Anointment participated in the 39th annual Atlantic Craft Trade Show in Halifax, NS this past weekend. This was our third time exhibiting, our second time as a stand-alone booth (our first year was as an exhibitor in the New Brunswick Craft Council booth). With a few trade shows under our belts, we’ve devised a display that is easy to assemble/disassemble but still contains lots of interest and details. These photos were all taken with my phone and unfortunately in large convention centers glare is a problem so my apologies for the poor photography.
With a 10′ x 10′ corner space to work in, we angled our vinyl backdrop to invite people into our space. A table was positioned in front of the backdrop to hold our product. Using lots of props including antique fish boxes, a vintage cardboard suitcase, a vintage child’s chair and some antique books, we created lots of visual interest and height variations.
Our tablecloth always gets lots of attention. It was purchased at fabricworm.com several seasons ago and is from Japanese fabric designer Etsuko Fuyura. It is a combination of 45% linen and 55% cotton which gives it a lovely drape. The colours just work perfectly with our branding.
With every trade show we add a few more lights. It seems you can never have enough. Using six high-impact halogen lights, the backdrop and table were lit to avoid any shadows and to highlight the look of light filtering through amber glass.
Our backdrop was decorated with hand stitched forest animals that I made using wool felt on rug hooking burlap. Each one depicts the animal from each of our New Mom & Baby products.
The remaining white generic pipe and drape was decorated with large flowers that repeat the floral patterns on our labels in a variety of bright colours. These flowers are copied onto card stock, cut out with an Xacto knife and then hung with monofilament thread (fishing line).
This year I was so pleased to learn that we were voted BEST BOOTH by a panel of judges from the Craft Alliance. Visual merchandising doesn’t come easily to me and I will admit that I set up our booth over a week in a spare room in our home so I could evaluate, change, and re-arrange until I was happy. Presentation is so important to how a business is perceived in a highly competitive trade show, so it is important to put your best foot forward, even if it sometimes seems like more effort than it is worth.
Made in Canada
