Over the course of my show career, folks have mentioned jewelry “trunk shows” to me plenty of times, and with my inside voice I was like “Nope, not gonna do it.” Why? Trunk shows can be very intimate, personal, lucrative, and I knew that. I’d done indoor shows, but they were largely set up the same way I did outdoor shows. Fold out tables, my usual displays and arrangement, and that’s all fine… but it didn’t quite translate when it came to the ease/flexibility/intimacy of a solo trunk show. Why didn’t I do them? Because I had no earthly idea how. Until I had an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
A very dear friend and collector of ours (who happens to own the most rad place to hang out in all of the city) suggested we do a party/art show to celebrate her’s and Rafi’s birthdays and show some awesome art. I had to say yes, and I had to make it awesome because it just felt right.
So I was like, “What if I get a really sturdy awesome steamer chest type trunk, and we modify it to make it a functional lightweight versatile durable rolling show trunk?!?!” Rafi, per usual with his awesome engineering brain and willingness to indulge me was like “Yeah, we can definitely do that!” You guys, I wish I had more pictures of the process, but we had like 2 days to build this thing, so we just went at it and documenting it fell to the wayside.
Ok here’s the quick rundown: I got this super sturdy trunk from Rhino Trunk (highly recommend) and we built a wood base for it out of plywood, hinges, locks, castors (almost lost my s*** over castors, WTF castor manufacturers?!), we assembled the base and trunk so it could weather the apocalypse (not as easy as I thought it would be, but we totally made it work awesomely). I purchased a decorative but solid framed mirror, and led lighting that is meant for use in small safes (it’s hella bright and angled just right to light up an enclosed area). Rafi built custom shelving like a champion, I stained and painted this thing like a champion. I had purchased velvet contact paper to line it with… velvet got tossed out of the way all “Nah, not going there.” We created a custom earring display out of wood and copper tubing, we installed it all in the 11th hour…
When it was ready, I put some displays and jewelry in there just to get a sense of it, and we flipped the lights on in this thing… and I cried with joy and threw my arms around it in a bear hug. Then I threw my arms around Rafi in a more comfortable and familiar bear hug (he’s a lot nicer to hug than a wood and metal showcase). We finished with some beautiful Klee Angelie Logo wood panels that Rafi made on the outside of the trunk, and Voila! I am so ready for any trunk show that comes my way. I told Rafi “So… I kinda want to make at least two more of these… you game?” He’s game, and next time we’ll try to document the process more thoroughly.
Oh, and the birthday art extravaganza was most excellent and awesome… and the trunk performed beautifully!
