Professional Development: Successful Trade Event Planning

A Professional Development Day for Craft businesses and designer-makers wishing to exhibit at trade events and craft fairs.

The event will provide all the steps required to have a successful show including planning, people, promotion, display, and funding and follow up.

The day will be hosted by Clare Phillips and Michelle Bowen, specialist consultants working within the Crafts who will share their experience of the leading trade events for the crafts and design sectors within the UK and Internationally.

They will shed light on events from the buyer, commissioner and collectors perspective.

Teri Kelly PR will be advising on contacting and liaising with the press in order to maximize your profile at an event.

I attended this development programme on Tuesday and couldn't rate it any higher. It gave you all you needed to know in a very precise and informative way and well worth it for anybody thinking about exhibiting at a trade show or craft fair.
The best professional training day I have attended in a long time. Now just left with loads of homework and research and some research trips next year!

Christmas Craft Market at St George's Market

I finally managed to secure a stand at this years Christmas Craft Market at St George's Market, Belfast which was today.
What a great day and so nice to see so many people shopping and supporting local artists and crafts people, as well as allowing the customer to talk to the artist responsible for their products. I had a good day of sales and secured a small commission.
So nice to speak to people who appreciate your work and value it and the time it takes to make it! Looking forward to trading again next Sunday. Now for a little lying in the morning

Success

I have just found out that my submissions for the Christmas Exhibition at SpaceCraft in Belfast have been excepted and I will be in the exhibition, which has a preview evening tonight from 6pm - 8pm. All welcome

Submissions Delivered to SpaceCraft's Christmas Exhibition

After a very stressful day trying to get everything framed and finished on time, I finally delivered all my entries to SpaceCraft this morning for this years Christmas exhibition. Now keeping my fingers crossed that they all get excepted.
The exhibition opens next Thursday night at SpaceCraft from 6pm to 8 pm so not long to wait.

Get Your Stockings Out For Christmas

Here is my unframed and unfinished entry for SpaceCraft's "Get you stocking out for Christmas". The Idea is that the Stocking represents you and your practice, so I have placed some of my favourite tools in mine that I use on a day to day basis. I hope you like it it's meant to be fun!. I've sandblasted back some blue flashed glass and fire polished it in the kiln

Spacecraft Christmas Exhibition

I have been busy making some things for SpaceCrafts Christmas exhibition these include some angels and stars for festive forest which are decorated miniature christmas trees. I'm also submitting a couple of other things to the exhibition. So fingers crossed they will be finished in time. One piece still needs framing and the other one is still in the kiln. The deadline is 4.30 pm tomorrow!

St George's Sunday Market

I have taken the plunge and taken a stall at St George's Sunday Market in Belfast. It's only as a casual trader so means getting up at the crack of dawn every Sunday morning to queue outside the market for a space. Luckily it hasn't been to cold the last two Sundays, but the queue of people looking for spaces is getting longer. Maybe I should take my bed next week.