When your corporate mission statement is to "rid the world of all things mundane," your trade show exhibit had better be downright extraordinary. And the 53-by-69-foot exhibit for Munchkin Inc., a provider of baby and children's products, delivered in spades – or rather in potties and "sippy cups." Whereas traditional kids' products are all about whimsical shapes and cotton-candy colors, Munchkin's products mix fun yet functional forms with a serious adult sophistication. The firm's booth followed suit, and judges hailed it as "wonderfully whimsical and childlike, yet grown up and utterly on brand."

Designed and fabricated by Pinnacle Exhibits Inc., the enclosed exhibit originally crafted for the Kind + Jugend show in Cologne, Germany, comprised a gallery-like space. Here, designers married lifestyle graphics with artistic product displays. As guests entered the space on a lime-green carpet, they proceeded down a corridor whose left wall held evenly spaced baby-bottle brushes in three different hues, while the right wall featured similarly spaced bottles atop a brilliant-blue backdrop.

Meandering down the corridor, attendees discovered more products lining the walls amid the cavernous space. Including everything from baby gates to travel accessories, the displays may have touted one-function products, but designers' choice of colors and positioning transformed them into modern art. Beyond the central product area, attendees could nosh on nibbles in the White Hot Cafe. Meanwhile, a 20-by-33-foot VIP meeting space adjacent to the main booth was accessible via a small exit at the rear of the cafe.

Judges applauded Pinnacle Exhibits, but the firm's director of creative and marketing, Giles Rickett, credits Munchkin as being integral to the project's success. "Whenever you see amazing design work, there's a special client behind it, one with the discipline to envision an inventive concept at the start and allow that concept to soar."