From Little Things Big Things Grow - The Origins Of A Chair-ity Event

This fall the artists of EtsyDallas will be hosting a charity event. But not just any charity event! A Chair-ity event. We will be auctioning off a series of one-of -kind artist creations that begin with a simple chair. 100% of the proceeds will benefit a local Dallas charity and artists are donating their time and materials. More details will follow in the coming weeks but what I want to share with you now is the amazing story of the evolution of this event.

Chair-ity Concept Prior to Artist Interpretation

I traveled to Toronto last fall to attend IRDC the International Retail Design Conference. I was lucky enough to be sent there by Chippenhook to learn, absorb, network and of course find opportunities to grow business. During the course of the lectures I attended one on "Making The Local Connection" which has a ton of relevance whether you are a huge retailer like Walmart or a small start up like me. The speaker (Joe Baer of Zen Genius) was talking about a design community in Columbus Ohio called the Short North. He spoke about a number of ways to get more involved in communities such as a lingerie company that created a series of bra's with themes based on local businesses in the area. They then created an art installation as an attraction and sold the pieces with all proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the cure. Of all the great ideas this one stuck out as an action item for Ferrochie and EtsyDallas. I spent some time thinking about how we would go about recreating this success in Dallas with our group. However, the fast pace schedule of sessions prevailed and it was quickly in and out of my mind. In the end it took a chance meeting to really create the catalyst for action.

Natalie, David & Kerry

That same day I sat down at a networking lunch that really wasn't for me. A colleague of mine signed up for it and then changed his mind so I took his place at the table. It was meant to be a meeting of educators in retail. Two of those people were Natalie Coulter an educator from Sydney Australia and her colleague Kerry Little. After some introduction (and an embarrassing admission that I was in fact, not an educator) we quickly found ourselves talking about a variety of subjects including Joe Baer's seminar. Natalie and Kerry both had a passion for charity work which had me thinking again about what I could do back home. I explained my seed idea to Natalie and she was completely supportive. Not just supportive but offering up a ton of additional ideas too! We bounced around so many scenario's my head was swimming with possibilities.



When I got back to my room that night I had ample time to process everything. I posted the idea of us doing something to the EtsyDallas group and the response was overwhelming. Very quickly more and more idea's were pouring in and everyone was excited. Over the next few weeks we began to form a pretty good picture of what the event was going to be, how we would do it and who we would do it for. We hit a snag though . . . the holiday season was fast approaching and artist's were getting busy. So plans went on hold.

Early Concept Sketches for the Chair-ity

The spring brought new life to this event as we (EtsyDallas) formed a Charity Commitee and I got busy working on some details. I wanted to personally contribute the Chair as my main gift from Ferrochie. I will of course have my own chair design in the event but I wanted to do more to help this be easy for the contributing artists. I should also explain that the chair was to be full sized originally but we thought given the variety of artist specialties a minature chair would be more appropriate. I worked on several sketches and prototypes before landing on the final concept. You can see the final assembled concept above which is a simple two piece construction that each artist can start with.

From little things big things grow. These are the words Natalie said to me last year when all this was just talking points. Now it's easy to see the wisdom in them. It has taken a bit longer than I had hoped to get this going but it's a first for all of us. We will learn from this experience and next time it will be easier. I'm looking forward to what we are going to be able to contribute to our community this year. The members of EtsyDallas are some of the most dedicated, resourceful and creative people around. Together we can do anything.