Trade show

Here is some belated images of the trade show where I showcased some of my work. The Cape Craft and Design Institute had hosted it and invited buyers, exporters and interior designers in the city to attend it. We each got a 2 x 1 meter booth, that we had to decorate ourselves. This created a bit of a problem for me, as I wanted to create little islands of interest, vs a table of mixed work. I wanted to showcase each work as an individual focus. But budget restraints had to ensure that I created something long lasting and effective.

I had some bedside tables that I bought from crafters that sell them on the street corners of our cities. These wooden and wicker furniture is made from scrap pieces of wood and it gives unemployed people the opportunity to earn a living working for themselves. By buying it from them, I feel that I contribute to preventing poverty in my country and hopefully help reduce crime at the same time.

After a few measurements, I took the beloveds utility and went shopping for super wood. At a nominal cost, they cut the pieces to size for me, and back home. A neighbor was supposed to help me, but never pitched. So a mad dash of me finishing off last minute work and pots of wood glue, filler and sanding blocks got all finished. I made tiny little floating shelves that were fitted onto a back board. Since these slide onto the wooden blocks that is screwed onto the board, I could remove them for easy storage once the trade show is over. I painted everything white.

Setting up was a breeze. A final touch-up with the paint roller, and I could arrange all my pieces on the stand. A set of spotlight created focus on the individual shelves, highlighting the work. I could store all my bags and what not in the shelves, thus keeping everything nice and tidy.

Yesterday we had a meeting at the CCDI where some prizes were handed over to the exhibitors. There were 5 prizes in total, and to my utmost surprise I took home 2! The exhibitors had to choose the best stand, and my peers awarded me with this prize. I also got a silver (2nd) award for the best stand as chosen by the organisers and visitors.

I was very satisfied with the outcome of the trade show, as I have made some valuable contact with buyers and exporters.

Here is some new work that I delivered to one of the galleries that visited the trade show:

Helter skelter minds and a full week

These last few weeks have not been easy on me ... I do not want to bore you with the gory details, so let's just stick to me and my tears equaled the amount of rain we had in the same time frame here in the Western Cape, lol.

In between this there was lots of hours spent working as a RN at the various hospitals and clinics, and the new Candle Stick range that I started to play with.

These and some of my other glass and ceramics were submitted to a panel last week for consideration to partake in a Trade Exhibition, hosted by the Cape Craft and Design Institute. Gosh, I really love these people!

On Monday I got the E-mail telling me that my work has been selected for the show. I got word last week through the grapevine that over a 100 crafters applied for it, and they were only choosing 20 for the show. So, the selection was really tough and I know that there is a lot of art and craft happening in our city that is WAY better than me ...

The retail industry, media and other key role players is invited to the 3-day event. All is organised very professionally, with professional set builders that will assist us with the building of our stalls. Furthermore, I am expected to attend a workshop in Displaying and Styling next week with a local design guru, Leonard Shapiro (www.craftsouthafrica.co.za). Due to other obligations, I have been unable to attend a set of workshops lead by him during the previous weekends, so this is my opportunity to get some of his genius to rub off on me!

The down and out of this trade show is that I have the opportunity to make direct sales, but also have the chance to get orders from retailers! And if my stand is nice enough and sales worth mentioning, I could be lucky enough to win a spot at a huge trade Expo in 2010 in Johannesburg!

But this week is spent studying. It is the second month of our Entrepreneurial Marketing course, and the homework keeps me busy till the wee hours of the morning every day. The focus this week is on business practices and stuff like how to draft a good business plan. Horrible details about invoicing, quotes, pricing of your work got thrown on us today, ugh! Stuff that will give any decent artist nightmares for life!

I still have lots of homework to do tonight, so bye for now!