Sema 2008 All Wrapped Up - House of Kolor

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SEMA 2008 ALL WRAPPED UP Las Vegas Convention Center • Las Vegas, Nevada November 4 thru 7, 2008 Las Vegas, NV. Nov. 4 – 7, 2008 – This year marked the 42nd annual SEMA show, and House of Kolor was well-represented. Located in Central Hall, Booth# 23413 was at maximum capacity during the entire four days of the event. House of Kolor had huge aspirations and months of planning going into this year’s SEMA 3500 SqFt booth, and we did not disappoint. The booth this year offered eye kandy for all generations. From live airbrush demos to authentic House of Kolor scarab tattoos, to feature vehicles and celebrity appearances, the House of Kolor booth had it all. Jon Kosmoski’s 1948 International pick-up was truly a show-stopper, with its hand fabrication and custom “Veribrnt Orange” paint job. Attendees of the SEMA show fought for position and emptied their cameras’ memory cards trying to get the perfect shot of this beauty. Kosmoski himself was standing beside his masterpiece to sign autographs and answer questions as well. In fact Jon’s only complaint about the show was of cramped fingers from signing so many autographs, and he single-handedly kept the Sharpie ® company in business by running through so many markers. Nearly as popular was the 1957 Chevy (AKA “The Grand Ruby”) built and painted by Phoenix Auto Restorations in Hackettstown, NJ. This classic featured a deep, clean finish of Apple Red Kandy over Pavo Purple Basecoat, and made people stop and stare in awe. Greg Biancone of Phoenix Auto was on hand to answer all questions and generally take the credit for this beauty. Additional vehicles in the House of Kolor booth included the “Rice Fink,” Kal Concepts/Air Syndicate’s tribute to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, John Christner’s 1918 Harley-Davidson replica with sidecar (winner of House of Kolor Prestigious Painter contest January 2008), a custom painted Sand Rail, custom built bagger bike (nicknamed the “Necronomicon”), and Sucker Punch Sally’s bike by Scott Daugherty and AIREA 5150, Inc., and two amazing Simonetti bicycles painted by Mike Faria and Terry Stephens of Huntington Beach, CA. Mark Remling also offered his chopper-style bicycle that was easily mistaken for the real thing, with its unique design and killer paint job. The House of Kolor booth did not stop with vehicles at this year’s SEMA show. Mike Lavallee offered his talents on both a two-piece tool chest and a 1950’s style GE refrigerator featuring a portrait of HOK founder Jon Kosmoski against a classic deep red background. Mark Remling delivered his custom chopper-style bicycle that made heads turn, and an RC helicopter with a truly unique paint job of a scarab skeleton with its colorful skin peeling away. There was even a flamed out Craftsman lawn tractor complete with Nitrous bottle and parachute, painted by one of our talented The 2008 SEMA booth was an out of the park home run! From blender to yard tractor, to Kayaks, snowboards, motorcycles, clocks, car and truck, sand rails, etc. All tricked out with our kolors! I had so many people tell me, "Your booth is the best in the show!" The booth was continually busy, from morning to close! The Best SEMA exposure ever! It was a Killer Display! Great job all! Jon Kosmoski, Founder of House of Kolor Technical Representatives, Will Allred; every weekend warrior’s dream. Sound like a full booth? Not even close. House of Kolor also proudly displayed two custom painted surf kayaks by Mike “Wet” Willey and Jason Doll at the entrance of the booth, and a host of unique skateboard blanks painted by various artists. Among the skateboard blanks displayed on our wall were the top three winners of Coast Airbrush’s skateboard painting contest, Eddie Davis, Johnnie Grez, and Jim Hetzler, respectively. Adding to the extreme sports motif were two custom painted snowboards by Chris Cruz and Bob Soroka. If you lost track of time in the booth, you could look at any one of the four custom built and painted scarab clocks hanging on the wall, while sitting at the stunning House of Kolor wet bar, designed and painted by Mark Remling and Coast Airbrush. The bar, with a cut out scarab highlighted by colorchanging LED lights, was topped off by an Ice machine and Margaritaville ® machine that were painted by Steve Driscoll of Sprockets Custom Paint in Savage, MN, as well as a Kitchenade ® mixer painted by Nick Laye of Snohomish, WA, and an ice bucket painted by Lynette Ozlowski from Australia. Equally refreshing was a custom painted Cruzin Cooler with a “Beer Time” theme painted by Deborah Mahan. This