Friday, September 11, 2015

Formex August 2015

 Hello Friday!

Long time no see. I was just about to make the excuse of being too busy... but it's just untrue, plus I'm not a big fan of the "too busy" excuse. (You always have time, it's just a matter of what you decide to spend your time doing.) I've had plenty of time to pop in here to update you on what's happening behind the scenes... I just haven't.

Anywho, 3 weeks ago I presented my work at Formex for the second time. Since I had shown my work at Formex in January I had learnt a thing or two which I tried to implement this time around. In January I tried to show as much of my work as possible, and didn't really think about the overall look of my booth. This time I showcased just my scarves and my illustrations and designed my booth to look a little bit like a candy shop or bakery. I am really pleased with how it all turned out, plus the gorgeous bouquet of flowers really brought everything together. I'm also totally in love with the perfect periwinkle color I picked for the counter and frilly banner!

Another thing I also learnt from last time is that many people (or maybe just Swedes) are pretty timid when it comes to getting close to you to take a closer look so I built a little counter to bring my work a little closer to the walk ways. This way people felt a little more comfortable stopping to pick up a business card or stop for a chat and take a quick look at my work.

How did I find this Formex compared to the first experience?
The first time around was really exciting because I really didn't know what to expect. I felt really new and people seemed excited to see something new at the fair too. I met tons of people who really took the time to complement my work and chat with me about my process etc. I made a handful of sales and connections that definitely made the fair worth it for me.

The second time around was just as exciting but this time I felt I really knew what was going to happen, and I was really pleased with how my booth looked overall. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side. It was incredibly sunny and people didn't seem to want to be stuck indoors. So the overall feel of the fair from speaking to others too was that there wasn't as many people there and people were really really stressed, not taking the time to stop for a chat. I still feel that it was worth standing at the fair because I made a handful of sales and connections this time around too that will potentially lead to lots of exciting work. So no complaints from me. But I had hoped that more people would have recognised my work from the last time around, and a little press would have been nice. I gave out over 100 business cards, so who knows what that will lead to in the future.

By the way, did you know that I'm the top selling Etsy shop in Sweden in the category of Art. Pretty neat huh?!





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