What was the worst display you ever did?

We did an open air display recently, and it was a little over-ambitious. And then the hurricane came through, so that was pretty much the worst display we've ever done. We took large sculptural pieces and put theatrical flats behind them to create a backdrop, so customers were looking at them without the visual clutter of the city. A number of flats blew over onto the merchandise and ruined it. We won't be able to recover unless we sell them off as sale items. You can never tell what to anticipate when you're dealing with the outdoors, so it's a big gamble. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here, in the summer, you're trying to reach people in a different way — people you wouldn't normally reach. Had it not happened the way it did, it would have been a good thing for us. We still reached a good number of people before it happened. The other thing is to have a Plan B, because if you don't you're really in trouble. Ours was to take away the flats quickly and let the work stand on its own.

We don't do bad displays here. We have had a few mishaps, though. We had a beach display with sand in it and a fish tank and the fish kept having babies. We did a marriage one that included a dustpan and the manufacturer had misspelled “housework.” A customer brought it to our attention and we brought it to the manufacturer's attention, but they never fixed it. Don't display vases with water in them because they'll dump over on you and you'll get wet. We have a disastrous area that we can never display in, and that's baby. We display it and literally the next day it looks like four kids have been through it. We've done it in armoires, we've done it in drawers, we've done it in tiers, and it's like there are gremlins that come into the store. Sometimes, there's such a thing as too much planning. The last show I did, I had enough for three booths. You can be so prepared and yet not be prepared at all.

The worst display I have done was actually not a bad display but a controversial one: In November of 2000, I hung a giant painting of George Washington in our front window on an elaborate easel, surrounded by antique reproduction American flags and bunting which we sell, with a printed banner that said, “GEORGE W. REMINDS YOU TO VOTE.” At that time, I was located in a popular liberal artists' community downtown, and I knew I would get some heat for it. A few passers-by did a double-take, and my landlord was concerned for my stance, but I felt it was up for interpretation! The reaction was 50/50. Most people ignored it or didn't get it at all. Some gave me the thumbs up. I would definitely do something similar again, as I think it's always good to stir things up a little and get away from what are typical retail displays. After all, would we know about Simon Doonan and the Barneys windows if some were not a bit controversial? Most press is good press!