Making a bigger “Splash” with IMAX!
First of all, I would like to personally congratulate the winner of our drawing for the mermaid, “Siréne”, held in Atlanta on the 15th. Tami Durkee of The Pear Tree in Cocoa Village, Florida made a generous donation and was rewarded by getting to take the mermaid home this spring! Thank you to all of our customers and friends who contributed to help the American Red Cross raise funds for the ongoing Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
You Can Still Help:
If you did not win the first drawing, don’t worry – you can still help! We will be collecting donations through the end of the Las Vegas market (February 1st) for a chance to win the second original mermaid sculpture, “Korrigan”, by yours truly. I have been working at record pace to complete a second sculpture in time for market, and guess what? She’s finished. This piece is very different from the first, and I must say that I think you will love her. She is seated on a table, but can be removed to sit on a countertop or other surface, so she is more versatile to display. Her shimmery painted scales are decorated with intricate drawings remeniscent of henna tattoos
, and she leans back, holding a glass orb in her outstretched hand. Very ethereal, in a watery kind of way!
The Vision:
We are continuing to partner with the Red Cross in their Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. For every $20 donated, you will receive a chance to win this beautiful original life-sized mermaid sculpture, and IMAX will contribute matching donations. Join us in continuing the support needed by our friends and neighbors affected by the storm.
I hope that if you make it to Las Vegas you will come and see the mermaid. You will find “Korrigan” in our showroom window display, World Market Center A429.
Donate Online: Donate online at www.imaxcorp.com/mermaid/
Donate in the Las Vegas Showroom: Donations are being collected in Las Vegas – World Market Center A429.
The Making of “Siréne” the Mermaid (Update: Winner Announced)
Update: We have a winner! The Tami Durkee with The Pear Tree located in Cocoa Village, Florida!
The Backstory:
A few months ago my creative director came into my office and said, “Just wanted to warn you that you may be asked to make a mermaid.” Not a typical conversation around the IMAX office, but in my off hours I create figurative sculptures which 
I exhibit and sell through galleries and artist representatives. So, while it may not have been a “normal” thing to hear around the office, it wasn’t completely out of thin air.
One of our new trends for the January market season is called Splash, and our international buyer, had the idea of creating a life-sized mermaid for our Atlanta window display… She had me at “life-sized”. I quickly agreed to the project, started planning, and from there the project blossomed into two mermaids – one for Atlanta and one for Las Vegas.
The Process:
My sculptures are made from body casts. I use plaster gauze – the same material the doctor used on you when you broke your arm as a kid – to create the form of the figure. The form is filled with expanding foam, creating a lightweight, but solid core. I then add on to the piece using a variety of mediums, such as textiles, driftwood, bones, sawdust, earth and paint, giving each piece a unique identity.
Over the summer we created the graphic direction for marketing the Splash trend. It is a very bright and enthusiastic design, illustrated with zen doodle style fish, starfish, sand dollars, and, of course, a mermaid tail! So the mermaids were the perfect unique way to highlight the theme. I am hopeful that all of the January market attendees will take the time to go and see my creations!
The Vision:
The first mermaid (for Atlanta) is complete now, and I am working on the Las Vegas piece. The biggest question I had when I took on this project was, what will happen to the pieces after market is over? Well, Hurricane Sandy gave us an answer. We decided to partner with the Red Cross in their Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. For every $20 donated, you will receive a chance to win this stunning original life-sized 
mermaid sculpture, and IMAX will contribute matching donations. This is such an exciting effort for us here at IMAX, as we all know people who were affected by the storm.
I hope that if you make it to Atlanta or Las Vegas you will come and see the mermaids. You will find the Atlanta mermaid in our window display on the 11th floor of the Atlanta Gift Mart, Building 2.
Donate Online: Donate online at www.imaxcorp.com/mermaid/
Donate in the Atlanta and Las Vegas Showrooms: Donations are being collected in the Atlanta - AGM Building 2, Suite 1100 and Las Vegas - World Market Center A429.
Influencing Consumers Now
The retail landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years thanks to style influencers like Restoration Hardware. Among the retailer’s latest moves: a 680-page “Wish Book” that landed with a resounding “thud” in mailboxes across America this season. Like the September issue of Vogue, aka the bible of Fall Fashion, the sheer weight of Restoration’s publication commanded attention in the daily deluge of holiday catalogs. A lesson in brand strategy, the message to consumers was pretty simple: In a world of retail sameness, when it comes to the home category, Restoration Hardware is, well, Big!
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On Trend Now: Winter White
Take a look at this month’s major magazine covers. Whatever the weather report may be saying, the home fashion forecast is calling for a white winter. Why white? White in all its myriad variations is clean and immaculate, pure in heart and spirit. Like a porch light that welcomes us home in the darkness or a cold glass of milk after a cookie, white comforts, calms and refreshes. Sounds pretty good in difficult times, doesn’t it?
Still, as wonderfully crisp and clean as white feels in a messy world, studies show we often choose white for the wrong reasons. Fearing a costly decorating mistake, homes (and retail stores!) get stuck in neutral, with walls awash in all manner of white and beige. Herewith, a few ideas on how to play it for all its worth this season, rather than play it safe.
