****CFDA meeting        November 8th *** Highlight:—"Bruce Tharp will speak about his design work"  -          ***

Tuesday, November 8—Bruce Tharp will speak about his design work.  Everyone will remember Bruce’s Bone Lamp, which was such a popular piece at the Sustainable Show both with the public and will the press.  Bruce is a newcomer to the CFDA, but he comes with a design track record.  This will be a chance to meet Bruce and learn how he thinks about design.

Sustainable Show Results

The official tally of visitors to the Sustainable Furniture Show is 26,800.  That’s a spectacular turn out even for Chicago Cultural Center Standards.  Commercially though, the response was tiny.  26 of the people who participated in the show responded that they had received 30 customer inquires or sales.  Many expressions of interest were made in the visitor sign-in book, which will soon be available in digital form, so participants can follow up on leads.

The commercial response is not disappointing when you consider that people who study the marketing of craft and art products insist that people will not buy such products until they have seen your product and/or your name a minimum of three times.  Now 26,800 people have encountered your work and/or name one time.  But no, the number is even bigger!  Remember all that effort to gain exposure in the press?  Well, we got quite a lot of press, so now the number who have seen the work or heard the names must be several hundred thousand. 

Years ago I marveled that George Nakashima was a household name, even an icon, yet when I visited his shop, it was only a 20 man operation.  He had to create a national public relations outreach just to find a market for his small enterprise.  The thirty participants in this past show have each taken their first step in this public relations project.  How many will carry on to make the second and third contacts?

The man to watch is Jeff Miller.  Did everyone see him on the cover of Wood Shop News?

 Execute Board Election

Coming up in September is the election of the Executive Board.  The CFDA members elect our ten member Executive Board, which in turn selects the CFDA officers.  Currently the Board members are:  Antanas Abraitis, Jeff Miller, Sean Scott, Lee Weitzman, Lloyd Natof, John Kriegshauser, Helen-Maria Nugent, Maxine Snyder, Burt Engelberg and Pradeep Shimpi.  Many of these members will want to serve again, but they will have to stand for reelection.   Others will step down creating automatic vacancies.  If you are interested in serving on the Board please contact John Kriegshauser, so your name can be placed in nomination.