year’s SEMA booth was more than just a celebration of the Kulture of Kolor that has defined House of Kolor for the last 50+ years. It was also about bringing together House of Kolor’s parent company, Valspar, as well as the De Beer line of automotive refinish products. For the first time, literature and paint samples from all three brands were proudly displayed in the SEMA booth. From the Valspar Universal Intermix rack to the De Beer 900 Series Waterbase, Valspar Automotive offers something for every body shop, regardless of location or air quality regulations. Attendees were able to place thier autographed Scarab posters, cast car, and literature in a handsome new Valspar Automotive Group convention bag, with a classic House of Kolor flame design that couldn’t be missed. Rumors spread quickly throughout 30 miles of SEMA convention isles that House of Kolor was treating their customers to something special this year. We opened a tattoo shop that was a booth within our booth, with artists carving the scarab design onto scores of eager attendees. Tattoo artists Jason Doll and Russ Irelan of Doll’s Custom FX, and Franco Vescovi of El Toro Inkhouse were booked solid almost immediately after the doors opened each day during the show. Men and women from all generations all fought for position on the list to have the House of Kolor scarab logo permanently painted on their skin. The only thing moving faster than the tattoo guns was the pen used to fill out the release form. The buzz of the needles was drowned out only by people playing Rock Band
2 on the 42-inch plasma TV in the center of the booth. Attendees were happy to pick up a Craig Fraser custom painted Rock Band guitar and jam to their favorite hits like Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat.” While waiting for their turn to get a scarab tattoo, attendees enjoyed our three customer appreciation chairs, complete with Osim iSqeez calf and foot massagers. Anyone who has ever attended a SEMA show and walked the entire floor can appreciate how valuable a foot massage can be. House of Kolor’s airbrushing demo stand proved once again to be a hot spot of the Central Hall of the Las Vegas convention center, where panels were painted live by celebrity artists, who were also on hand to sign autographs and answer questions. This year’s list of celebrity airbrush artists included Deborah Mahan, Craig Fraser, Mike Lavallee, Steve Driscoll, Brian Horstmann, Lynette Ozlowski, and Jason Powers. Live House of Kolor product demonstrations are always a huge draw. The House of Kolor wall of color, which was first introduced at the SEMA show in 2007, was given a major facelift this year to draw even more attention to it. This year’s wall featured shelving units lined with LED lights that lit each color shape up and drew attendees to it like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. Finally, everyone could see their favorite House of Kolor colors clearly and could choose the right combination for their next project. SEMA attendees were also introduced to the new version of our highly successful Digital Paint Booth software, which allows you to design your ultimate paint scheme before you begin to paint your vehicle. Carter Hickman, designer of the software, was on hand to demonstrate the software and to answer any questions from curious customers. With over 250 vehicles to choose from and new graphics and functionality, the new version of the Digital Paint Booth software is sure to grow in popularity. Another new tool for planning a project introduced at this year’s SEMA show was our Digital Counter Pro software. From this software, users can browse through images of every digital color shape and print a clean photograph with product name and code included. The software also includes training lessons, profit estimators, technical data sheets and MSDS information, electronic quote forms, product catalogs and marketing items, a video library including mixing and application videos, and much more. The Digital Counter Pro software was a huge hit at the SEMA show, and promises to be an extraordinary asset to any Jobber store when it is released in the spring of 2009. This year’s SEMA show was an astounding success for House of Kolor, and the response to our booth was monumental. " I've been a car guy since birth and attending SEMA was definitely one of the things on my "bucket list". My TATTOO is healing nicely and is awesome." & "We went through the entire show and the HOK booth was definitely the best of all..." Jerry Massa of Grief Packaging LLC.
Page 4: © 2008 The Valspar Corporation. Al

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