“Ooooooh, Jane, look at THIS! It’s gorgeous!”

It was day two at the New York International Gift Fair and by then I was accustomed to the excitement. “Hi ladies, I see you’re loving our Chang Mai bed,” I said with a smile. The Blissliving Home booth was on an end cap in the Home section and our Chang Mai bed, nicknamed “The Show Stopper” by my colleague Diane and I, was drawing in quite the crowd. But what people didn’t know at first glance is that our Chang Mai bed is more than just a pretty face. Designed by then 11-year-old Aria Curameng for our national Bliss Kids Arts Festival (a kids-only art competition), the duvet not only looks smashing in bright red, blue and yellow pointillism, but 10 percent of our sales proceeds from Aria’s masterpiece will go to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC.

We, of course, entered our beauty into the Best New Product awards at the show. As the judges filtered through and listened to our story behind the Chang Mai bedding set, I saw the look of awe on their faces. Good looks AND a heart? What a bed! The Chang Mai bed lived up to it’s nickname and took first place for Best New Product in the Bedding Category. Diane and I placed the gleaming award on the headboard above the bed, like a sash on a beauty queen. Congrats to Aria!