Month: May 2013

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Schmidt Shares the Bumbling Traveller Story at TEDx

TEDx Victoria Harbour

Hong Kong, 12 May 2013 ————– Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series creator Tom Schmidt was featured as a key speaker at TEDx Victoria Harbour yesterday at the historic Sunbeam Theatre in North Point.  Created in the spirit of TED Talks mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the independently organized TEDx Victoria Harbour featured individuals sharing ideas to help shape the future of travel and tourism.  

As one of 11 speakers addressing a sold-out crowd, Schmidt’s talk entitled, “Travel Perspectives & Travel Perspectives,” revolved around his personal perspectives on backpacking during which he presented his visual notes and in-situ “perspective” sketches of the built environment which ultimately culminated in the creation of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series.  Schmidt’s most recent release, Bumbling Through Hong Kong was recently awarded a bronze medal in the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Other speakers at TEDx Victoria Harbour included world traveler Andrea Oschetti, eco-entrepreneur Bobsy Gaia, world chef Chris Hora, and filmmaker Dean Head.  A stunning and emotive violin performance by Erica Ye Byeol Lee punctuated additional talks by hotel designer Jim Spear, writer Nury Vittachi, photographer Simon Wan, tourism promoter Tony Verb and Instagram-fan Tyson Wheatley.

Bumbling Through Hong Kong

Thomas Schmidt is an architect offering creative design solutions for the hospitality industry, as well as a writer, illustrator, musician, and stand-up comedian. His wanderlust has carried him through various bumbling adventures in over 70 countries around the world, where sketches of his travel experiences culminated in an award-winning travel book series that seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures. He is a licensed US architect, a LEED® Accredited Professional, a founding member of the Hong Kong Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and a member of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI). Born in the U.S., Tom has resided in Hong Kong since 1997 and is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an architectural consultancy specializing in sustainable hospitality design.

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CLICK HERE TO WATCH THOMAS SCHMIDT SPEAK AT TEDx VICTORIA HARBOUR

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Bumbling Through Hong Kong Scoops Bronze Medal

Third volume of educational graphic novel travel series wins third prize in 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards

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Hong Kong, 8 May 2013 ————– Bumbling Through Hong Kong, volume three of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller™ Adventure Series by Tom Schmidt, has been selected as a bronze medal winner in the Graphic Novel / Drawn Book category of the 17th Annual 2013 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards.

Billed as the largest independent book awards program in the world, IPPY Awards Director Jim Barnes announced today that the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards garnered over 5,200 total book entries from over 2,500 independent authors, publishers and university presses across the world.  Of the thousands of entries spanning 77 various categories, only 382 winning books were awarded with medals.

Bumbling Through Hong Kong author and illustrator Tom Schmidt noted, “We are absolutely thrilled to have been selected as an award winner in such a competitive and international book awards program.” Coinciding with the opening of BookExpo America in New York City, a gala awards ceremony will be held at Providence NYC at 6:00 pm on May 29, 2013 for award-winning medalists.  The IPPY Awards, launched in 1996, are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers.

Bumbling Through Hong Kong is an educational graphic novel that follows on the heels of the first two award-winning volumes of the series — 

Bumbling Through Borneo

and 

Bumbling Through Sumatra

— which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures.  The Bumbling Traveller™ Adventure Series is published by Kakibubu Media Limited and is distributed throughout Asia by Far East Media Limited and MPH Distributors Sdn Bhd.

The book was launched in Hong Kong on April 18, 2013 and is scheduled to be launched in Singapore on May 26, 2013 in conjunction with the upcoming Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Tom Schmidt is an architect, award-winning writer, illustrator, musician, and part-time stand-up comedian.  Born in the United States, following his studies of Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Colorado, his wanderlust has carried him through various bumbling adventures in over 70 countries around the world.  Schmidt is a licensed US architect, a LEED® Accredited Professional, a founding member of the Hong Kong Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and a member of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI).  He has resided in Hong Kong since 1997, and is founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an architectural consultancy specializing in sustainable hospitality design.  Schmidt received a 2010 AIA Hong Kong Citation for the Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series in “recognition of significant achievement in promoting the values of cultural heritage, eco-tourism and vernacular architecture in the Chapter’s region.”