Excessary is featured in Rochester woman magazine: April 2012

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My experience at the Buyers Market of American Craft

Photo courtesy of BMAC- tweaked by me in Photoshop. 

I'm finally back from my travels and recouped from this show. I've been asked by some my fellow artists and friends about how this show was so I thought give an overall review.

Location + Load In:
The show was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the heart of downtown.  My designated load in time was 10AM on Feb 17. J and I got there at 10am and waited in a long line for about 45 mins before we were able to go up the loading dock ramp. There were a lot of traffic directors and the weather was fantastic so we really had nothing to complain about. As soon as we got to the dock, we had 40 mins to check in and load everything into our spot. We brought our large cart with us which is a MUST. Even within these first 60mins I learned how I should've better packed the car so that we could load in quicker. Anyway, we managed to laod in and then I parked my car on the backside of the center for just $7 a day. I thought this was a flippin amazing parking deal!lol :)

Loaded into our space!

Set-Up:
We had till 6p to set up. During the set-up we were offered free pizza and a drink. I didn't think it would take us that long but since I had opted to bring my own track lights and flooring etc, set up took indeed- 7 hrs. I forgot to mention- you either bring your own lighting or rent it from Hargrove (exhibitor service provider) for a little over $250. Same goes for the flooring. J and I are too cheap so we brought it all with us. Laura (floor manager) came to check in with us twice to make sure we were doing OK. What you get for the booth fee is a bare floor and pipe and drape as seen above.

Overall show experience:
The show opened on Feb 18th and continued till Feb 20th. On Saturday I took a few orders even though I felt it was slow. On Sunday I took fewer than Saturday and on Monday I took as many as Saturday.
Being that it was my first time, I am not sure how to judge this show. People responded positively to my clutches, which was  a great feeling as they haven't done this well for me in Rochester. The challenge for me has been the fact that I make one-of-a-kind items. A lot of customers asked me how they can reorder. If you look on my website you will see that I spend a lot of time and money on good photography. As soon as I have stock, I make an appointment with the photographer and we shoot everything I have. This keeps things fresh and I send out a large zip file to the customer to look through and reorder. Most people were pretty OK with this idea.

In terms of pricing, I have consistently raised my prices and this show was the first time I tested my new wholesale prices. All my customers mentioned that they thought the prices were very reasonable- which I was happy to hear since I am comfortable charging what I charge now while still making a decent living from it. My buyers were a good mix of young and older. I didn't think the show environment was intimidating at all. Infact I thought it was pretty manageable.

I saw a few other fiber artists there who made scarves but their work was very different from mine. Their work was very beautiful and it was fun to see their display ideas as well. I think BMAC does a good job of making sure there are no repeats in a particular medium.
When I talked to other artists I got mixed reviews from everyone. Some people said they did very well while others said they didn't do as well. I think a lot of this show has to do with building relationships with the gallery and boutique owners and following up every so often with the customer.

I know, for me, this was and will continue to be a huge lesson in patience and customer service.

I am pretty sure that I will be doing this show again next year to build stronger ties with my customers and offer a richer booth experience.

One of my clutch designs. © Tanvi Asher 2012.

Day two: we're set up.

Quick pics of my booth. I think I need a bigger booth or a slightly different set up next time as this was a challenge.

Full Set Up.

Day one: Buyers Market of American Craft

So I thought I'd give you all a quick run down of the first day of the BMAC. Our allotted load in time was 10am. We got there at 10am and realized: if your load in time says 10 then show up at 8am. There was a line around the block and we waited for an hr before we could actually get to the loading dock. I was impressed with the level of professionalism of staff who directed traffic as well as floor managers. Check in was a breeze and we managed to get all our things in within 50 mins. Here is a before pic. Tomorrow I shall post the after pic. The show officially opens tomorrow at 10am.

Vintage fabric printing blocks

One of my best friends and world traveler: Tesia recently brought me these wonderful wood vintage fabric blocks from Jaipur, India. I am so excited to use them on some of my work. They not only look great but feel great. The wood is soft and I can see where they have been held over time..

New display in the works

Jeremiah: Always happy to help

As you know, I was recently accepted into the Buyers Market of American Craft. This is a show open only to buyers who maybe store /gallery owners etc looking for work to resell in their respective retail locations. Normally, when I display my work I try to have more product out for my customers so that they have more to choose from. However at this show my idea is " Less is more". I will be displaying my BEST work in a more open and contemporary fashion. Here is Jeremiah (my fiance) and awesome partner in craft helping me put together this metal room divider. We removed the fabric from the divider and will be using it to display the scarves. More pics to follow.