60Les LaMotte
Joined 6 years ago from Minneapolis/St. Paul - Burnsville Minnesota
“A half-century ago... my namesake and grandfather Les McPheron taught me the wonder of designing, building and flying my first kite. It was a remarkable experience, the kite was made of sugar pine, edged with newspaper folded over wrapping string and sealed with white glue,”
Les LaMotte, a multi Award Winning Singer/Songwriter after releasing his first album “Sonrise A New Tomorrow.” Desiring to introduce his graphic design business to the music industry exhibited at the Gospel Music Association (GMA) in Nashville in 1994. He purchased some banners and banner stands for his exhibit. “These very valuable insights and introduction to ‘handmade creativity’ combined with my Eagle Scouting experience with lightweight tenting further enhanced by knowledge and need for lightweight structures and portability.”
While moving them on and off the convention floor, realizing that they would be too heavy to ship economically or carried easily on a plane, he knew he had to look at other alternatives. While at his exhibit booth a music reporter, Scott appreciating the overall imagineering of his exhibit asked him to make him a similar custom display that could be taken with him on a plane for his company. As an imagineer he began to think about that moment spent with his grandfather and building the kites. As an Eagle Scout Les was aware of the new aluminum framework tents and with his 25 years in graphic design and printing he was aware of the entrance of large scale digital printing that was on the horizon. The “Chocolate and the Peanut Butter” experience flashed in his imagineering mind and in an moment of design contemplation the concept of digital graphics being tensioned with light weight mountaineering quality aluminum poles instantly became the solution he was looking for. Now, back home in his design studio he began to sketch his ideas and then realized he had to take a quick trip to REI to pick up the needed poles to begin experimenting with this newly created idea into a display technology.
In an hour he fashioned his first prototype light-weight and flexible aluminum framework. He slipped the banner on the top and bottom poles, that he had used at the GMA trade show and there it was standing before him the first “Xtra Lite Display.” Wanting to hear another opinion and potentially celebrate his new found success, he called his brother Al LaMotte O.D. who came right over. When he saw his new creation he was astonished and so surprised at what he had created. Al exclaimed “Les, you have got to put this baby on the market.” Les didn’t waste any time and after further adjustments and finding some additional parts the XL1 - Xtra Lite Display product emerged.
Wanting to see if there was broader support for his new product he requested some marketing advice from his long time friend and associate Peter Reese, who also wrote some songs and sang together in “Men With A Mission” a prison ministry group they established at CrossPoint Church in Bloomington MN. Peter helped him creatively establish the Xtra Lite Display name and logo design. He also helped him find the names of magazines all around the country and world. Les spent $14 for some photos and postage and the rest is history… with in only a few months he began receiving interest in the display product from Argentina, Brazil, and the list goes on to over 36 countries around the world. Xtra Lite Displays now a product with a logo became an established Minnesota corporation on May 31, 1997 with the help of his brother Al.
“It was my twenty-five years as a graphic designer/marketer and three years as Design Director for Skyline Displays® also of Burnsville, that gave my career a critical knowledge and focus on extending my design and product insight to create the Xtra Lite Display System. At the age 45 I had finally found how all of my God given gifts and talents, artistic training and graphic design training and practice came together as a combination of all of my core passions to create this simple and effective display with a distinct reputation as the “Litest Weight Display in the World.”