We have been in Dusseldorf since Saturday at the Euroshop show held at the Messe near the airport. Our small booth space was visited by people from 37 countries over five days. We had a good response to our sculptural pieces shown as part of our booth. The orange fabric seems to be part of a larger trend.

The most important thing I learned at the show is that there are a lot of entrepreneurs networking between many countries worldwide. The exhibit industry here is very different from the U.S. market. Exhibit spaces are less object oriented and more social and sales oriented. The booth spaces are more like marketing networks, and the physical aspects of the booths are like a background for meeting and socializing. Personal engagement is a vital aspect of doing business here. Many participants have been involved in the industry for twenty years or more, and have a vested interest in the progress and evolution.

For fifteen years I have traveled about half of my time. My travel has been centered on our installations and projects. The thread that has held our business together is a careful understanding of the nature of each project and jobsite, and taking the time to get to know the people involved.

In reality, the time required to travel is ten-fold the time spent at the jobsite, with the client, contractor, or design firm. Fortunately, I enjoy the people and places that I encounter along the way as well. I find that every person I meet has a unique story, and often these stories are fascinating and intriguing. Meeting someone while traveling is unusual because stories often are exchanged in one hour, fifteen minutes, or even thirty seconds. This occurs out of necessity when paths cross. The common ground of travel creates a bond and trust, adds richness and perspective, and influences my life in many ways.

As a way to calm myself, and reflect on the preciousness of each day, I write poems, and take photographs as a journal. Here is a recent poem:

shadows cross through the open woods
next to white barren fields
and curvy rutted winding roads.
i walk these in my mind
following the shadows which often fall
far flung against adjacent trees
and down steep creek banks
meandering like the sun across the sky
and drawing to a close at day's end.