Today was the third and final day of the Interior Design show (IDS11) . Once again the attendance was strong, and with some careful planning we were able to stretch Kevin's literature into the final minutes of the show - even if only barely.
The show closed promptly at 6:00 p.m., and that's when the real activity started with everyone busily packing up and clearing out their space. I was highly impressed with the speed and efficiency displayed by exhibitors vacating their spaces. I was even more impressed with the sense of community spirit and cooperation within Studio North, as exhibitors choreographed their efforts to also help each other with lifting and wrapping and sharing tools etc.
If the whole world worked this way, the whole world could work this way.
Kevin and I were packed up and on the road less than 2 hours after the show closed, and that was no mean feat considering that we had to dismantle and move some very heavy cabinetry from the show floor to the loading dock and into a mini-van.
All in all the response to Kevin's display was phenomenal, and we'll see in the coming weeks what develops in the way of leads.
Today was Day #2 of the Interior Design Show (IDS11). Where yesterday was professional trade day, today was the first of two weekend sessions open to everyone - including the public.
That said there was a different mix of traffic today, with more couples and families in attendance. Nevertheless the traffic flow through Studio North was intense yet again, and the following video clip will give an idea of some of the crowds.
Incidentally, this video was taken during one of the quieter times - when it got really busy I was helping Kevin answer questions.
In the grand scheme of things I'm glad we attended the opening night party, because that was the only time I got to see any of the non-Studio North exhibits.
(Not that I really care, because Studio North is where the coolest stuff is anyway.)
Before this year's Interior Design Show (IDS11) began I had a feeling that Kevin's display would generate some positive "buzz". The reality of opening day, however, blew my expectations right out of the water.
IDS11 opened with a roar, and within the first hour the aisles in Studio North were jammed with visitors. With little effort was Kevin creating traffic jams in front of his booth with demonstrations of his rotating T.V. cabinet.
Before the show began I told him he'd have to "keep that thing moving" to get people to notice his work. (I was concerned that his less-than-prime location might be a detriment to him getting seen). In reality, there were a few times I had to get Kevin to shut things down - just to get traffic flowing again and keep surrounding exhibitors from getting ticked off. It was mayhem - in a good way.
I truly lost count of how many times I heard the words "awesome" and "amazing" used to describe Kevin's work. Within the first 4 hours he had already gone through more handouts than he gave out for during the entire IDS10 show last year. At the rate things were going he'd have been out of literature by mid-afternoon, and we had to change tactics to only giving handouts to those who specifically asked.
Business News Network (BNN) interviewed him at one point, and a video cameo of him appeared on tonight's national broadcast on Global 57. (I won't repost it here because his face time was only about 10 seconds long, but it's in the middle of a 9 minute segment).
While studying economics at university in the early 1980s I read a book called "The Third Wave", which was written by a sociologist and futurist by the name of Alvin Toffler. "The Third Wave" was a sequel to Toffler's earlier book "Future Shock", which was first published in 1970.
"Future Shock" contended that humans and societies were about to experience massive structural change, as part of a revolution from being an industrial society to a super-industrial society. "The Third Wave" expanded on this analysis by describing three types of human societies in the form of waves.
The First Wave is the settled agricultural society, which replaced most earlier hunter-gatherer cultures.
The Second Wave is the Industrial Age society, which first began in Western Europe with the Industrial Revolution. Key elements of the Industrial Age are the nuclear family, and the factory-type education system and the corporation. Of this, Toffler went on to say:
"The Second Wave Society is industrial and based on mass production, mass distribution, mass consumption, mass education, mass media, mass recreation, mass entertainment, and weapons of mass destruction. You combine those things with standardization, centralization, concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of organization we call bureaucracy."
So far all of this sounds very familiar.
The Third Wave is the post-industrial society. Toffler says that since the late 1950s most countries have been transitioning from a Second Wave society into a Third Wave society. He coined many words to describe it and mentions names invented by others, such as the Information Age.
The one thing that really stood out from me when reading this book was the term "mass customization". And as part of the shift from mass manufacturing to mass customization Toffler said we would see greater personalization, customization, informationalization, democratization and humanization of everything.
Mass customization enables cheap production of personalized products catering to small niches. In other words, production runs of one-of-one will become ever more viable and prolific every single day.
In my mind there is no question we are seeing more and more evidence of this, as the large scale factories and assembly lines of yesteryear are progressively shuttered and mothballed while small-scale entrepreneurs such as artisans and solitary craftspeople use information technology to leverage their way into competitive niches in the marketplace.
At this year's Interior Design Show (IDS11) it is clear that the future of design and craftsmanship will not be found at the big box retailers selling mass manufactured "stuff" from places like China. Instead, it will be found with the kind of work that innovative artisans and craftspeople are currently exhibiting at niche displays such as Prototype and Studio North.
