here’s one I made earlier :: my pulse stand

Design-led gift, homeware and lifestyle show, Pulse started at Earls Court yesterday. As part of my role as official blogger, I’ve got a stand, from where I will be conducting live interviews throughout the show. (I’m on stand LP160a and the show is on until tomorrow, so come and say hello.) This is my first trade show, so I thought I’d share the set-up process with you.

Here’s what I started with, conveniently situated right between Dash cafe and the ladies, so hopefully I’ll get lots of passing trade. When I arrived, the paint was still wet, so rather than literally watching paint dry, I took a little walk to see what everybody else was up to – and to find fellow first-timer Helen Lang for a bit of moral support!

Clockwise from top left, Lorna Syson, Alex R, Somerville Scarves and Quietly Eccentric all seemed to be making good progress and had brought things like proper tool kits – eeek!

Luckily, it was only a few moments before the call came from &Then to say they had arrived. I must say a huge thank you to them for not only very kindly lending me all the furniture for my stand, but also for bringing it all the way down from Nottingham, putting it together for me, and designing the layout of the stand – what gentlemen.

In just two ticks of an intern’s tail, the furniture was up and temporarily in place while I worked out how hang the wallpaper. I said goodbye to the boys and set about my next challenge. We had been advised to use double sided sticky tape to attach anything to the walls. Sadly, it just wasn’t sticking. Happily, I met the very lovely Emma Cowlam, who had 1,000 white headed drawing pins and only needed about 20 of them. Thanks Emma!

The next thank you is for wallunica, who made me this amazing bespoke wallpaper with my blog background printed onto it and two huge logos. My logo has never been printed larger than about 5cm across, so getting that second sheet up was a very exciting moment.

The trick was to line up the connecting parts of the logo, pin them in place, and then pin the rest of the sheet out from there – all while wobbling at the top of a step-ladder!

And there was the small matter of that power cable you can see running down the wall, which I had to borrow a screwdriver to remove and replace. But I was able to hide one of the joins behind it, and I’m sure it will prove very useful!

The man came to fit my confessions of a design geek signs, which was an exciting moment too.

The books had to be numbered (they are a limited edition of 1,000) and bookmarks hand printed and strung, and then it was time for the most fun part – styling!

Lots of copies of Interviews on the &Then wire stool and side table. (Excuse the plastic sheeting – I’m not allowed to take it off until the moment before doors open).

A few copies of Interviews on the &Then Leaning Man shelves with my blog background wallunica wallpaper  behind. I love this shot! An finally, drum roll please…

So, what did I learn? Always have a B plan… and a C plan and a D plan – if it can go wrong, it will. Bring anything and everything you might possibly need – including a friend to hold your step-ladder. That they’re right – you should do things that scare you. And that people are really kind. Massive thank yous to &Then, wallunica, Helen Lang and Emma Cowlam – and to Pulse for asking me to be their official blogger.

Hope to see you there. Stand LP160a – along the right hand wall as you come in, right next to Dash cafe.

Further reading for the especially geeky:

• creative spaces :: linda bloomfield
• here’s one I made earlier :: pigeometry by lovely pigeon
• interview :: zeena shah
• creative spaces :: chase and wonder