We Came, We Saw...

We kicked its arse!

Back home from our very first tradeshow - Life inStyle - and am thoroughly exhausted. But elated.

The whole experience was fabulous. The people I was fortunate enough to exhibit near, the buyers I met, the things I learned, the orders I took - it was all incredible and my head is still spinning.

I had hoped to take some more shots of the amazing labels and displays in First inStyle (the emerging label display space that Trove was exhibiting in) but it totally slipped my mind. But here are a couple of fairly ordinary shots the Trove stand.





I will be back later to share some more about the show and the past week, but for now I have six days worth of laundry to do and a house in desperate need of a tidy!

Progress...

Sneaky peeky at one of the concepts for the new collection, tentatively known as 'geometric'.






**PLEASE EXCUSE MY OLD-LADY HANDS! CONSTANT WASHING AND LATEX GLOVES WILL DO THAT TO A GIRLS DIGITS**

This is just the first step in getting the new collection under way, and was more about playing about with a brand new technique. I'm so so so pleased with the results though that I just want to dive head-first into designing the entire collection RIGHT NOW, but of course can do no such thing.

Life inStyle is my current focus and today calls for:
- Picking up printing (catalogues, linesheets, order books)
- Finishing display design
- Finishing fact sheet to go with buyer's pack
- Tagging each item on display with price, code, colour etc

And I also found out during the week that I've been accepted into the quarterly Handmade Market in Canberra, which I've heard is a fantastic market for both buyers and sellers. The first for the year is on the Sunday 28th March (10am - 4pm), so I also have that to look forward to and plan for.

Aside from that, it's the weekend soon! Family days! Swimming lessons! Gardening!

Current Challenge

The back is on the mend, thankfully, and after another session or two with the chiro and a couple of visits to the accupuncturist (who is on holidays. how rude!) should see me back to normalish.

So now that I can stay in the one position for more than a minute, my mind has turned to my display for Life inStyle.

The current challenge:

Fitting my entire wholesale range (three collections) into the First inStyle display space, measuring a whopping 108cm x 60cm.

That is approximately this size:



I am a very hands-on, visual learner/thinker (if I ever have to type something out, I first need to write it in full, by hand, and then type it out. Uni assessments were a bitch!) so I decided to get my head around the challenge in the only way I know - I spent a good couple of hours figuring out the best way to use the space by shuffling boxes about and imagining different props/risers that I could use.




Then I measured and drew it all out:




Then I tried to source risers that fit my requirements (probably should have done that first), then I discovered that said risers would cost a ridiculous amount, so then I had my own made up.

They arrived this afternoon and look fantastic, so I will show the set up tomorrow.

(I know I'm a massive nerd, but I have had a couple of people ask me about my preparations for the tradeshow, so I thought I'd show a little of what's been happening.)

Aside from that, I've been doing really boring things like getting my stock levels sorted out and documented so that I know exactly what's on-hand when orders are placed, as well as writing out my production process in full to develop accurate delivery times (info I already had stored in my head, but having it on paper will make the training process so much easier when I hire some help this year).

Rather excitingly though, I have also been working on the new jewellery collection (samples on their way) and the newer than new, very exciting home accessories line! Jewellery is absolutely my passion, but the techniques I use and the aesthetic of my work lends itself to bolder, more decorative uses too, and I've been working through the how's and the why's for a long time. It's great to be getting somewhere!