First, my pick for this month’s most inspirational magazine cover. A simple white sofa surrounded by exciting, color-packed pillows is a quick fix for the winter doldrums. The good news is that it’s easy to harness this energy to promote the purchase of new home décor at your store.
Demonstrate to your customers that the advantage to having upholstered furniture in neutral tones is that it’s easy to quickly and affordably change the feeling of a room setting with colorful decorative accessories. 
After all, the very definition of a neutral palette is that it works beautifully with every other color on the wheel!
Bear in mind that, for home and home décor retailers, the best thing about HGTV is that all of their content constantly promotes change. My advice is to hop on the coattails of that media monster and start promoting like the savvy home fashionista that you are!
As John Ross, chief executive of Shopper Sciences recently noted in a report on 2011 Holiday Shopping Trends, “Americans may be under pressure from the economy, but that doesn’t mean they want to endure a disappointing holiday… For those retailers and brands willing to share, support and empower shoppers – rather than just sell to them – it has the opportunity to be a bright season.”
IMAX has made it easier than ever to empower your shoppers with an ever-expanding collection of ColorPOST accessory pods. The pods make it simple for your customers to pull a room together and a no-brainer for merchants to project a fashionable image!
2011 Buying Guide
Consumer spending is pointing to an improving economy. Retail sales have risen for six months in a row. In fact, they were up 6.7% in 2010, the best gain in more than a decade. Retailers are shopping the winter markets with a little more cash in their pockets. Here are six home décor trends to keep in mind as you buy for 2011.
Bright and Happy
Perhaps consumers are feeling a little bit more confident about their finances or they are simply tired of economizing. They are ready to perk up their homes. Look for bright colors in home décor. Brights can be matched with grays and neutrals for a stunning effect. Pantone’s 2011 color of the year is Honeysuckle, a reddish pink (read more, below). Classic nostalgic themes and colors are making a comeback. Colors of the 1970’s (purple, teal and olive green) will influence home decor in 2011 and beyond. Look for gingham checks, cabbage roses, metal toleware and butterfly motifs. Product designers have found inspiration in the farm, creating products like cow and pig figurines and stools made of tractor seats.
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Fourth Quarter Planning Strategies
Like it or not, 4th quarter is upon us. If you’re like most retailers, you’re grateful to have made it this far into the year. If you’re not like most retailers, you’re going to develop a strategic plan for how to not only survive – but also thrive – this holiday shopping season.
This year more than ever, it is important to go into the next 90 days proactive, organized and ready to deliver. This is not the year to “wait and see and hope for the best”. Take some time to plan and take charge.
Here are 9 Steps to a Rockin’ Q4:
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My Trip to Bogota
After traveling to all the markets for IMAX this year, I wanted to take some time off to recharge my batteries. I absolutely love traveling! The more exotic, the more inspiring to me. Always budget-friendly, I decided to use my frequent flier miles for the trip. Amazingly enough, it used the same amount of miles to go roundtrip to Colombia or roundtrip within the USA. I chose to go to South America! Bogota is a very large city (nearly 7 million people!). At first, I thought it was going to be tropical because looking on a map its on the equator. However, it is in the Andes mountains so the weather is cool all year round - about 60 degrees every day of the year.
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Everything Nautical
The right now retail trend in home accessories is everything nautical. I am seeing tons of retail dollars going toward sail cloth inspired bedding, clean bright colored paint and shiny nautical inspired lighting.
Some are a literal translation with everything from artwork to window treatments involving sails and flags, such as the huge full color spread in this month’s Elle Décor. Other interior publications have evolved the trend to include mid-century inspired pieces and found objects with driftwood sculptures, canvas slip-covered furniture and wood louvered shudders, like in this month’s issue of Veranda. No matter how you interpret the trend, it is a spot-on, can’t miss classic direction to go for yourself, your business or your client. The clean lines and minimal color stories are pleasing to virtually every eye.
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The Relationship of Fashion and Interiors
The relationship of fashion and interiors has long been a courtship made in heaven. Dating back to the 1800’s, as ladies’ fashion became more elaborate with side bustling and cages, chairs lost their arms to allow us to actually sit.
Of course, these days the congruency of fashion and interiors has less to do with practicality and more to do with aesthetics. As all of us in the interior and home accessory business scramble to find our proverbial crystal ball and put our psychics to work on predicting and forecasting what will be hot for the next three seasons, it should be noted that virtually all of those decisions might have already been made by a select few on Fashion Avenue in New York.
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Atlanta Market Recap
Last week marked the end of the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. The Atlanta show attracts gift buyers far and wide but has also become a hub for designers and home accessory buyers. The metropolitan Atlanta area, like much of the sunbelt, has experienced explosive growth in the past decade and announced itself as a major media market. AmericasMart has never been more appealing to buyers with it’s great Southern location and more hotels within walking distance to the market center than anywhere else.
Atlanta had a vibrant focus on wall color, keeping it to a one or two color story and pairing it with accessories with traditional lines in neutral patterns and texture. The color story was strengthened with a layer of accent textiles, like pillows and throws in tonal or complimentary looks. Artwork took a backseat to structured wall décor incorporating mirrors and other reflective surfaces.
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