Sorry I have been MIA on the blog front this week, I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Miami! I zipped around town and to the beach on my new old-school styled Vespa (white with brown leather seats-so chic) When I arrived back in New York I had to hit the ground running since I was finalizing some details for a Pier 1 editor’s day event that my company produced last Wednesday.

Pier 1 presented an extended line of epicurean items they will have in stores this coming fall. The products ranged from hearty flavored olive oils to bon-bons and cookie frosting for the holidays.

For this week’s hot list, I chose six elements that made this event a success. The seventh is a special surprise featuring a well-known designer!

1. Go with the flow

Often event planners come to a space with a notion that they are going to transform the space, however, many times the space is just great as it is.

Also, when working with the existing elements you can keep the budget low for your client and work with an existing synergy. For example, instead of going with Pier 1 Brand colors as the base, I used the Glass house space colors as a base in creating product vignettes and let the product "shine" with its colorful packaging and added the branding in GOBO (Logo projected through lighting)


2. Play a little

I had a few hours to "play" with the product to create the display (I felt like a kid in a candy shop!) and that is how it should be. Give yourself time to play work with your displays. If you put too much thought in the creative process you eliminate the connection to the "source". It is like playing Tetris, finding the right pieces that work.


3. Understand how the mind works

When designing a space for an editor’s event and presenting product you have to understand that editors are there to garner quick facts and information. Therefore people like a familiar structure, especially in our over exposed world, and you set the presentation up in that way. Then editors will be able to retain more information. With this in mind I created a layout that was easy to follow and worked easily in that space


4. Whimsy

When displaying a product, I always try to display it in a whimsical way. For example: I wanted to create four stations: Tuscan food store (Oils, breads, cheese, tapanades), a candy store, a bar station and a coffee and tea station.

With the Tuscan and Candy displays I really wanted to pack a punch! I recreated an old Florentine food store for the former and an over the top, color saturated theme for the latter. The editors felt like kids again touching and smelling the candy.


5. Got talent?

Hiring a celebrity to host is always a good draw. Rocco Di Spiritto worked with us on this event and editors appreciated having someone so handsome to show them around!


6.Give more

I sure hope the editors that attended have a trainer, because the gift bags were filled with great products from the Pier 1 Epicurean line: biscotti, chocolates, oils, cooking books, flavored popcorn, and more.

Who doesn't like a good gift bag?


7. I was fortunate enough to spend Sunday afternoon with the talented Christian Siriano (of Project Runway fame) at the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair). If you are into design, especially contemporary, you will get sensory overload from seeing all the new products and designs. For me it was a super special experience as I was walking the show with a hot tranny mess!

I also had the chance to a say hello to a bevy of leading industry people like the talented and so funny Jamie Drake, event designer David stark, and some of Bravo's Top designers.