A Day at Surtex
Every now and then, I marvel at the fact that I get to spend my life as a designer. I become awestruck when the line between work and fun blur and I usually end up thanking my lucky stars. My day at Surtex was one of these moments. It was a fantastic and crazy day that can only be made better through sharing it. So, with that in mind, I invite you to walk a day in the worn in shoes of a designer at Surtex…
4:00 A.M. – My day began with an unusually tough wake up call. Before the sun could rise, this designer was attempting to follow through with the very demanding checklist she had written the night before: Step 1: Don’t press the snooze button. Step 2: Be presentable (at least as much as possible).
5:00-9:30 A.M. – As a Massachusetts’ girl, I run on Dunkin’, making the first stop of the day a no brainer. An iced tea and two dollars later, it was back in the car and off to New Haven, CT. From there, we grabbed a train and headed to New York!
10:00 A.M. – We finally made it to the Javit’s Center! As a seasoned attendee, I was able to print both my Surtex and National Stationery Show badges with only minimal time wasted. After an already busy morning, I had finally arrived and the show could begin!
10:15 A.M.-12:30 P.M. –After joining the rest of the Legacy team (and checking out the Louie Winners), we bravely decided to begin the day by participating in the National Stationery Show’s annual scavenger hunt. The objective of the game is to encourage attendees to visit as many booths as possible by providing a free giveaway at every booth. This year, the giveaways were trading cards designed in the style of each exhibitor. As a slightly competitive person, I spent the next two hours ensuring that I collected them all (in addition to actually buying for Legacy's Thurston House shop).
1:00-3:30 P.M. – After a quick lunch, the time had finally come to walk the Surtex show! With our business cards in hand, the team and I traversed each row searching for the look of next year’s line. In a couple hours time, we had discovered and secured the best of the best. Feeling pretty successful, the team and I took our victory march straight over to ‘Baked by Melissa’ for a delicious, tiny cupcake.
3:30-9:00 P.M. – Exhilarated and (more than slightly) exhausted, it was time to head back to Massachusetts. After over a collective 10 hours of traveling, I can confidently say that it was all completely worth it! Until next year, New York!