I’m trying something different here. You’re not going to be able to see the entire post right here, in your email (if you are seeing this as a subscriber).
    Instead of reading the entire post in your email, you need to click, either on the name at the top, or the “Read More” at bottom. This will open the actual blog post on the actual blog! For some of you not that familiar with blogs, you may have thought what you see in your email is all there is…not so! The actual blog has lots of additional information, is full of color, and has many links to take you to new places!
We’ll see how this “partial post” works. Let me know what you think.

On To Atlanta: Part I

There is a lot of preparation for a trade show: whether you are an exhibitor, buyer or attendee doing business. I get psyched days ahead of time. Lots to print out; organize portfolios for my artists; confirm appointments; make a list of booths or showrooms and where they are located; gather lots of business cards; charge the camera battery; ditto laptop; select the outfits (very important, no?); have I forgotten anything?
This show in Atlanta was special because we were showing to the buying world the new collections from Rebecca Harrell for HomeEtc.  We met Alex from HomeEtc. just a year ago at the show last July. It was an immediate fit: Rebecca’s designs filled a need for him…but more importantly, we all just meshed and were able to work together right away. I think in any relationship there is a gut feeling you have to go with: if something doesn’t feel right, from the beginning, then there probably IS a reason to question the relationship. This one felt right from the beginning. Alex has been easy to work with, and we have creative and spontaneous-idea meetings. Alex never fails to introduce some new idea or concept or design/product idea to us, and it’s fun to begin to put it together.

Here you see them last January, working together, with the Atlanta skyline in background: 
Alex & RH
Here she is in front of “Merry Merry Topiary”. This might just be my favorite. It’s different..love the use of the black, and I’ve always loved topiaries. 
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“Present Collection”
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“Ornament Tree”
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“Gingham Jack”
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 I’ll be continuing my coverage of the show tomorrow. Instead of relating just trends to you, I’m going to showcase some of the vendors and manufacturers I saw and spoke to. This might be the part of the show I love most: making contact with new people who are involved in the many creative aspects of new products!
See you tomorrow.