Come to IDS11 to see the future of design and craftsmanship.
Kevin is off to Toronto this morning to finish setting up for the Interior Design Show (IDS11) . After a feverish marathon session yesterday he also has some Press Kits to drop off at the Media Centre.
Meanwhile, I'm off to the shop to focus on some of the more mundane things in life, such as the actual making of custom furniture.
In today's installment of relentless promotion I am showing a detail photo of one of Kevin's mosaic inlay panels. Kevin has cut each inlay by hand, and what I find most amazing is that he doesn't even work from a drawing when creating these panels. He simply starts with one segment and then intuitively decides what size, shape and wood species the next one will be, etc etc etc until a finished panel is created - much like you see here.
At one point he did try to optimize the process by using standardized shapes and templates, but the end result (although faster to make) ended up looking too uniform and "engineered". I encouraged him to revert to his original method of doing this free hand which is, frankly, brilliant both in design and execution.
A mobile video showing the recently completed display has recently been uploaded to Youtube. Please excuse the poor audio, since there is still a great deal of background noise as other exhibits are still being completed.
As you can see a large example of Kevin's mosaic inlay will be featured as a rotating panel on the media cabinet.
It will be on display in Studio North booth SN-42 for the next 4 days.
Meanwhile, IDS11 opens tonight with a gala bash called "All You Need is Love".
Kevin and I will be there to enjoy some fun before IDS11 ramps into high gear tomorrow morning with Professional Trade Day.
Yesterday I helped Kevin set up his booth at the Interior Design Show (IDS11) . By the time we were done some neighbouring exhibits had been set up as well, and it was a pleasure to see other examples of well designed and fine quality work.
As we drove home I told Kevin that his media cabinet would likely garner its fair share of "buzz" and attention this weekend. However, I also pointed out that he shouldn't get his hopes up too much with unrealistic expectations of making a sale.
The reason, I explained, was that examples of fine quality craftsmanship at a show like this are like Lamborghinis at the Car Show - everyone wants to look and kick tires, but the real buyers are the rarest of breeds.
Our discussion reminded me of an old cartoon strip called "Sally Forth" which I saved back in 2002. It remains relevant because of how well it explains the general buying psychology in today's furniture market.
Nevertheless, I am very confident that Kevin will connect with some seriously interested potential clients this weekend. And even if only a handful of these contacts result in tangible projects in the coming years, he'll have done exceptionally well with this show.
Kevin has been making fine furniture on a full time basis for less than a year now, and he's made some remarkable accomplishments.
This Levee Table was Kevin's first design. It was created in 2009 while he was still in school. Crafted from Bleached Zebrawood and satin black lacquer, the glass top rests on aluminum and rubber offsets. It's numbered 2009-#001.
The Channel Table was made from quarter cut English Oak, selected from a rare stock of Vintage veneer. This table was first exhibited at last year's IDS10, and later at the "Faculty Selects" exhibition at the M.I.T. campus in Boston. 2009-#002.
The Portage Table is made of highly figured East Indian Laurel set on a satin black lacquer plinth. The drawer is dovetailed solid maple. 2009-#003.
The Portage Table design was subsequently customized to create a dining table base, with satin stainless steel offsets to support a 3/4" glass top. 2010-#028.
This desk was a custom commission with apron and legs crafted from solid natural walnut. The mosaic top pattern was meticulously crafted by hand, with 6 different species of wood individually cut and fitted together. 2010-#023.
The Aquaria Console Table has a solid walnut apron and base, fitted together with mortise and tenon joinery. An inset drawer of solid dovetailed maple is discretely concealed in the apron at one end. The floating top is made of figured Crotch Walnut that has been polished to a high sheen. 2010-#016.
Kevin crafted this music box out of a rare stock of vintage Rosewood and Rosewood Burl veneer, which was inlaid with Ebony, Satinwood and Wenge. His attention to detail extends to the inside of the box as well, with an inlay on the underside of the lid. 2010-#029.
As suggested in yesterday's post, please visit the Interior Design Show (IDS11) to meet Kevin and see his most recent creation. Kevin's display will be in Studio North, booth SN-42.
Although he's only 21 years of age, Kevin Wiggers is already demonstrating remarkable talent and accomplishment as a fine furniture maker. Perhaps this is not surprising given that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all skilled furniture makers in their own right.
By the age of two Kevin's interest in working with tools was already making itself apparent.
