Most popular easy portable display ideas for markets and craft fairs - save time and energy with these clever, eye-catching display ideas for vendors.
There's a lot for craft show shoppers to take in and they likely won't stop at every booth. Here's how to ensure your space catches their eye.
These are the top 5 mistakes handmade vendors commonly make at craft shows. If you're wondering why sales aren't higher, take a look through the list.
Fall of 2012 marked our first experience as an art vendor, at Cooper Young Festival in Memphis, TN. Over the years, we’ve padded our resume with quite a few more shows and experimented with a LOT of trial and error on our vendor booth layout and setup. We’ve learned a lot, both from our own experiences and from looking to other vendors for inspiration. Today, we’re going to share with you our top 16 ideas for selling at art festivals, craft fairs and indie markets. These tips can be summed up into three key categories: Booth Display, Signage/Décor and—the most important—Branding. FIRST, LET'S DIVE INTO VENDOR BOOTH DISPLAY. 1. Plan out your booth space BEFORE the day of your festival. Before we set foot at an art festival, our vendor booth is completely laid out. We measure all our display pieces (shelves, tables, etc.) and configure the space to help speed up the set up time. Plus, not all shows have the same options for booth sizes (because that would just be too easy). This year, our Cooper Young booth featured a 10’ x 15’ space, while some of our holiday shows ranged from a 6’ x 8’ space to a 10’ x 20’ double booth. It helps to lay everything out beforehand to know what will or will not fit in the allotted space. Once everything is measured, we use Adobe Illustrator to plan out the booth space, with everything to scale. We print out copies to take with us during set up, as well as email a copy to ourselves in case we lose the paper copies (it happens). Here's a look at my Adobe Illustrator artboard for our most recent Cooper Young Festival vendor booth: And here is our finished vendor booth, based on that original mock up: 2. Display vertically. When potential buyers pass your vendor booth, they’re not seeing product that is flat on tables. At least some of your work needs to be in their line of sight. One way we add height to our booth display is with these adjustable white metal shelf units we found at IKEA (shop them here). The shelves are completely adjustable and IKEA sells individual shelves, so you can add to the original four included. We switch it up depending on what art we need to display at each festival or market. In the past, we've used these custom built white-washed wood displays on rollers, which our brother built for us. We love how they look in our booth, as they mimic a more retail-style setting. However, these are rather heavy and bulky to transport. Looking for something a little more transport friendly, this year we commissioned a custom white wood peg wall. The unit breaks down into four separate pieces, so it's easy and convenient for traveling. Everything hooks together via large bolts and wing nuts, with the shelves and pegs packed separately. It's also completely adjustable, as the pegs can be configured in various ways. This wall unit is great for displaying our larger 5 panel wood pieces, which serve as great eye catchers for potential buyers walking by our vendor booth. For smaller shows, we take just two of the four wall panels, usually paired with one of the white IKEA shelf units. Bonus: extra pegs are great for hanging ornaments! Clear acrylic risers are also a great way to subtly add height and levels when displaying artwork on a table. Because they're clear, they don't take away from your displayed art. We use combinations of this 5 piece set from Displays2Go. 3. Choose display colors that will make your work pop. As you can see, for our larger display pieces (shelves, walls), we incorporate as much white as possible. Because all sides of our wood art is stained in a dark finish, the white background helps it pop. We also prefer how clean the white and neutral hues look. 4. Store and display multiple art prints. We have ALL-CAPS-STRUGGLED with how to display and store our art prints, other than stuffing them in baskets for browsing. We recently discovered these gold wire baskets from IKEA that slide on perfectly to our white IKEA shelves. They are great at storing stacks of prints! To actually display the prints, we chopped up a 4” x 4” piece of lumber and sawed angled grooves down the top. We stained them to match the color of our wood art. The art prints stand up perfectly in the grooves of the wood, which we then prop up above the wire baskets. It’s easy for buyers to see the print displayed and simply pick it up from the basket underneath for purchase. 5. Use slim Christmas trees to display holiday ornaments. During our holiday shows, our Christmas ornaments are HUGE sellers. While we use our peg wall for some ornament overflow, ornaments look best hanging on an actual Christmas tree. This also better demonstrates to potential buyers how it will look on their own tree. However, for those smaller booth spaces, a full Christmas tree takes up too much valuable real estate and just isn't practical. And some of the smaller, table-top trees aren’t known for being sturdy. Because our ornaments are on the heavier side, we've had issues with the smaller trees tipping over ... especially when buyers are trying to take the ornaments off the trees to purchase. We found a great slim Christmas tree from our local At Home. It measures only 18” in diameter but can still can hold quite a few ornaments. We re-stock throughout the show to keep the tree looking full. NEXT UP, WE HAVE BOOTH SIGNAGE/DÉCOR. 6. Emphasize your business name for potential buyers with branded signage. We have our friends over at Ella Jude to thank for this easy DIY pop-out booth sign idea. For this sign, we painted a thin piece of wood white, then transferred our logo (with our image transfer process) to both sides, though we've seen others hand paint their logo. We bought two pieces of copper pipe and an elbow joint and glued them all together to form an L-shaped corner. To hang the wood sign from the copper pipe, we spray-painted loose-leaf rings to match the copper pipe. We then use clear zip ties to attach the sign to our booth or tent. We're hoping to make an even larger version this year. For additional branded signage, we bought a large white vinyl banner with grommets and designed it to include our logo, website and social media handles. We use this when we have space available. For our outdoor art shows, such as Cooper Young, we hang the banner on the back of our tent so buyers walking down the sidewalks behind the booths can see our name. 7. Tell your story with signage. We sell handmade image transfers on wood and marble tile. The most common question we receive from customers during festivals and shows is,
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
7 art booth display photos show you how to display paintings, prints, and photographs in your craft show booth.
