Spring 2007 - ASID Texas Chapter

cont from page 30
At the meeting, Shelly Saab turned over the reigns to our local incoming
board which consists of:
Sally Dinsmoor, ASID – Chair
Irene Stanley, ASID – Treasurer
Nicole Ferrini, ASID – Newsletter
Gloria Valdez, Allied Member ASID - Communications
Tayton Morgan, Allied Member ASID- Communications
Lorraine Huit, Allied Member ASID – Special Projects
In October we were fortunate to have a wonderful CEU meeting and
lunch hosted by manufacturers representative Pat Gerry Wilson and
BPSI, our local Herman Miller Dealership. Maryann McConnell of Crypton
Fabrics presented the class. Her power point presentation gave us more
then a few laughs! We received useful crypton cleaning demonstration
kits. Ann Perez was the lucky winner of a Crypton designer portfolio bag.
It does pay to make it to your monthly ASID meetings!
What a fantastic and informative meeting we had on November 8 with
Kathleen Powers of Mechoshade International. Kathleen treated us
to a delicious lunch and CEU class with the local AIA group. Kathleen is
busy signing up 2 or 3 window treatment dealers to be certified with their
product in El Paso. Mechoshade can not be bought directly, and we must
go through a certified dealer for product and installation.
I am sure that all those who attended this meeting obtained valuable
information about solar blinds.
Kathleen spoke of how designers love to specify white solar blinds.
She said designers specify them a lot because their appearance is clean
and architectural. However, the color white intensifies sunlight when it
hits the shade, and this can be very disturbing to a client’s work environment.
The bright light bounces off work surfaces and interferes with
computer screens. Some offices have actually had to tape large sheets
of brown paper to their windows to avoid the glare from the sun.
Kathleen told us that while all solar shades deflect heat, only the darker
colors keep down the intensity of the light, no matter what the opacity
of the weave. If a client complains about the white shades, the manufacturer
can either retrofit a Mylar screen or install a blackout shade behind
the original white shade to fix the problem.
But the best solution, according to Kathleen, is to specify the right
shade at the beginning of the job-- stick with grays, blacks, or browns,
the darker the color the better.
You can reach Kathleen Powers at her cell number 480-231-7417 or
Email her at kathleenp@mechoshade.com
On November 30th, we were invited to the Dal-tile Grand Reopening
with the local AIA group. We had a wonderful evening. We shared great
food and drink, had a quick stone installation presentation given by
Laticrete. We walked away from the meeting with Laticrete grout samples
and lots of literature. I don’t know about you but I personally loved their
glow-in-the-dark grout and their glitter grout that works great with
glass tile. I laugh when I think about us all huddling in the darkened
restroom to get a good look at that glow-in-the-dark product!
Our combined ASID El Paso Design Community Christmas Party/December
meeting was held on Monday evening, December 11th, at Charlotte’s
Fine Furniture Showroom. Fran Timbrook hosted the event in which
we enjoyed great food and company.
32
American Society of Interior Designers
We were invited to do some Christmas shopping in the Charlottes
gift shop before hand and those who did not shop, were busy eating
and filling out a survey that Sally Dinsmoor created to gather information
from our local members to assist us in determining how we can
improve our local design community.
Also in December, Fran Timbrook and Sally Dinsmoor met over lunch
with the design department head at El Paso Community College; Maria
Prospero. Maria is busy aligning our local school with the current issue
of moving design graduates into a four year interior design program at
one of our fine Universities here in Texas.
January’s meeting and membership drive was held at Art Masters
on January 11, 2007.
Our host was Doug Anthony, the gallery and custom framing owner
of Art Masters. Doug opened his business in El Paso 10 years ago after
seeing a need in El Paso for quality framed artwork and custom framing
services at an affordable price with great service.
Doug and his employee Blythe Burkhart explained to us the latest
trends and technology in picture framing, including how computerized
framing can be an advantage to designers and their clients. Doug and
Blythe covered conservation framing-- including the advantages and
disadvantages of conservation framing, when to use conservation framing,
the latest and greatest installation tricks for framed art work, and much
more. We had a lot of great questions for Doug and his staff -- and we
learned quit a bit.
Not only did Doug provide some of El Paso’s best Mexican food, but he
had a drawing for three door prizes which consisted of signed and limited
edition prints. Our winners were Shelley Saab, Maggie Adame- Alvidrez,
and guest Gabriela Villalobos. Again, attend your meetings to be eligible
for some great prizes.
Twelve members and sixteen guests (hopefully soon to be members)
attended this membership drive.
February’s meeting was held at Annie Mo’s Decorator Warehouse
on Thursday evening February 15, 2007 at 5:30 PM. Annie lectured us
on “What’s hot and what’s not in the floral industry today.” We are
lucky to have such a talented woman as Annie and her business here in
El Paso.
We are looking forward to our March 6th meeting, when Johnsonite
Commercial Flooring will host a CEU luncheon for us, “Life Saving
Design.” This class is aimed at enhancing public safety and welfare through
the integration of design and advanced egress-routing systems.
We offer a special thank you to Nicole Ferrini for the spectacular on
line newsletter that she sends out each month. Each month’s graphics
are different and delightful. Those who miss a meeting can catch up easily
and effectively. We truly appreciate her hard work.
We also congratulate Andrea Ross from Facilities Connection (our
local Haworth Dealership) for successfully passing the NCIDQ last fall.
We give her high kudos and know that she is an inspiration to others in
El Paso, who are studying diligently to take the exam.
Happy New Year to each and every one of you from the El Paso Design
Community!!!
cont. on page 34