Apologies to the English language, I couldn’t resist pressing this typo into action: Septemberama is the word I’ve invented to cover the panoply of new stuff on my desk this term.
Sight Hound was due to pitch up at Top Drawer A/W 2019, held at Olympia London for three days of retail showcasing, fact-finding and shop talk. This show is quite the undertaking- I’d had a massive leg-up with the not-inconsiderable costs via a grant from SECCADS, the South East Creative, Cultural and Digital Support programme, which was set up to help out businesses like mine across Thurrock, Essex, Kent, and East Sussex. Because of this support, I could meet the costs of taking a spot at this prestigious gift show.
With Mr. Sight Hound and Sight Hound pup on board at the design/ build stage, we created a cool scaffold-pole structure, following the organisers’ brief of creating an industrial feel. There were vinyl graphics to design, a poster/chart featuring almost the entire inventory, and all the printed flyers, press releases and forms to take care of. My husband disappeared to the shed & built shelving in ply, I screen printed onto the wood. Through an almost random connection I discovered the brilliant Fanger - a foldable cardboard hanger. I screen printed a couple of dozen so my sample T-shirts aced the rails. It felt like Christmas preparations, and I was just as excited to be there.
Build-up day was a total eye-opener, with vast numbers of staff working in platoons to create the event from scratch. Cafe’s were constructed. Flooring, lighting, and signage were deployed… It was a little overwhelming. We found our spot and set up shop. The space was fantastic and Sight Hound’s booth looked great.
In the three days of meeting folks from all over the world and talking about my brand, I came away with orders from shops, enquiries from agents, and commissions… It felt like Sight Hound had moved up a gear and that was exactly as I’d hoped.
While I’ve got my hands full with the outcome of all this, plus another couple of interesting new creative projects, I’m also thinking about the next big move for Sight Hound- meanwhile I’ve scheduled to participate in a Folkestone pop-up shop of creative talent in November/December, so there’ll be lots of Sight Hound about.
