Behind the Scenes - 7gypsies style

As promised, we are getting you up to date on what we have been doing to getting ready for CHA.

Saying that we have been busy is an understatement.  It seems the prep for this show has been plagued with so many complications and craziness.   But, short of a national disaster we will make it.  Just to show you what I'm talking about, just yesterday Paula found herself working for hours without electricity, at one point she was working as fast as she can by candlelight.  Her husband snapped this picture for us.....

Yep, that is Paula in all her blurriness....so funny, go Paula go!

Paula gave you a brief history of our booth, that we have used for four shows now.  It was created and drawn by Steven Smylie (7g originator with Donna Smylie)  and built by Jorge and Hector in our distribution facility in LA.  As we said Paula, Janelle and I picked out the wallpaper on a conference call.  That was crazy, we loved what we picked yet were nervous about how everything would look together.  When we got the first section of the booth wallpapered, several people in the factory walked by and told us how good it looked.  As several of the other sections went up that were different designs I could see puzzled looks and I knew they were thinking, “what the heck are they doing?”, all the different patterns and colors.   When we put the coffee stained burlap up with patches (my personal favorite), that was the best!  I’m not sure others were sold on the idea at first but when we got it all together it was a hit.

Getting ready for the shows takes A LOT of prep and requires a lot of lists.  I get teased a lot about my lists, but I love a good working list and that’s how it all gets done.  Once we have decided what product will be displayed in the booth I work on getting it all to fit into the booth sections.  Then we decide where each section will be in the booth.   Here are a few of those lists, the booth layout, etc.  Yeah, organized chaos! 

After that, we work on what finished projects we want to show and what products to feature.  This is where we get the 7g Creative Team involved.  Each artist gets several assignments and the emails fly back and forth making sure they have all the product they need to finish their assignments.  Getting all the product in each artist’s box and getting it shipped is always a happy time for me....big check on my list!

Paula and I meet at our factory in LA, two to three weeks before the show to set the booth.  We actually put the product on the walls leaving spaces for projects etc.  

Did I mention that it is cold in the factory?  Well, cold when we prep in January and hot when we prep in June.  Here is Paula, she had gloves on but had to take them off to text her husband.  Notice the crates in the background, that is where the walls of each section slide into for transporting and storage.

A good part of three days is spent working as fast as we can in making sure we have all the details covered. There are so many things to think about, I am scribbling notes on anything available while we are working.  When I get home I create an even BIGGER list of all the things to do, etc.  

I wanted  to show you a few of the product boards for The Avignon Collection.  Paula and I went to Kansas City to teach in the fall and while we were there we brainstormed and sketched some ideas for how we were going to display this fun new line.  

We had the idea to put the product on boards that had canvas attached with upholstery tacks.  Here is how it started....

and developed....

into these fun product boards....

Here are a few other bits of the booth we have been working on.  Come to the booth and see what we are doing with this....

and this...

.....and this.

I think Paula and I have made more tags this show that ever...tags, tags and more tags!

So, back to work.....still lots of things to do!  Hope to see a lot of you there and if not we will send pictures.  Wish us luck, we are gonna need it!

                                  Debbie