This is a follow up to our Craft Market Display Series. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here! If you have a small business, chances are you’ve spent a good chunk of time researching beautiful pop up, trade show and market displays and daydreaming about making them a reality. I mean, I’ve been doing...Read More
I recently wrote How to make a good art show display and that blog I talked about limiting what you bring to show so that you don't over pack and end up making 20 trips between your car and your booth in 90 degree heat - yes I've learned from experience. But since I went over the idea of not taking to much I wanted to
Take a look at these IKEA hacks for your craft show setup to sell art prints, jewelry, pottery, clothing, home décor, and more!
Are you looking for creative ways to display your jewelry at a market or fair so you can sell more?…
Most handmade vendors ignore these 3 important perspectives when it comes to their craft show setup. Find out what they are and how to fix any issues.
Craft shows are a unique way to shop and vendors can get creative with their setup. But there are certain things craft show shoppers shouldn't see.
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
Are you looking for creative ways to display your jewelry at a market or fair so you can sell more?…
Hundreds of craft display booth photos, tips and tools for creating your own display.
Soul Flower Sticker Display Ideas - on our Blog. Features DIY POP Sticker Display ideas for shops, boutiques and craft shows.
If you're planning on doing any local marketing, you'll need a way to display your products in an attractive way.
Hundreds of craft display booth photos, tips and tools for creating your own display.
I’m not sure there could be an easier way to make a jewelry display. I bet this would be perfect for craft shows as it would be easy to pack up and light to move. Everyone can work with dowel…
Farmers markets and artisan fairs are great place to get your product in front of people. Here are 10 ideas for setting up your vendor booth.
How to display paintings at an art show. Portable art display ideas for large canvases and smaller prints, and craft booth design best practices.
Craft shows are a unique way to shop and vendors can get creative with their setup. But there are certain things craft show shoppers shouldn't see.
There's a lot for craft show shoppers to take in and they likely won't stop at every booth. Here's how to ensure your space catches their eye.
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Whether your seashell collection is large or small to give it a dedicated space will make it stand out.
Jewelry displays for craft fairs with 11 booth photos for inspiration.
Repetition is important in all aspects of your business. It creates consistency and familiarity your customers can rely on. Repetition is equally important in visual design and should be used in your craft show display. Imagine a living room with white walls and grey furniture. If you place one red pillow on the couch, it...
Our Christmas market this year took place over the weekend of November 23 + 24. With a host of talented designer makers and workshops to take part in, this was our biggest event to date and it didn’t disappoint. We had an absolutely brilliant couple of days with 4000 shoppers turning up to support t
These will made fantastic display stands for your shop, studio or an event. Unique design, top quality and finish will impress visitors and make your products stand out. They are upcycled cable reel tops joined by metal poles with cast iron round bases. Sizes available: 90, 80, 70, 60cm diameter (prices starts at £339 for 60cm-70cm-80cm) You are welcome to collect as a complete display stand from EX15 3TU or we deliver and assemble. IMPORTANT: Please message me your postcode and I double check the exact delivery cost.
A wooden display tree for key fobs. I whipped together this little tree from scrap wood pieces. I needed a solution to display key fobs for a few upcoming shows. Most importantly the newest Halloween fobs: Here’s how I made the wooden tree: 1. Cut wood pieces and sand smooth: 1 – 3/4″ plywood... Read more
Happy Monday Lovelies! One of the most popular posts on blah to TADA! is my craft fair and jewelry display ideas. This bangle and necklace rack is made of tissue paper and paper towel rolls! This rack for earrings is made of cardboard and paint. If you're an entrepreneur selling your wares at fairs or an organization nut who needs inexpensive ideas to keep jewelry, you can definitely use these. I have a few more ideas up my sleeve, beginning with this one: blah: cardboard boxes saved from the pantry Cut the boxes into squares or rectangles, cover them in pages from an old book or gift wrap scraps, and curve the corners with scissors or a craft punch. Make some holes with a hole punch, then use these as cardboard backing for the accessories you'll be selling. Such as brooches or flower pins... Or earrings... Also these dainty hair clips. They can be used for necklaces or bracelets, too. {Just cut a slit above the hole} Note: I didn't open a shop; this label is for demonstration purposes only It's TADA! to add the name of your shop. Note: I didn't open a shop; this label is for demonstration purposes only And it's even more TADA! to add your website, contact information and write the item's price so it's easy for both you and the customer. I've got more suggestions and I invite you to visit all this week. It's a date? See you tomorrow!
10 art show display ideas & photos show great ways to show paintings & prints at a craft fair. See how to use grid walls, panels & easels in an art vendor booth
Craft booth design ideas and inspiration with 12 photos of great displays. Here's how to use portable folding craft tables in your 10x10 craft show booth space.
One of my most popular articles details the types of products that sell best at craft shows; you can read that here: What Sells Best at a Craft Show? This article explores the other side: Types of products that don’t tend to sell well, or that can actually harm the sales of best-selling products. I’ve created...
Tips, tricks, essentials and ideas for pop up shops and craft markets for small business owners.
Learn how to start and grow a successful creative business selling vintage or handmade goods at markets, fairs, and antique booths.
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Last week my theme for Storytime was sheep! Here is my handout: Sheep Storytime Handout And here is the craft we did. It turned out SO cute. I bet you all are wondering how this cute little guy i…
Creative ideas for displaying small items at vintage markets and craft fairs.
