show is over and real work begins again

Well, i will just say that it has been a tremendous learning experience for me attending this show. Most of the handmade jewelry companies were disappointed at the poor foot traffic (and speculated if its poor marketing or bad economy or bad summer sales or...). Met some amazing people who shared their insights and provided tips about setting up booths, marketing and what to watch out for etc.

It also gave me time to think (always helps getting out of the usual environment to think out of the box) about the strategies I have been following and what needs changing/improvement. Definitely some things will change in the next few weeks and I will share them here as I am making them but tomorrow - packaging the boxes for Nominee gift bags for "Everybody wins at Emmy" program and ship them out.

first day at the show

well, acc. to the fellow vendors, this is the slowest show they have seen in the last few years. and I am learning a lot about setting up in these shows. Admittedly, this year Kuukivi's booth is not the sexiest or cutest, its just functional. There are some awesome displaying techniques to see here and I am quite sure it makes a difference in attracting customers and presenting the products. Kuukivi didn't do as good as I hoped for and hope tomorrow is a better day

Introducing "Holiday collection 2007" at AccessoriesTheShow

Apart from debuting anklets and bracelets, Kuukivi will also show for the first time, the 2007 holiday collection. it includes about a dozen or so special necklaces each equipped with a special pendant from India. Thought I will post one here (as I was taking pictures of them today) just for fun. I loved the turquoisedrops cascading.

A few of them (like this one) I have 2-3 pieces of each but the rest are truly one of a kind and ofcourse set in Kuukivi designer style.

Kuukivi Necklaces Featured Exclusively in '07 "Everybody Wins at the Emmys®" Nominee Gift Bags

The big news I have been waiting to share for a while:)

Kuukivi, will be among the select group of companies providing products for the 2007 "Everybody Wins at the Emmy Awards" Nominee Gift Bags. Kuukivi's necklaces were selected exclusively for the gift bags, which will be handed out to the non-winning nominees in the major categories of the Emmy Awards on September 16th, 2007.

Yah!!!! I am soo excited about this opportunity. And instead of usual one design for every gift bag, Kuukivi is going to include a different design for each gift bag which makes each gift bag unique as far as Kuukivi products are concerned.

The Press release just got out today so thought its time to update everyone via blog too....Between this and the AccessoriesTheShow thats coming up in less than a week, its a bit frantic but is too exciting to feel tired now:)

First day at the International Fair

ooh! 8hrs of standing and smiling:) It was quite a learning experience understanding the differences in markets between US and Scandinavian (atleast Finnish market anyway). The culture (atleast in Finland) is slightly different from good old US. Here, most of the boutiques (and I mean most of them) do not carry jewelry and the few that carry are low-cost beaded (big wooden beads etc) jewelry. And these are quite top of the range boutiques. Most of the people who stopped by admired the designs and gave quite a few compliments which is always a good thing.

Met a couple of Fashion professionals, US folks, residing in Helsinki and workign in FinnFashion...

More tomorrow..

Tomorrow - International fashion show, today - not ready

Tomorrow, its time to go to Helsinki and set up the booth for the international Fashion show. Its 11:30pm and I am still working on putting price tags and worrying if this is how prices are tagged on jewelry for a show! this is the first one for Kuukivi and not exactly sure what to expect and didn't find a wealth of info even on internet. But atleast have (I think) good display pieces and hoping that the actual jewelry will make up for any other mistakes.

A few more things to do before turning in but thought of sharing not just happiness but anxiety as well:) well, wish us goodluck!

how can one not get inspired...

with a light drizzle and an eye pleasing Sunset with bright orange light right outside the window where I sit and work. Ofcourse it made me get up and go out of the house for a few minutes to completely immerse in the view but when I came back to the desk, its still there:)

Interview on BellaOnline

Susan Dorling, BellaOnline's fashion editor posted an interview of me last week. With the move to new house, I didn't have online access for a couple of days and didn't see it till late friday here.

Susan also modified the Kuukivi article a bit and added some pics of Kuukivi designs. Thanks Susan:)

I am still too tired from the move and working on some last minute pieces before the two shows start. I did take a picture of an awesome sunset from my studio window that I will download in the next few hours and post it

New studio atlast

Sorry for a couple of weeks of total silence. Kuukivi demanded 24hr attention for a while and then it was time for us to move into a new house so frantically packing till last second and trying to finish opening up boxes at the new place. Ofcourse neither of them are completely done but atleast enought to start working again.

I am excited about the new house as I now have a studio to work in. Nice spacious studio with large windows overlooking forest and backyard. Its nice to have seperate space just for work instead of using up the dinner table like i did for the past year. As soon as I can locate the camera, I will post a picture of the studio..

More news to follow in a little while..