Whether you are trying to attract serious wholesale buyers or casual craft show onlookers, your craft show booth display is almost as important as your craft itself. As Nicole Stevenson said in Craft Show Secrets, “you’re showcasing your creativity and you’re building your craft business.”
You need your craft booth and craft fair display to reflect your talent as an artist, the value of your product, and the aesthetic of your brand. But hauling around a whole bunch of product and stylish ways to table display it isn’t easy. So why go to all the trouble?
Because craft shows are about more than the total of your sales receipts.
Discover how to market what you make with Megan Auman. Learn more.
Craft shows can nourish your business in a whole variety of ways. In Craft Show Secrets, Nicole, who co-produces Patchwork Show: Modern Makers Festival, called out six different benefits to setting up your craft fair booth at a show:
Growing your brand and customer base
Getting feedback on your products
Traveling as a business expense
Connecting with wholesale buyers and media
Building your creative community
Making money by turning your passion into a product
With so much on the line, it is important to get your booth design, table, displays or display stands, and overall space right. To help you prepare and get inspired, we pulled together an inspiring collection of craft show display ideas and craft show tips that will help you discover ways to stand out from the crowd.
Enjoy!
1. A dark wall contrasts the bright colors on the prints, all held up by simple binder clips to hold it up. The Pistachio Press display (as photographed by Oh So Beautiful Paper) is simple, yet impactful.
2. Way back in 2007 a Richmond Craft Mafia maker used a little ribbon and a whole lot of vision to transform an old trunk into a display booth. Not only is it an eye-catching product display and jewelry stand, it can store and transport products.
3. Pallets can be found on places like Craiglist, Amazon or Etsy at a very low cost (and if you look hard enough you may even find them for free). Take inspiration from Joy Lyn Photography and create a beautiful retail display out of pallets to hang your handmade goodies at your next craft show.
4. Displaying crafts at outdoor craft fairs or festivals means you will probably have a canopy. Try this clever trick from Grit Goods to hide those unattractive canopy poles, while creating an inviting display for your items.
5. If you want to incorporate craft show display shelves into your booth design, try this easy apple crate shelf. Constellation and Co. offers up an excellent DIY shelving units tutorial that’ll show you how it is done.
6. WiredOrchid repurposed shutter doors for a freestanding wall display. You can remove some of the shutters to create shelving units for items that cannot be hung.
7. A cute and simple idea to display clothing is to create your miniature clothesline above your table like Flock Home did for this tabletop display. Not only is it an functional use of vertical space, its also adorable and can be used for so many different handmade products ranging from baby clothes to greeting cards. (BTW, Creative Income has some great advice on going vertical in your craft show displays.)
8. Janie Severin, of ARTifcatsBYJANIE, repurposed a mannequin by adding horizontal shelving units to create a very cool bracelet and necklace display.
9. A vertical display can also be made from chicken wire and an old screen like Homeroad did for their at-home photo display. Chicken wire is relatively lightweight which makes it nice and easy to transport and display products.
10. Customize a hanging display by using PVC pipe and ends from the hardware store like Mimi Green did for her dog collars. There are so many potential configurations the possibilities are endless!
11. If you have a lot of different items to display use baskets, like Belle and Union did, to organize each item making them more accessible and organized.
12. A fun way to show off jewelry displays is the Briolette way: in a corked bottle. Not only does this make a great market display, it also serves as perfect packaging.
13. There are so many creative ways to upcycle existing objects into creative craft displays and newspapers are no exception. Here Retail Details rolled up old newspaper for a watch display that could work just as well for bracelet display or create wider rolls of newspaper for necklace displays.
Discover how to market what you make with Megan Auman. Learn more.
