In May I set up stall at The Pulse trade show in London town and a fine time we did have there. The show itself was great, we met loads of amazing designers at the other stands and we made contact with some really interesting little shops many of whom I am pleased to say are now going to be our stockists.
We had loads of new products to launch along with our new catalogue and it was great to get feedback from people and find out which new ideas were the most popular.
The trip started rather hectically as as few orders were very late in arriving requiring a little bit of last minute replanning before running for the sleeper train. I'd never travelled via the sleeper before but really enjoyed it. We got a great deal to travel first class for roughly what a normal train to London would cost. For this we got two wee adjoining rooms and a nice, though a little tired looking, lounge car to sit in and drink g+t's with our fellow passengers. (There were no murders to solve which I was a little disappointed about but then we were probably a bit too tired to really get involved in sleuthing.)
The next time I travel this way though I'll make sure to turn the heating down early and have plenty to drink as I woke up roasting in the middle of the night. The room itself is pretty comfortable especially if travelling on a deal and you get the whole space to yourself. Its a bit off lying perpendicular to the direction of travel as you find yourself rolling about a little bit as the train trundles along. The beds are a bit narrow too but we slept well enough and it was great to wake up first thing in the morning in London and not have wasted any time in getting down.
Our accommodation in London was booked through Air B&B and again it was the first time we'd done this and again it worked out really well. On the website you basically go through a list of flats that people have space in. Either a spare room or they are away on holiday and want to make a bit of cash from their house while they are gone. You then rent the space and effectively get a home away from home, which is much more personal and relaxing than staying in a hotel or traditional B&B. It does feel a bit odd though as all the belongings of your host are still there including their clothes hanging up in the bedroom and their shampoo etc in the bathroom. As a host you'd have to be quite trusting. Our place was in Chelsea just a short couple of stops ride from Earls Court and it was really lovely, spotlessly clean and modern with a massive tv, playstation and Sky. (Better than we've got at home.) There was also a large pile of DVDs which turned out to be all the latest cinema releases in chinese boxes.
Our first morning we arrived in London, headed to the house to get the keys and dump our bags then straight to Earls Court for the hard work. About 9hours later, just as we were putting the last finishing touches to it all, we were offered and took a further 2m space elsewhere in the show and spent another couple of hours making it look good to. (I though Ann would kill me when she found out how much extra we had to so.) We managed it though (thanks to head foreman Ann) and I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.
We got lots of nice comments from people too, infact The Confessions of a Design Geek chose us as one of their picks of the show and we got a really cool prize tag to hang on the site. (Its now on the wall of the studio) You can read their thoughts here.
Now all we've got to do is pull together all the products people have ordered and get them packaged up ready for delivery. They will be travelling all over the place this time from the most Northerly isles to the Southern tip of England and heading over the channel to a new stockist in Germany too.
We really liked out neighbours work too, including Seven Gauge Studios and Jess Hogarth.
We really liked out neighbours work too, including Seven Gauge Studios and Jess Hogarth.
