What Louis XIV was to France when he famously uttered “L’état, c’est moi,” Tracy Bowie was to IIDEX, Canada’s biggest tradeshow for the A&D community. Though IIDEX VP and show director since 2005, when London, England-based Informa Exhibitions took over the show from Merchandise Mart Properties (MMPI), her management of IIDEX dates to 1996. Insofar as IIDEX will no longer be a freestanding show, but an appendage of the Interior Design Show (IDS), this was, perhaps, the appropriate time to leave. Informa threw a farewell party for her at its midtown Toronto office that was packed to the rafters with her many friends and admirers, and had this to say in an internal release:
“In 2013, Tracy Bowie was awarded a prestigious IIDA/IDC leadership award for her contributions to the design and architecture industry in Canada, which was the pinnacle of her career. She always said she loved every day at work – even during the stressful long hours of show business – and said it was always a lot of fun with such great colleagues and clients – that it didn’t feel like work.
Tracy is both excited and fully supportive of the decision to bring together IIDEX and IDS to create a brand new show in 2019 that will appeal to the commercial and residential design trade and consumers all under one roof. She felt the timing of this change was the perfect timing for a change for her. She is “passing the baton” as they say, and is excited that the IIDEX team and IDS team will come together working alongside each other to produce one fabulous show. She has the utmost confidence that this smart, passionate and design focused group will move this new event forward and have great success. We are grateful and fortunate that Tracy will continue to be an advisor to us and to the new IDS and IDS Contract Show throughout the year.
Tracy has some travel plans in the upcoming weeks ahead and will be spending quality time with her husband Guy, sons Timothy, Devin and Curtis and Boston Terrier, Murphy. She will also pursue some causes near and dear to her heart including Out of the Cold, Food Bank and Refugee programs as well as working with groups focusing on accessibility and wellness issues and so much more.”
Photos by David Lasker.