Boothster builds on eco-focus for trade shows

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The U.S. Forest Service booth in Buenos Aires.

Portland-based Boothster started in 2007 with nothing more than a website and some small warehouse space.

But the company’s focus on bringing sustainability and an eco-consciousness to a notoriously wasteful industry — the stat thrown around by experts is that the average trade show attendee produces 61 pounds of waste in three days — has resulted in three years of steady growth despite a lagging economy.

Late last year Boothster, which employs four people and provides freelance work to about 10 others, moved into a new 5,000 square-foot warehouse in Northeast Portland and put the finishing touches on its first freestanding product, the Eco Loco Porto, a self-contained trade show booth made out of durable recyclable fiber tubes, cotton, non VOC ink graphics, and soy glue plywood. It retails for $2,999.

Last November also brought Boothster its most high-profile gig to date. At the World Forestry Congress, held this year in Buenos Aires, Boothster was selected to design and build the booth for the U.S. Forest Service.

“It was an amazing experience,” says John-Paull Davidson.

To reduce the carbon footprint of the endeavor, Davidson worked with a team on the ground in Argentina to develop the exhibit, which used locally sourced materials — including a batch of durable cardboard tubes pulled from the garbage that were converted into abstract trees, and panels made of recycled plastic bottles in Chile.

The result was the hit of the exhibit hall, said Davidson.

Liza Vida C. Paqueo of the U.S. Forest Service’s international programs division backs him up. “We were proud of the booth,” Paqueo said in a statement. “It was innovative, beautiful, thoughtful, eco-friendly, welcoming and encouraged exchange of information.”

The booth was so popular that instead of recycling it after the show, the Forest Service decided to reuse it at an upcoming conference to be held in South Korea in August.

Davidson, who is still catching up from his weeks in Beunos Aires, was inspired to start an eco-friendly tradeshow company after more than a decade in the industry. His last employer, Promotion Products Inc., went out of business leaving behind a huge warehouse of tradeshow paraphernalia that had to be thrown away.

“That was part of the inspiration,” Davidson said. He built a website, made sure it came up in web searches for “eco-friendly tradeshow booths” and gradually built his business.

Adding the Eco-Loco stand-alone product diversifies Boothster’s revenue sources beyond the custom booth-building business. “The options companies have for this is cheesy, vinyl crap,” Davidson said. “We have a grander vision.”

Davidson said he has boot strapped the business to date, but may decide to pursue investment to grow more rapidly.

See more images of the Forest Services booth at Boothster's website.