Fab Times at the American Craft Council show in Baltimore

I just got back from Baltimore, where I participated in both wholesale and retail sections of the American Craft Council show. Let me tell you…it was super fun and also was great validation that the new collection is going in the right direction! We picked up some new wholesale accounts, so my work will be represented by some terrific stores & galleries in parts of the country that are new to me (more about those in a later blog posts), and I had an amazing time during the retail section of the show.

The retail section is what I’d like to tell you about today. Here’s what I love about doing a retail show – you get to actually hear opinions of your work directly from the people who are shopping. Okay, usually people only tell you the praise (that’s what people love to tell you, of course), and that is fun, but the really useful feedback is in seeing what people try on, talk about with their friends, and actually purchase. To my incredible delight, I found that the most successful pieces - the ones most discussed, tried on, and purchased - were my favorite designs as well! The bigger pieces with the one of a kind stones got the attention and the sales! (We did sell some smaller ones as well.) Have a look at some of the one of a kind items that got snapped up by Baltimore shoppers here! (Click on the photos for links to info about the items.)  

 

Of course, I was in regular contact with my sweetie/best friend/husband Adam – here I am texting him my jewelry for the day before the show…getting words of encouragement so that I could get out there and go work it! I am by nature a bit of an introvert, so despite the fact that I enjoy going to shows and love talking to customers, it does take me a little bit of psyching up to get out of the head-down-at-the-studio-bench mindset and into the outgoing-meeting-clients head space.

 

And here I am showing off the earrings that had just sold...they were featured as one of my booth photos!  (Guess I'll have to get another photo banner made. Yay!)

I was also delighted that my new booth set up worked out so well. For extra security during the retail section of the show (which can be crowded and means that at times there are many shoppers standing near your product) I designed these clear acrylic boxes. I laid them out in a drawing program on my computer and had them laser cut. They worked great and being entirely clear acrylic, didn’t interrupt the view of the jewelry.

 

Now, I’m so happy to be back in Minneapolis and super excited that I get to work on more new one of a kind pieces. I'll keep you posted! Better get back to work!!!