In the beginning, there's just the theme, the concepts, then the products going through production. Then, there were the stand designs, the furniture layouts (which ones will go to Milan [»]? To CebuX [»]? The factory showroom? Why not in both or in all?). Then, there was the Catalog additions of new pieces, its reprinting, editing.. relayouts and on and on like a list that spills over a page and unto the next and the next! I need the website updated a million yesterdays ago!! Where are the collated brochures for Milan, they needed to be shipped some weeks ago??
This time around, great minds and good help came in the form of fresh grads from Ateneo with a year's worth of scholarship stint from Japan, Kae (mi sobrina) and her friend, Myka! A feather to their new hats, this year's Mugna Award for Best Marketing collateral! We're running out of catalogs, girls....reprint fast in a wink, ok???
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I promise myself each year that immediately after the show, I shall begin new developments....but after 18 shows, it's still a promise! Do you know the feeling that while a sample (within the precious few days before ingress) goes thru the factory floor, more often I already have a million and one 'should haves' pushing and shoving me inside-out? Hence, the countless sleepless nights full of nightmares, of 'what ifs', of contorted shapes and colors, materials...collaged as if from Klimt's canvasses.
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I have a folder called POSTdevs! These are my 'what ifs' and they do get worked on after the shows...mostly improvements of show pieces that improve manufacturability, production time as well as costs! Oh, the ever increasing concern over costs!!! This is the heaviest burden of all that separates the men from the boys..! Who was that who wished that there was such a thing called a widget, a piece one designs that goes thru production so fast and so cheaply and that is demanded worldwide by all ages?
Photos courtesy of Myka Arnado