Histon Handmade Christmas Fair 2018

Last Saturday was my first time exhibiting at Histon Handmade Christmas Fair and I thought you'd like to know how it went.

It's an event that's only been going since 2016, founded by Claire Howieson a jewellery designer. Exhibiting is by invitation, with a handful of new artists/designers each time to keep things fresh. I went as a visitor last Christmas and was really impressed with both the quality of the products on sale, and the number of visitors, and so I applied to take part and was thrilled to be accepted.

This year there were 23 stalls (with 6 of us newbies), it ran from 12-7pm and we got nearly 1200 people through the doors. There was jewellery, textiles, ceramics, printmaking, handmade books, illustration, glass work, basketry, hats, photography and fine art.

On the radio

As part of promoting the event I volunteered to be interviewed on the radio. Live on BBC Cambridgeshire with Jeremy Sallis, and in my art studio for the Suzy Thorpe programme on Cambridge 105. All great experience.

Preparations

I haven't done a craft fair since my crochet days, so I've spent time over the last few months designing fine art gifts – both hand-painted originals and printed items looking to cater for every budget. See the previous blog post for more details.

I also had to think creatively about how to present all my work on a 5ft table: display, labelling and easy access storage. I did 2 practice runs in my kitchen in the run up to the event, to make sure I knew what I was doing and how long it took (I needed every second of the 2 hour set up time on the day).

On the day

Here is a video of my little Kate Green ART pop up shop. I was the first table inside the door of the main hall and was really pleased to hear people's reactions as they entered and saw my colourful products. I had my ipad playing videos of my art process which drew a lot of attention, and I wore my dress printed with one of my pictures, both of these proved good conversation starters.

I was really pleased with how the day went, although I was a little exhausted afterwards. I sold a pleasing number of items – my cushions, notebooks and calendars were the top sellers on this occasion and I made some great new contacts, including a local gallery interested in exhibiting my work.
It was the first outing of my new SUMUP card reader, which is a fabulous tool I'd recommend to anyone. Not only allowing easy card payments and receipts, but also keeping record of cash payments so I didn't have to write anything down and wasn't worried about how much change to give people!

New friends

On top of everything else this event was also worth doing because of the new and continuing friendships I'm building with other local artists. Inspiration, encouragement, ideas and support – from seeing how others display their wares, to social media sharing, to people carrying my many boxes to my car at the end of a long day. Being an artist can be quite an isolated existence and it's good to make new friends!