Exhibition organisers have long shown ingenuity in adding value to their events. Educational seminars programmes .. worthy and well received. Free food and drink … what’s not to like. Badges and tee shirts .. why not? But puppies … that, my friends is marketing genius.
I had always thought, until a recent visit to Los Angeles, that the British were the most dog-obsessed national in the world. I was wrong. The Americans are just as mad about our four-legged friends.
So, not for the first time, Coverings had a puppy creche in a central location in the exhibition hall. Fourteen members of Tile Council of North America donated lovingly-tiled, one-of-a-kind doghouses to the Homeless Pets Foundation to create one of the most visited attractions at Coverings 2018.
The participating companies included AlysEdwards Tile & Stone, American Wonder Porcelain, Casa Ceramica, Crossville, Del Conca USA, Fiandre, Florida Tile, International Wholesale Tile, Ironrock, Lunada Bay Tile, Marazzi, New Ravenna, Quemere Designs, and StonePeak Ceramics; while the forms used to make the doghouses were manufactured by Wedi.
“TCNA is excited to partner this year with the Homeless Pets Foundation to help them achieve their goal of rescuing homeless pets,” explains TCNA Executive Director, Eric Astrachan. “TCNA members’ generosity, effort, and dedication to this terrific cause is evident in each of the wonderfully-crafted, unique masterpieces on display in the Art Tile Courtyard. The doghouses are a showcase of yet one more way tile can be used to make a home a work of art.”
“This partnership with TCNA and its members will help us raise funds to further our mission of saving pets’ lives both through local adoptions,” states Dr. Michael Good, founder of the Homeless Pets Foundation ‘and by transporting them with the Underhound Railroad to areas of the country where the adoption demand is higher.”
During the show the doghouses, and some suitably heart-melting guests from the Homeless Pets Foundation, were on display in the TCNA Art Tile Courtyard. This was a valuable exposure for the Foundation, a 100% volunteer-run organization dedicated to promoting responsible pet ownership, aiding abandoned and homeless animals, and placing adoptable dogs and cats in forever homes. Since its founding in 1998, it has placed more than 10,000 pets into loving homes. For more information about the Homeless Pets Foundation and the Underhound Railroad, please visit https://homelesspets.com and http://www.underhoundrailroad.com.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, May 2018.