I was paying attention to booth design as I browsed the ACC show in Charlotte yesterday. I want to revamp my booth design, and the Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail that I am a member of wants to do a booth design workshop.
I was looking for what worked visually, and yet was inexpensive and something one person could manage, as this would fit both for me and for the ASCCT group needs.
One artist had used wooden window shutters, something I had heard of before but not seen. I had not been able to get my head around how this would work, but it worked very well! She had two tall ones with the slats in them, left in their natural finish. She had them folded at a right angle, and slats removed at the same height on each one. Then she had a natural finish board run through the empty slat space, which formed a shelf. She had two shelves on each set. These shelves were at or slightly above/below eye height, and held two displays each.
In front of this she had a shorter set of shutters, again with empty slats, and a larger long board that ran all the way across the space between the two shutters to form a counter. This also served to block off the back of the booth, and the tall shutters from access. Which meant she could put more expensive work on the tall shutter shelves, and have them very visible, not behind glass, but fairly secure at the same time.
On her counter she had flat containers filled with coffee beans, and these were used to stage rings and bracelets and such – the beans held the rings and bracelets vertically, so that you could see them better. Very clean look.
On her “walls” she had covered the black drapes with blinds that complimented the natural look of the shutters and counter.
Her displays for earrings were pretty cool – she had taken small river rocks and drilled two holes in each. Then she had a metal post glued into each hole, and then two metal cross-pieces soldered near the top across both vertical pieces. The earrings then hung from the metal cross-pieces. All very organic looking.
Another booth I saw had used beach sand in flat containers instead of coffee beans. I thought this did not work as well, as there was sand scattered all around the containers on the counter. Messy.
Several booths had a range of the cases that have a metal frame and you insert glass or plexi panes in the fronts, sides and top. Interestingly, several only had glass in the top, so that you could reach in and touch the work, which I really liked. Having the glass on the top let them use it as a counter space for their credit card machines, writing checks, wrapping purchases, etc.
A number of booths had used hand made paper as the bottom surface of their displays. I thought this was rather interesting, and mostly worked well – except at one booth where the owner ran out of paper before she ran out of bottom surface. That did not look as good!
Lighting was another thing I tried to pay attention to. Interestingly, the best ones you did not even notice the lighting, it was so good. Looking back I think it was hidden in the cases as well as in some overhead lights that were so well placed I never noticed them. At other booths the lighting was less than adequate, or intruded on viewing the work. Several people had put up their tents, as you would outside, and had their lights strung from the “celing” of the tent. That actually worked pretty well!
A pair of artists we met said they knew a jeweler who bought electric conduit at each show and used that to string his lights, then left it as trash at the end, so he never had to carry it around. Interesting way to do it!
I would love to hear from others who have good ideas about booth display and lighting. If you want to share a photo of your booth e-mail it to me at ruralart@earthlink.net and I’ll include it in a future blog.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Will do. In the meantime if you check her site, http://www.klinefelterstudio.com, and go to the purchase page, you can see one variation of the shutter/shelf set up in the background on the top right. This is a bit different than the way she had it set up at ACC.
Beth, Thanks for taking the time to describe display booth ideas. I like the shutter/ shelf idea a lot. If you do receive a photo, would you post it here? Thanks!
The stones sit flat, and the two holes are parallel. A metal rod comes out of each and goes vertically up at a slight backward angle. Then those two metal rods are crossed with, if I remember right, a pair of horizontal short rods, which are what the earrings then hang from. So sort of like an H with an extra middle line…..
If she sends me her booth shot as requested I’ll post that so you can see. I thought they were elegantly simple!
I am intrigued by the river stone earring displays. I can’t quit visualize them. Are the 2 holes across from each other, next to each other or some other way?
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