today started off pretty nicely. sam and i went to the grocery store around the corner for fresh-baked raspberry pastries (omg......) and coffee. we got to javits by 9am and began the daunting task of FINISHING the booth. we didn't have much of a plan of attack, just a mess of things that in some way needed to end up on the wall and a plan in sam's head for how it should all look.
another friend of sam's joined us and helped hang shelves, assemble furniture, hang signs, and position product. things went so much faster with three people! we had our ups and downs in terms of available energy to complete the task, but overall i'd say we did a pretty awesome job putting that damn booth together. i'm thinking there's only like a 2-3% chance that any of it is currently sitting on the floor after falling to its death because we didn't adhere it to the wall well enough.
after everything was mounted to the wall and all the trash had been moved to the end of the aisle, the booth started to look pretty great. we got everything organized for tomorrow and taped off the booth (because people just do that at NSS? i don't know, i guess it's a thing? as if there's any way that would stop someone from going in and stealing all sam's stuff or photgraphing her product). sam had a celebratory swig of whiskey and we called it a damn day.
on our walk out of the building i saw anna bond of rifle paper co sitting in a chair looking at her phone... i swooned a little; i'll admit it. it's an honor for me to be in this place where all these great designers and illustrators are showing off their hard work. it's also a privilege to help my friend with her first time exhibiting at NSS. we've all got a big day ahead of us tomorrow! more to come.
