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Tuesday, 16 April 2013

British Craft Trade Fair 2013



girlwithbeads at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate, 7th-9th April 2013.

So as this was my first trade fair I spent a lot of time researching different styles of stand set ups, I visited a few trade fairs to get ideas from other exhibitors and decided I wanted something modular that could be set up easily, configured in different ways and would fit in a small car.

I noticed a few people using apple crates and really loved the look and felt it would fit in with my brand as they are recycled and have a great vintage look. They can also double as storage and can be used to transport stock to the event. So I bought 6 crates from ebay and came up with this set up, using a broom handle for a clothes rail, and some planks of wood to make a shelf and provide some stability.


Testing my stand set up at home, with some masking tape on the floor to check the dimensions of the 2m x 1m stand.

I used some hessian sacks with union jacks on (left over from a Jubilee street party sack race from last year!) to cover the bottom 2 crates so that I could store my personal belongings and extra cards, etc on the stand.

Setting up at BCTF:


To complete the look and provide a covering for the ugly shell scheme, I bought a few metres of astro turf and hung it from the top of the stand. It provided a great backdrop and splash of colour.


Was really glad I took the old school stool as it was very useful to stand on.


  I used led spotlights inside the boxes to highlight my products, S hooks & chains to hang bags from the stand, plus Gwen the dummy was given a lick of paint to smarten her up!


The finished stand!


Also as a last minute bonus the organisers asked me to supply a bag to put in the showcase cabinet at the entrance to the fair!

I met lots of lovely people at the fair who I will blog about another time, but just wanted to mention these 3 who all won awards - Fantastic!


 Sarah from Williams British Handmade who makes beautiful hand crafted leather bags, and won the Newcomers Award.


Ellie from Bug who makes gorgeous jewellery and got a Highly Commended for Excellence in Jewellery!


And old friends Lidia & Paul from Zinc White who make great jewellery from recycled artists materials, and won an award for their stand design including the 'dancing' sign!

*Things I forgot to take and will take next time*
dustpan & brush
cleaning products
lint brush
biscuits!

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