I’m looking to update my booth display for art shows, and would love some feedback and ideas. I am currently using Abstracta, which look great, but they take way too much time to set up and take down – they are not designed for setting up for a weekend show. I sell jewelry and am looking for the whole booth display, including bases, not just display cases.
I am looking at Dynamic-Display which looks good and is very easy to set up and take down – but i’ve seem some feedback that they are not sturdy. My shows are usually in the street or sidewalk. Thanks for ideas and feedback!
i wonder how much it would be to custom design your own bases, to have all the features you want…maybe steel or wood bases…not too narrow…sturdy yet lightweight and easy to assemble…i saw leg levelers mentioned somewhere…
and buy the glass top systems to fit on top…
you could custom size the bases to fit the glass top cases…
I make a lot of pendants and they are hard to display. My other problem was that the chain was never the right length. I finally started displaying the pendants separate from a chain. This made them easier to display on simple display cards with hooks attached to the top. The picture that you posted looks like you could do the same. I added some signage indicating that chains of different lengths were available. I recently sold a lot of pendants during a sale where I just included the chain at any length in the sale price. I did outdoor shows for nearly 30 years. I learned very early that the way to sell bracelets was to have them out where people could touch them and try them on. I did start out with them in a glass case. There was always the possibility that one could go walking, but that is the cost of doing business. I don’t have an answer to your original question other than to say that I have never been tempted to buy into a display system. I have always made my own in a way that was consistent with the types of displays that I saw and liked at the shows that I would go to. Again, that was a long time ago. My brother Don just finished a very nice show where there were lots of people stopping at his booth. All of his pendants were displayed out in the open to be looked at, handled and possibly to be tried on. The same for bracelets. I am sure that he will be happy to add to this conversation. Good luck…Rob
Displaying jewelry is as much an art as is making it. I can make it all day long but I admit I suck out loud at designing a display. My wife is a master at doing displays so I let her have free reign. Simply put she tells me what she wants and I build it.
The show I just finished is a nationally ranked Art and Music show with cash awards for art and display. So a good display makes sales and has some benefits besides. As much weight is placed on the display as is put on the art itself. My pendants were a large part of the sales. I go to shows to sell jewelry but I win awards in spite of the fact that I make no effort in that direction. This year I finished Second.
A whole lot of marketing philosophy can be discussed but when it comes to shows I like it very simple. I am in business to sell the jewelry I make. I don’t sell chains because I don’t make them and in my experience people will want to put the pendants they buy on their own chains.
Because we may have very little time to set up and tear down keeping it simple is a plus. Black necks in various sizes with black rat tail hold the pendants.(From Michael’s ) The silver looks good against the black velveteen. The rat tail lifts off easily for trying on the pendant and since it costs pennies it goes away with the pendant. I am still refining bails and I have some pieces where the bail is as much a part of the art as the pendant itself. But it comes at an increase in price and I have to be aware of my market.
The display in the photo is an older display for me. I have changed it up some because we no longer use a minivan for shows. The Easy-UP is the determiner as to what vehicle we buy. I took it to dealerships and the Kia Sorento was the best fit.
More info than you asked for and maybe not specific enough. I will be happy to answer any questions you have.
I should add that every piece of fixture in my set up knocks down. I use # 20 Torx fastener cabinet screws for every thing that requires a fastener and DeWalt power drill. The charcoal gray bases are wedges that fit inside each other. Any lights I use are LED 12" bendable lamps from IKEA.
I am building a new set up for the coming year but to do so I had to build a new shop first. When that happens I’ll post pictures. Also as I get further into middle age I wonder how long I’ll keep up a show schedule. When it stops being fun I’ll look at other marketing possibilities :-).
Probably morel useful to show a photo of my display – this pic is for applications, my booth actually has a lot more stuff in it during an actual show. Hmm, now I can’t see how to attach a photo, even though I just did it!
Thanks, all, for the great suggestions. Don, how long does it take you to set up your booth? It takes me and my husband a couple of hours, from driving up to the spot til getting everything set up, including the tent, and then later I put all my jewelry out. So maybe 3 hours total. I’m trying to reduce the time, as my shows are usually 2 days sometimes even 1 day. Does your setup take less time than that?
