Last night I attended an event of THE RED ROOM COMPANY to celebrate the conclusion of their SEA THINGS project.

Imagine five poems making a journey from five Australian ports; a poetic sea cargo carried by private, commercial and naval vessels. Imagine those five poems being opened up on board, and their readers jotting down an observation or illustration that happened as they read.

SEA THINGS has seen four new poems commissioned from poets in Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin, and from secondary school students in Perth, Darwin and Thursday Island, as the project charted a seafaring odyssey up the East and West coasts of Australia.
What Johanna and her team do is truly creative.

If you are interested in poetry or experiencing very high levels of creativity across many disciplines.

Click here to learn more

I read a lot, mostly to do with business especially new media, things online, marketing and how remain relevant and creative in the 21st Century.

Recently I read a book that I just loved (apparently 2.5 million other people did also). The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. If you enjoy art, culture, psychology, philosophy and ordinary people you will enjoy it.

‘Muriel Barbery . . . commands the sophistication, polish and mental agility that often distinguish French fiction … Barbery has a warm heart and a heart moreover that knows that great art and the best philosophy may (just possibly) possess redemptive qualities, or at least make life bearable in a materialistic and self-indulgent world. Sydney Morning Herald’

Cleverly written, attractive, even funny email communication can of interest to our clients (potential clients) and efficient for us.

This week I went to EMSA an Email Marketing Summit at Darling harbour. Masses of people attended from around Australia and New Zealand. The sessions were thoughtful and well presented with lots of ideas and case studies. It was certainly worth attending.

Above is an example of an email we sent out recently. We will enhance the layout and words for future campaigns to hopefully capture a wider audience.

Current research and testing indicates that if you have genuine contacts, say who you are, where you are from, with a few words about what is in the email in a ‘clear” way, people will more often than not, open the email to read its contents- after that of course that are many more communication devices we all need to use.
For more information on Vision 6 and further summits see below
http://www.emsaustralia.com.au/2009/index.html

Our Christmas sale always looks gorgeous, but is hard work. We reorganise our studio and shop to accommodate large special frames, end of lines, samples, experiments, damaged stock and other bits and pieces.
It is also a team building exercise which all ‘enjoy’. The accounts person is a brilliant merchandiser, sales staff are great at carrying boxes to cars, designers are terrific blowing up balloons and we all contribute to the food (drinks and nibbles for the customers.) We can only manage this and keep the business still running with loyal cooperation from our staff.
It is also a wonderful opportunity for us to come face to face with our customers, see what they buy and hear what they say. This is valuable as all who work at Corban & Blair get to interface with real customers.

A big thanks to our loyal customers many of whom come every year.