19 October 2009

Sears' Blue Crew, the latest update




Who knew, when I wrote this post on 10 October, that it would take on a life of its own? Last Tuesday I reported that I'd heard from Sears and that we were going to arrange a conference call between a bunch of Sears folks and a panel of designers I'd assemble.

Well by last Thursday, I had a panel of 12 people lined up and ready to help build something positive in partnership with the online team from Sears. The 12 people on the panel for what's come to be known as the Spec Summit are a cross section of the industry. We represent the face of kitchen design today and we range from an architect who designs some of the most exquisite rooms I've ever seen to a designer who designs stunning in their own way, lower-budget jobs. Most of us make up the space between those extremes. Some of us are new to the industry, but most of us have been around for a while. Another wild thing is that all of us know one another either personally or by reputation and we know one another through social media. Whether it's Twitter or our blogs or Facebook or some combination of all of those things and none of this would have been possible until very recently. It's pretty neat to be involved in this project. But more than anything, my real excitement about this is that everybody's volunteering to help make something positive.

So as a result of a blog post I wrote about my frustration over some missing dimensions, a group of 12 professionals are helping to solve the problem of missing dimensions. This is now bigger than me and my frustrations, that's for sure. It's satisfying to know that in helping out like this, we'll be playing a role in preventing other designers' frustrations in the future while at the same time helping an esteemed American company find its way in a brave new world.

As of last Friday, our conference is scheduled for Thursday the 22nd. Believe me, I'll keep you posted.

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