Probably a little less but I will say it depends on the site. Last weekends show , which was 90 miles from home, is one we set up the Easy UP and table/counter the day before when time is no concern. In the morning of the show we can set up the display and be up and running in an hour and a half. We have set this particular show up in two hours. It helps that I am retired from a design and technology job so I don’t worry about time. The set up and tear down should be the same for any show, no matter that it is one day or two day show. This week end I am setting up two shows. A three day show and a one day show. I will be careful to see how much time it will take to set them up and tear down.
I don’t use any set ups or display systems except what I have made for myself so I am pretty fine tuned. My set up tool box is a drill motor with a T-25 Torx bit, two small needle nosed pliers, a hammer, a multi-bit screw driver.
I have some friends at these shows with similar set ups to Dynamic Design and their singular complaint was they were problematic on unlevel ground.
Hi Merrilee, here’s my stand. I keep the pendants on the wooden display stands, so they take 30 seconds to put on the table. Likewise, I bring the earrings already hooked over the cord I threaded through some pegboard. Setting out the rings on the little shelves I made takes no more than 20 mins, so I can arrive at a table and be set up ready to sell in half an hour. I made all the stands from scrap wood, painted matt black with furniture paint. The notches hold the chains for the pendants really securely. Like Rob I leave bracelets out front so people can try them on. The bottles are just for added interest. they have little LEDs on very thin wire inside them
I really appreciate the idea of using the peg board for earring display. That is a wonderful method of display and makes it easy for the shoppers to pick out what they want.
Hi B-dog!
Yes - it makes it easy for the customer and very easy for me. I threaded black cord through every 3rd and 4th hole in the pegboard and pulled it really tight at the back. That gives a couple of inches of cord at the front to hook the earwires over for each pair of earrings. I can pick the whole display up and the earrings stay securely in place. For stud earrings, I use a stretched canvas from a craft shop, painted black. The wooden frame is deep enough to protect the butterflies at the back, so again, I can just pick the entire display up at the start and end of a craft fair, with all the studs staying safely in place.
OK, two set ups this week end. My son and his girlfriend set up a small display for a one day show. A very simple and clean minimal set up in a city park:
Easy Up (No sides)
Table cover
Glass topped case
Earring Rack
Two 14" x 8" trays for rings
two chairs and a small table
This was their first show on their own but they have helped Cindy and I many times in the past. Greg said it was 45 minutes including carry time from the car. Tear down was quicker.
I have set up the three day show myself myself many times as shown in the attached photo. The table is my knockdown table that becomes two pieces when disassembled. This setup took 1 1/4 hours to unload, carry in and set up. The EasyUP by myself is a little cumbersome but simple enough. I nail down one corner in the back and pull it open. The rest assembles easy enough with the drapes, fixtures, and necks all going in two bins like the red one you can just see in the lower left. We did change out the black shelf/overhead frame (In the earlier photo)for two small folding ladder shelves on either end of the table top. (We did this because we have decided to use Ikea LED goose neck lamps for cooler more directional lights and putting up the overhead frame
Assembling the display and moving the car to a different location after unloading was an hour and fifteen minutes. Cindy sets up the jewelry, arranges the earring tree, and locates the lights. I just stand back, be a useful idiot and let the magic happen. This takes about a half an hour.
I know I could rebuild the display as is, from the ground up, not including the lamps and the glass case, and assuming the drapes remain the same for less than $250.00. The case is one of several that my Dad had made and I think Rob and I each have a couple of them.
So many good ideas in this thread! I had hoped to be doing shows this fall but the COVID risk is still just too high with all the health problems I have to begin with. Third straight year I’ve had to sit out. I hate it. But I am taking the time to slowly make and acquire displays, so when I finally am ready to venture out, I’ll be good to go!
The canvases for post earrings are brilliant- I’ve got a whole box of canvas from a previous acrylic pouring obsession. Seems like they’d be really easy to stack together and pop into a tote bag, maybe use another canvas for a booth sign and to put at the top of the stack so all the earrings are protected inside. Heck, now I’m imagining an entire booth setup built out of canvas… oh wow. Okay. If I’m not back out of this rabbit hole in six months, send a search party!
Another idea! I’ve just found you can get magnetic blackboard paint (matt black). I’ve painted the display stands with it (3 coats needed). There’s also magnetic backed inkjet printer paper (for people wanting to make their own fridge magnets) so I can now print out a description and a price for each piece and stick it next to the item, magnetically - no glue dots or stick glue required. Easily removable and replaceable when you sell the piece. I just type up the details in a table in a Word doc, print it and then cut out the strips for each piece. Hope that’s useful for someone.
