Blogfest 2012

~ Everyone's sentiments as Blogfest 2012 ended with a BANG.  The activities and seminars were inspiring; the people even more so!  It was great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.  Everyone is always so lovely and gracious.

A BIG thank you to Kravet and company for making it all possible.  You can read a little more about them here and here.  They are as beautiful as the textiles they design and produce!

We were off and running ~ no time to dawdle; there was a lot of material to cover. 

Kravet and Hearst publications are a mighty force.  They each won a Circle of Excellence award in their respective fields; they are embracing social media, love bloggers, have shown growth in a challenging economy, and give back!

I was so thrilled that the clouds parted long enough for us to finally get a glimpse out of the 44th floor of The Hearst Building's windows to experience the view.  I wrote about the building last year because I was so blown away by it!

A few take aways:  A Hearst reader is not trendy.  He/she is a discerning luxury consumer, but wants authenticity.  Each magazine has a distinctive voice.  American designers have an "I can do anything attitude."  We (consumers as well as decorators) embrace a high/low sensibility, and there must be transparency in business.

 House Beautiful is the 1st magazine to have a print to pin ability.  With Pinterest exploding, every inspirational picture can be archived by anyone.  They also have the House Beautiful Connect app thru iTunes, that brings the pages of the magazine alive with video and more info.

There were shelter magazines in attendance and speakers galore.  We are all still trying to navigate social media and everybody's place in this fast paced, ever growing, ever changing medium.  It frankly makes my head spin!  There was definitely a "help me to help you" attitude because the business of design is changing, and changing quickly!

A true design darling, and one of the funniest speakers was Alexa Hampton, shown here with Anne Maine of Traditional Home discussing what traditional means to her.  Alexa and Kravet were unveiling a new fabric line.  She is quite the wordsmith as well.  AND she repeated words I say often ~ "Rules are meant to be broken."  Alexa, let's do lunch!

There were show houses to experience ~

and the Kravet studio tour to be taken, see my post here ~

There were contests ~

and cocktail parties ~

there were poignant moments ~ 

great food (the lobster rolls were a hit) ~

But most of all there was JOY!  Bloggers/designers just seem to be joyful people; wanting to help and be helped.  They are an inclusive bunch, happy to meet, mingle, learn, and educate.

Hip hip hooray.  Thank you EVERYONE for making it such a wonderful experience. 

ph: CLI and Blogfest