or not...off we go with the winners to atlanta, where we spend 3 to 4 days frantically trying to get the showroom togather...back home for a day or 2 and then... it's showtime! 7 days of peddling your wares in a sea of houseware products....
at the atlanta gift show there are 3 buildings, at least 15 floors each, and they are literally filled with every imaginable thing that one could sell for the home or person...talk about consumer overload.
i honestly don't know how buyers do it..it has got to be exhausting, not only physically(comfortable shoes are a must) but mentally and visually...i would have to think that a buyer would be cross eyed by the time they got out of there. certainely there are lots of really gorgeous lines out there and they must be really fun and exciting for the buyer store buyers and designers to see, but there is also A LOT of junk...floors of booth after booth of really horrible. ridiculous and really cheap looking junk. but the good buyers have to wade thru it all looking for the pearls.
luckily for me, i don't have to do that job...we are there to sell and i rarely get out and walk around at all. but i did cruise a bit, and i did see some very pretty things..the line that is in our old showroom is really breathtaking, it is called bobo , and is well worth checking out..and jamie young's lamp line is always lovely...and ther is a newish lamp line called shine that i find stunningly beautiful....and my friend margeret's line(she shares our showroom) is eternally elegant and exciting--fortunata...and in high design, i think bluefish always looks great....there are, of course, hundreds of other great looking lines, but those are what pop into my head from the teeny bit of walking i did...
sales wise we had a fabulous show, and i am really excited about and pleased with our new product, but i will fill you in on that next time...
jane gray/designer/stray dog designs
Posted by Stray Dog at 11:19 AM
Jan/ 3/07new year/new stuff
hello...today is jan. 3rd , the day that i start my stray dog designs blog....how exciting! this blog is, of course, a forum for me to spew what i would have to call "nonsense" at you about design, decorating ideas....basically whatever comes into my head that i think might interest you. i feel sort of shy and silly about this...but, i'm thinking i might learn to love it...maybe it will be like having a really cheap shrink!
because it's the start of a new year, my mind is on purge(that's normal, right?)..
billy and i took the week after christmas off and stayed home with the children. there's nothing like a week at home with 3 small children, all their brand new christmas booty, and the mountains of packaging that the new booty came in, to make you want to throw out everything you ever owned.
it is truly astonishing how much stuff we accumulate..and how much stuff is produced for our society to accumulate...how many of the toys that children get for christmas or hanukah or whatever, do they actually play with? i'm thinking the ratio at my house is something like 7:2(and 2, i'm afraid is the number they actually use, not visa versa)
naturally, my horror at our world's excessiveness ,brought my mind around to what we do at stray dog, and ,i thought, oh dear god, is this is what i do for a living , too? do i produce useless nonsense for people to clutter up their lives and houses with?? and the answer, of course, is a resounding YES!
but, here's the thing, i think and i hope that the frivolous items that we make fall into the 2 toys you actually play with category. my intention is that our product actually makes you happy. that it seems unique, and sparkly and fun and that it doesn't look exactly like the 5 million other lamps(or whatever) that you see everyday. and that you enjoy using it and looking at it and that it brightens your house a bit. and i hope that you appreciate that it was made by artisans, say, in a beautiful mexican town where they go home to their house and families when they are done, and not in some humongous factory in china where all the workers go back to their dormitories at night. in other words, i really hope-no, i think i really BELIEVE- that what we are doing is right..and i hope that you like it..and that you feel it is a good way to try and make a living...
goodness, who knew a blog could be so long and so revealing? i promise my next one will be much shorter and far less self agonizing. have a happy new year and let's all try to only buy the things we really love(oh, but that's so hard ,isn't it?)
Posted by Stray Dog at 5:00 PM
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