Trade Show TalesBlog

Posts Tagged ‘custom exhibits’

Meet Katina Rigall, Designer: Word on the Street — Jan. 16th thru Jan. 20th

January 22nd, 2012 2 COMMENTS

Katina Rigall

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Our Newest Design Addition — Katina Rigall

We are excited to welcome Katina Rigall to Classic Exhibits. Katina has an extensive custom design background, along with a solid knowledge of portable, modular, and hybrid displays. She is going through our training program this week, otherwise known as “15 Years of Facts Crammed into 7 Brutal Days.”  Rather than give you a high-highfalutin, PR-spin of Katina, we thought we’d let her introduce herself.

Katina Rigall, Designer

“I was born and raised in Portland, OR and studied Interior Design and Art History at Oregon State University as an undergraduate. The summer before I graduated and my last semester of college, I worked as a designer for cruise ship interiors. Imagine the themed spaces from the kid’s play areas to the night clubs. This gave me my first taste of experience design and I loved it!”

“After graduating, I worked with an established interior remodeling firm for over three years, where I learned how to plan and execute detailed kitchen designs while collaborating with experts from various trades. As much as I enjoyed these projects, I felt I needed to expand my design skills to work in a more creative niche. I returned to school at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC to get my Master’s degree in Exhibition Design.”

“I love art and its ability to impact the viewer, and I consider my medium to be large 3-dimensional experiences that utilize colors, shapes, lighting, and graphics to encompass viewers at an event. My projects at their best are large scale sculptures in addition to thoroughly functional branded experiences that inform people about products and services in a memorable way. After working in Exhibit Design for a custom house on the East Coast for over four years, I am very happy to be returning to my hometown to work with Classic Exhibits where I can continue to do what I love.”

We are very excited to have Katina back in the Pacific Northwest where she was born and raised. We believe she will greatly impact and expand the Classic Exhibits Design Department. She brings great talent and personality to the job, and her custom experience is sure to bring new ideas and designs to the Classic Line of products.

As a member of the EDPA Scholarship Committee, I often meet students from FIT and see their great work while attending the program. It is especially exciting  that Katina is a graduate of the FIT program.

Please take a moment to welcome Katina to the Classic Family as you work with her on new design projects.

Have a great week!

–Kevin Carty

http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

If Trade Show Exhibits Were Celebrities, They Would Be . . . .

September 14th, 2009 8 COMMENTS
If Exhibits Were Celebrities

If exhibits were celebrities, Carrot Top would be a . . .

Some of these are “spot on”:   Tom Arnold, Carrot Top, Lindsay Lohan as trade show exhibits? Just use your imagination my friend.

Banner Stands (cheap, attractive, but not always reliable): Tara Reid, Andy Dick, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan

Custom Exhibits (talented, larger than life, but occasionally temperamental):  Meryl Streep, Orson Welles, Dame Judi Dench, Aretha Franklin 

Overhead Tension Fabric Signs (highly visible and stretched tight): Joan Rivers

(more…)

Word on the Street — August 31st thru September 4th

September 4th, 2009 10 COMMENTS
Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Exhibitors are from Mars . . . Show Services are from Venus

As we all know, the current economic situation in the US and around the world has been the primary focus in the news over the past year. Is it an economic downturn? I don’t care what economists want to label it . . . It’s a freaking recession folks! Whether you want to blame the new guy or the old guy or just some guy named “Guy,” we are in it together. Or are we?

Over the past couple of years, whether it’s because of the sustainable green exhibit movement, the economy, or whatever, as an industry we have embraced new products and processes that have resulted in cost savings for our clients. We started using more LED technology which cuts down on the electrical bill at the show. We have adopted different packaging methods, such as single shippers, that allow you to send components more “pre”-assembled for faster setup and tear down and thus a lower labor bill. And we have incorporated new lightweight materials and exhibit options which have lowered freight and drayage bills.

These are all changes that Custom Exhibit Builders, Portable, Modular, and Custom-Hybrid Display Builders, and certainly our customers have adopted happily.

This week, while assisting on several new projects leaving for shows, I was reminded that we do not all share the same goals for the trade show industry. It’s pretty clear that improving the trade show experience is not as high a priority for some as it is for others.

The Most Glaring Examples are Things like These . . .

(more…)