Attapinya sincerely hope you are all healthy, positive and energized, despite the particularly fierce international troubles we now face. Labor day is coming and it is a great time to connect with our hearts and honor ourselves, each one of us an important part of the planet's work force. We are writing that we may share with you about Attapinya´s recent trip to San Francisco as a participant in the San Francisco Gift Fair. Even discounting the preparation, it was a very intense week of work – one of the toughest we have seen! Nevertheless, Attapinya was very well represented by three of us, Aphinya, Greg and Pimm, and the overall experience was a tremendous gift to the company. We gained a deep respect for companies and their employees who frequently travel all over to attend these type of shows.

We thought that three people might be too much, but it turned out that we were all stretched to the limit of what we could do. Before the trip to San Francisco, we all made a commitment that we would do whatever it takes to keep up with the tasks until the end of the event. Each step was planned to the best of the available knowledge, with careful attention on timing. We studied again and again all the responsibilities that were involved and assigned roles for all of the crucial tasks. Then of course, there were the unknowns; those impossibilities that alter reality to become not just possibilities, but realities. No amount of planning or foresight can prevent them, so we just prepared to ride that wild wave too.

Setting up our booth on the day before the event was a laborious process that took three times longer that we anticipated. All of us had to work around the clock, first to unload the displays, products and tools at the loading zone, then to set up and decorate our booth. This is where sanity gave way to chaos. The entire show room was a sea of foam... styrofoam, plastic wrap, cardboard, and packing paper. People were everywhere, fever organizing their area of madness. Some booths were so cluttered that it took 20 minutes of moving boxes just to get one box opened or a table set up! Then the whole process would start again for the next box. Fortunately for us, our booth was not as difficult as others. The ladies took a coffee break while Greg put up our lighting, and then the three of us joined the rest of the room in that chaotic dance of unpacking and setting up. Six hours later, our 10´x10´booth was done, looking bright and lively. We,however, were all exhausted.

The show, which ran from August 5th to 8th, turned out to be much quieter than we expected. Most of the buyers we met were not in our targeted market. Later I realized that the "cash-n-carry" showroom we were in was not an attractive place to the people that we were hoping to draw. Admittedly, we all expected much more business and customer interest than what we saw at the show. We could say a thousand things to express our desire for better business, but our words are much better spent explaining the wonderful things that DID happen.

Each individual sale meant so much to Attapinya, and they encouraged us to do better and keep our outlook positive. The many compliments and comments we received reassure us that we are working in the right direction now; we really love to get feedback. There is also a terrific feeling for being able to work with the designers, manufacturers, web designer, and photographer in Thailand. It all comes together when we show the quality, beauty and results of the hard work to our clients. What could be better!?

I went to the department store in town the other day; I often "shop" with the competition to keep myself up to date. After touching and closely inspecting the jewelry at most retail stores and I am dismayed. Most of brand name stores carry products that are made in China without even the slightest focus on quality. Real stones and pearls have been replaced by plastic, the metals used are not durable or pure. The overall look of these products feels incomplete or mismatched. And of course, they are all mass produced by machines so as to reduce costs – money that would have been going to people that need it.

Please, my consumer friends! Let us not forget the meaning of words like valuable, quality and sustainable. We must leverage our buying power to tell the commercial world that reducing cost at the expense of ALL other things is absolutely not acceptable. Who is to blame when our modern culture loses its own identity, or when everything is rock–bottom price but very few people have jobs to be able to buy such things? Do we want to let our laborer/consumer personality be shaped by discounts and fixated on money?

We hope you know that Attapinya Designs takes great care to step away from that type of business. We take great pride in being able to use quality materials, to devote attention and care into every step in our process. Each piece means so much to us and fills us with joy, we call it "creativity with a warm heart." We do not ever want to forget these qualities or forget what is most important to us, and we sincerely hope that you, our beautiful friends, can share these feelings with us.

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