Surtex Wrap Up

My booth at Surtex

Surtex went smoothly this year with flying into New York City and getting a cab drive right to Javits for the set up on Saturday. The banners turned out great this year from US Press and reflected my emphasis on showing more work on the walls. So many manufacturers quickly glance at your art on the walls to determine if they'll even stop to look at your portfolio so your booth design is critical.  Set up takes just over an hour for us and then off to the hotel to check in and a walk down Broadway and Times Square for some fresh flowers to put in my booth.

The show ran Sunday thru Tuesday with Monday and Tuesday being the busiest.  I got to meet with a couple companies I have licenses with including Dale from Check Advantage.  What a nice guy and the future projects with them sound really fun.  I met a few new potential clients and will be sending them emails and samples in the coming days.  Fingers crossed that I continue to build my licenses with companies! You need a lot of patience in this business.

Minneapolis is well represented by creatives both as rep groups and individuals. I was so excited to meet Lucky Nielsen who was in the row next to mine and who lives pretty close to me back in Minneapolis.  Can you say, 'small world'?  Also had Lindsay Nohl from Light Grey Art Lab, Minneapolis stop by with a group checking out the show.  K&K from Minneapolis had a great booth again this year and I met Lisa Blades from Duluth exhibiting for the first time. Minnesota has its share of companies viewing the art work as well including Target, Midwest CBK, Garven, among others.  I met Mary and Julie, two new fabric designers from Modern Yardage who were walking the show. My booth neighbors were wonderful and I was grateful to meet and talk with Amy Biggers of Snowpea about organizing my licensing images better and copyright issues. I don't have a rep, so I have to learn from others who have experience and will help me.  I got up the courage to introduce myself to Josephine Kimberling who's work I follow. A warm friendly person who's booth was near Kate Spain, another person I admire.

Surtex can be an emotional roller coaster; you wonder why more people don't stop, you wish you had a few more art pieces to show, you see how talented these younger designers are and then someone will stop by and say 'I just love your work' and you smile and feel more confident.  I really appreciate all of you who gave me the 'thumbs up' on Facebook when I posted my booth set up. Your support means a lot to me.  

The National Stationery Show is going on next door and I love going over to look at the companies, big and small. Thanks to my retail reps at Square One for stopping over to visit me during the show.  The furniture show in the lower level is wonderful, too, for seeing great interior design.  I put on a lot of miles and was grateful my new shoes were kind to me this year. Mitch wasn't so lucky and had to buy a new pair of shoes after a day of walking.  We celebrated the end of the show by dining at Carmines.  It's in the Times Square theatre district and we faced out towards the busy streets watching the crowds and enjoying our meal.  A great way to enjoy New York. 

Getting served Spaghetti at Carmines. Delicious!