Sunday was our first design team day for the flower show. We got a ton of prop stuff done thanks to Sue Weisser AIFD, Monika Capozzi, Linda Wharton, Marjorie Elzey, Rick Cuneo AIFD, Dave Hamilton, Adelaide Linn CFD, Donna Piorko AIFD, Renee Tucci, Alfred Price, and Andrew Schaffer.

It felt great to see it all starting to come together and make sense!

In planning a large scale exhibit or event, it’s always a challenge to see if you can make your vision come to life not only through the flowers, but through the design of the props and the mechanics that are the foundation it all rests on. (Thank God for zipties!)

Every year brings new challenges, new frustrations, and new solutions! We are always learning.

It’s so easy to freak out when plan one isn’t working and you have to switch it up. We designers get an image in our heads and will go to extremes to bring it to life.  The most important thing I have learned from working on the Flower Show and other large projects like this is not just about design. I’ve learned we have to trust ourselves and our creativity. Always keep the design integrity, but be willing and able to bend when you have to...even if you must contort into a downward-facing-warrior-mountain-dog pretzel.

Who ever knows what the plan was in your own head but you? To make changes is all part of the journey. The end result is the end result, and that’s what people will see and appreciate. The road to getting there is for us to learn from. It is always different and may take you far out of your way sometimes, but it still gets you there eventually! Besides, if everything in life was easy, we would not need blood-pressure monitors or tequila.

The other thing I have learned about is ‘trust the big picture’. This is not about winning a silver plated bowl (which we don’t get to keep anyway! They recycle them! Haha!). This is about the process and the people. This is about designers from all over the country willing to be a part of something creative and collective because they love design. This is about sharing our skills and ideas with each other and bringing them to life. This is about the joy of working together as a team and being a part of a network of talent and friendship. This is about inspiring each other and then sharing that with the world around us- from the public at the show, to the tweets and posts of cyberspace. This is not about winning or losing.... we have already won by just doing it. This about the total extraordinary experience... and there is nothing more award-winning than that!