Growing up in suburban Toronto, Kevin's boyhood passion was sports. He particularly excelled at baseball, and at age 14 he was scouted by the Milwaukee Brewers professional baseball team. Kevin spent the next several years in the Ontario Blue Jays youth development program, playing in tournaments across North America. It was here that Kevin deepened his fascination with woodworking as he began to ask questions about how wooden baseball bats were made.
This soon led to an informal apprenticeship with his grandfather Johan, who was himself trained as a master cabinet-maker in his native country of Holland. Johan taught Kevin woodturning on a lathe, and Kevin soon became very adept at making his own custom wood bats from maple and quartered ash.
Following high school Kevin enrolled in a full-time Industrial Woodworking program at Conestoga College, which he graduated last year.
Working out of a small studio in his father's shop Kevin has started prototyping his own designs, and he continues to spend countless hours with his grandfather learning many traditional Old World techniques of veneering and fine furniture making - many aspects of which are not taught in schools.
Although Kevin enjoys working with a variety of materials including wood, metal, glass, stone and parchment his medium of choice is wood. Inspired by the stone inlays on an antique coffee table made by his grandfather, Kevin has started creating his own interpretations using fine inlays of mosaic veneer.
For IDS11 Kevin will be exhibiting a custom cabinet designed to hide a 40" LCD TV inside a 6" deep space. (A sneak preview of this cabinet as a work in progress is shown here in the attached video.)
Although everyone loves the idea of having large flat screen TVs in their home, how do you hide these things when you're not watching television?
Kevin's solution is a custom made cabinet that can hide a 40" LCD TV inside a 6" deep space.
Reason #4
Reason #4 for visiting Kevin at IDS11 is to check out his use of environmentally responsible and sustainable materials.
Going "green" has come a long way from recycling old crates to make furniture. The cabinet shown in the video is made of FSC certified Ebony which has been laminated using non-UF glue. The cabinet is also finished in a low-VOC water based urethane, which means that it qualifies for points under the LEED program.
Reason #3
Reason #3 for visiting Kevin Wiggers at this week's IDS11 is to see an example of his mosaic veneer inlay work. The rotating panel in the video above has been meticulously inlaid by hand using individually shaped panels of wood veneer. The inlays were cut freehand and have been fitted with incredible precision. If nothing else this mosaic panel demonstrates Kevin's exceptional skill and talent using traditional marquetry techniques learned from his grandfather.
Reason #2
The #2 reason for visiting booth #SN42 at IDS11 is to see a rare example of geniune fine parchment work.
The large sample that Kevin will have on display is going to be the real McCoy, using the same materials and techniques that the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians used as far back as the 6th Century BC. (That said, this sample is NOT going to be faux finished paint or textured wallpaper.)
Reason #1
Finally (drum roll, please) , the number #1 reason for visiting booth SN42 at this year's Interior Design Show is to meet the maker: Kevin Wiggers.
For a young man who turns 21-years-old tomorrow, this kid has talent.
Although overall quality levels in virtually every product category have been progressively declining over the past two decades (thanks to consumerism's obsessive pursuit of the cheapest price), I am actually starting to see a pendulum shift back towards quality - at least in the furniture market.
While the teeming masses won't be abandoning the checkout lines of Walmart anytime soon, I am finding that more prospective clients have become extremely savvy on what true quality craftsmanship is with respect to fine quality furniture.
It is quite satisfying to work with clients who can respect the merits of dovetails and mortise and tenon joinery, while appreciating the difference between a piece of furniture crafted from real walnut as opposed to something that's simply been made with a "walnut finish" (i.e. a lesser wood stained a walnut colour).
Of course, for these discerning individuals the challenge then becomes finding suitable designers and makers of this high quality work. For anyone who happens to be in the Toronto area next weekend an excellent opportunity will present itself at the Interior Design Show (IDS11).
The Interior Design Show is Canada’s largest contemporary design fair. Since its inception it has welcomed over 550,000 visitors, close to 5,000 media, and provided a marketing platform for almost 4,000 individual designers, studios, firms and companies.
The IDS also makes its presence felt on the international design stage by inviting world renowned industry leaders to speak, opening the exhibit floor to foreign companies and designers and inviting international media to attend. Keynote speakers at this year's show will include international stars such as Paris-based Jean-Marie Massaud, and Canadian television personalities such as Sarah Richardson.
In my mind the most interesting part of the IDS show is the Prototype and Studio North displays, which always offer the most extensive representation of forward-thinking, edgy Canadian design from across the country.
This year's exhibitors will include:
Alain Belanger from Montreal with his sculptural art furniture;
Award winning Toronto based furniture designer Jean Willoughby;
And emerging talents such as local newcomer Kevin Wiggers.
Studio North and Prototype are self-contained exhibitions held within the larger Interior Design Show (IDS11) , which runs from Thursday January 27th though Sunday January 30th.
