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> > more....blogs > make blogs for core! be famous! >> TRUCK archives
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The True Life Story of TRUCK a NYC design firm |
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August 24, 2001 Not our best week, prototype-wise. The steel candleholders that we loved so well turn out to require a finish that is terrifically expensive. The fabricator thought he was showing us the least expensive finishing option to date; he was mistaken. The finish (which he subbed out) was hand applied and took over an hour for one piece. Our fabricator (who I still think is really great and who feels awful about the whole thing) just learned this piece of info himself. We're pretty upset, since everyone went nuts for this finish and we had grand visions for its application all over the place. ALWAYS get a quote up front, before you fall in love! We also need to find a way to polish the edge of patterned glass; no one seems to know how -- apparently the typical machinery used requires suction on both sides of the glass, and a raised pattern on the glass prevents the suction from working properly. Which means you break a lot of glass. Which means things get very expensive. Of course. Development is tough work, tougher than we thought. But I know when we figure all this out (which we absolutely will) I'll feel great about it! I very, very much want to have some working, A+ samples ready to show by the end of next month!!! Fingers crossed. August 23, 2001 $2.25 - that is how much a small cup of coffee costs at the Javitts Center. That is also how much I paid for my coffee this morning at the International Gift Fair. Jennifer went the first day to check it out from top to bottom and I joined her this morning to peruse the Accent on Design section (which we determined is definitely the best section to display our products). We pulled together our submission and sent it off so if we are really lucky they will let us join in the January Gift Show. I tried to chat it up with as many people as I could though it was tough to get into trade show schmoozing mood early in the morning. My mission was to uncover the dirt on leadtimes, prices and shipping costs. However, I was undercover. Not wanting to reveal my true identity (or the fact that we will be their competition as soon as we can get into the show) I was forced to make up unbelievably wild stories about the mulit-million dollar luxury hotel that we are building in Soho and how we need 2,000 trash cans in 3 weeks. Just kidding, but I did what I had to do. Nothing too evil. Unexpectedly, there were alot of industrial designers/furniture designers showing some very interesting work. People were helpful and friendly and we learned alot about what to do/what not to do at a trade show. Highlights included: meeting some friendly Swedish and Canadian designers, finding a candle company to help us with custom candles for our holders, and since it was the last day, getting lots of free stuff. Definitely worth the $2.25. August 17, 2001 Ohhhhhh, one more package from Ron with the candle-holders in metal (instead of glass) and they are a big success! Rob and Jonathan love them and they don't look too medieval (which was our concern). We are very psyched. We received another shipment of prototypes today (all glass) from Ron. We were so excited as we tore into the first package to find our redesigns realized and were relieved to see that they are a big improvement. Unfortunately, just as Jennifer was expressing her delight, we found the four pieces in the last package were broken. They were entirely surrounded by foam and still managed to bust. I have a feeling that shipping/packaging is going to be a big issue, especially for the fragile items. One of our contract jobs involves developing a kitchen cart and I am having a huge headache trying to find a manufacturer who works in custom stainless steel. I have the name of one guy on the Bowery who I will meet with on Monday with my drawings, but if anyone out there has any ideas they would be much appreciated! August 10, 2001 that was a let down. But don't dispair! I must have a chat with my trusty tech (Frank, where are you when I need you?) and I will attempt to post the incriminating photo at a later date.  We just busted our little behinds, pulled out all the stops, burned the midnight oil and put our noses to the grindstone. The last couple days have been a frenzied panic to finish our entry for the Future Furniture competition. However, we didn't end up in a mad dash to deliver the package because we learned at 4pm today that the deadline, supposedly 5pm today, has been extended to the end of the month! Needless to say we felt a bit misinformed and silly. But on the bright side; the work is done, we are pleased with the results and perhaps they will give us extra points for our punctuality. ok, here goes my attempt at including an image in this blog. The title of the image is "toxic girlz" August 7, 2001 Production samples are finally beginning to roll in. Some are perfect, most are not. We're finding that no matter how clear we think our drawings and letters are, they must not be clear enough. Since many of our fabricators are trying new techniques (which we love and are so thankful for!), a lot of the mishaps are due to all the unknowns. But every time we have to re-work a design or process, it's at least a month before we see a new sample. I had hoped to have all our buyer samples for the initial line by the end of this month, but looks like it'll be September instead. And the shipping problem I was mulling over a few days ago is cropping up in new ways: a shipment of samples I've been anxiously awaiting has been sitting on a dock in NY for almost a week, and for an undisclosed reason. Just try getting the freight forwarder on the phone to tell you why! In happier news, we've doing some fun custom product/furniture work for some RMA clients, and I hope to spin them into production soon. |
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