contributed by Sheree Schold [World Design Day 2005 project leader / ASID & IIDA student member]
EDITOR’S NOTE: Expos, conferences, and seminars may sound a bit intimidating, dry, and exhausting to design professionals and students, but the sheer sum of career-pumping industry knowledge that can be gleaned from attending 
even a mere fraction of one such event makes them anything but. Between March 29 and April 1, 2006, emerging designer Sheree Schold attended the International Window Coverings Expo in Tampa, Florida, where her goal was to learn as much as possible about this profitable niche market. Whether operating in the hospitality, residential, or commercial design markets, windows abound, and someone’s got to supervise them. The Window Fashions Certified Professionals Program can teach you how to be that someone.
Day 1
I attended Lavelle Pinder’s session entitled “The Design Parade.” She is a fabulous speaker and motivated me to think more creatively about window fashions. She showed slides, provided a nice handout, and did a wonderful Houdini in getting an unbelievable amount of real window treatments up for us to see!
We saw amazing window treatment designs from some of her books, such as the classic and beautiful drawings in Antique Parisien Curtain Designs. We heard about her own inspirations for many of her personal sketches, like the tropical fish that inspired an interesting twist to one of her valance designs and the airline magazine advertisement sporting a fabulous red dress, along with her recent enjoyment of the book Memoirs of a Geisha, which inspired her Geisha design.
It was great to see and experience one of the industry’s star window fashion designers and learn how she thinks, works, and creates.
The Window Fashions Certified Professional Program gives credits (CEUs) for sessions that go towards certification levels. Learn more at their website: WFCPPro.com.
Day 2
I barely made it through the downtown traffic and into the parking garage in time for my Super Session, “Photography that Works: Creating Great Images for Marketing.” I am thankful I did not miss a minute of this session! Brett Drury, the session leader, is trained as an architect and grew up in a professional photographer family. He combined the two and now travels far and wide capturing great images for our related professions.
Of course, if we can, interior designers and decorators should hire a professional photographer to capture our work. But for smaller projects and low budgets, Brett’s tips on taking photographs and using them for marketing are invaluable! He covered much ground and offered ideas and help in a variety of ways. Did you know that many times your best interior shot may be at night taken from outside through a window” What about photos with some plain, uncluttered areas in them that are perfect for adding words and information to use on your website or on your brochure”
I learned about photo credits, how professional photographers like to work, licensing / usage agreements, and much more. I found myself, camera in hand, outside my windows that night trying out some of the things I had learned. This photo was taken from outside my house and gave me the volume of this space I had been unable to capture before. It also provided me with an area of ceiling inside the photo for placing information or a description to use on my website and brochure without losing the volume I want to portray.
My next photo of this space will look a bit different as I will follow more of Brett’s advice and think of the view as going from 3D to 2D — I’ll move some things, get better overall 2D composition with lines and form, negative and positive space, and so on. And I can’t wait. If you ever have the opportunity to take a design-related photo workshop, do it!
Day 3
A busy day, as there were so many exhibitors to check out and fabulous window treatments and source ideas to take in. Did you know that…
- döfix makes iron-on tapes and materials for just about every window treatment fabrication there is”
- Adaptive Textiles will digitally print your design in any color onto fabric for you to use”
- there are an unbelievable amount of sun screen type shades now available to fit any design need”
- DreamDraper not only makes it easy to design window treatments and gives you perspective drawings but that it will now do quotes and invoices and compile the needed information into QuickBooks for tax purposes”
- many fabulous window treatment patterns can be purchased and charged to the client for whom you will have them made”
- Minutes Matter Studio window treatment design software provides treatments as scaleable components for your own creations as well as quick treatments for fast client feedback” And they can use your scanned fabric or jpegs.
- acrylic flat-face chairs made in France by Dare Deco can have any design on them you create”
- online fabric companies are making it easier and easier to find fabric with true colors”
- you can order a memo / swatch with 1/4 yard as the minimum purchase”
- Wall Words will print your word needs in just about any color, size, and font” Did you know that they can easily be removed too”
Fashion Forward
The Fashion Dinner — “Materials Heart and Soul” — ended the day. The guest emcee, Sally Morse of Hunter Douglas, brought Heimtextil 2006 / 2007 trends to us in a feast of fast, fun, and fabulous ways!
The Fashion Dinner theme, Inspiration Found, came through in dazzling colors, materials, and creative “heart and soul.” The event is sure to twist things around a bit and have the design industry influence the fashion apparel industry for trends instead of the usual other way around. Below is just a sampling of creative Window Industry Fashion from each trend category: Reflections in Metal, Emotions in Wood, Dynamic in Plastic, and Elegance in Textile. Such great fun it was!
Stop, Think, And Just Go
These types of expos are more useful in many ways than tons of design program credits. The exhibitors answered all my questions, offered literature and samples, told me of minimums, hooked me up with distributors, showcased new products, told me about local work rooms, offered advice on setting up accounts as a young business, and so much more! Check out the exhibitors and find their websites at the International Window Coverings Expo website.
