Modenus TweetUp at AD Home Design Show 2011

The AD Home Design Show was definitely a great success. No matter which manufacturer I spoke to the consensus was that the show was well planned, well executed and the attendance was above expectations. What struck me the most however was the level of buzz and energy and nowhere more than at our very own ‘Marys & Mimosas’ TweetUp. A fun mix of about 50 bloggers, designers and manufacturers made their way over to ‘the MODERN home’, the cooperative booth for Valcucine, Ligne Roset, Rimadesio and Margaritelli.

I want to personally thank everyone, not only for showing up – who wouldn’t show up for a Bloody Mary the day after St. Patrick’s day – but for the amazing energy they brought with them and for all the support they’ve expressed for what we’re doing with Modenus.

As it happens, last week was also Modenus’ first birthday. We launched Modenus as a blog only in March of 2010 and then re-launched the full site with catalog and project manager  in August. Our success in this first year has been far greater than expected, with excellent traffic numbers, an ever growing collection of interesting products and so much great response from interior designers who have been setting up their project management files and submitting lots of great designs for our ‘Before & After’ section.

But all this pales in comparison with the incredible experiences we’ve had with the community as such. When I first developed the concept for Modenus I coined it ‘a community platform for the interior design industry’, cool eh? Wrong! Modenus is not the community, Modenus has the privilege of being part of a community. A community of designers, bloggers, vendors, trade services, PR folks and manufacturers who have taken the initiative to step out of their old business models and along with that often their comfort zones and open up to new ways of marketing themselves and of reaching out to new business opportunities. As a result, this is a community that is not only large in numbers but more importantly dynamic, influential and fully focused on becoming an undeniable force in the design world.

The photo above was so wonderfully candid and symbolic of the buzz at the show so I’ve decided to headline with it as opposed to the posed version. From left to right:

Susan Serra CKD who has launched her new line Bornholm Kitchen at the show; Cheryl Kees Clendenon of In Detail Kitchen and Bath; Marcy Feld of Irwin Feld Design; Amy Beth (Amy! What does the ‘C’ stand for, help!!) Dragoo of ABCD Design; me; Tamara Matthews Stephenson from Nest by Tamara; Leslie Carothers from Kaleidoscope Partnership who was representing clients Bornholm Kitchen and the New Traditionalists; Tracy Hiner of Black Crow Studios; Cynthia Bogart from The Daily Basics; Catherine Avery of Avery Design; Gloria Battista Collins from GBC Style; Tina Holmes from Toronto Home Shows; Sarah Lloyd of Kitchen Clarity;   Our very own Susan Winner and the only person with the good sense to actually pose for the camera; and finally Sabrina Velandry of SabrinaInc.

There were so many more at our Tweet Up, like Saxon Henry, Rich Holschuh, Chuck Wheelock of Johnny Grey and the lovely Troy Hanson from MMart who so generously provided the ingredients for the Marys & Mimosas and you’ll be seeing quite a few more as we publish our AD Show roundup tomorrow but for now let me say that having this live get together was truly what closed the big circle. We launched Modenus, we spent a year making connections and reaching out to an industry through virtual platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and now we were able to make the real life connection without which social media loses it’s impact. So yeah, we’ve come full circle and couldn’t be more thrilled.

Hope to see all of you again at the next event!

V