The Best Collection of Craft Fair Display advice in the World!*
This article contains craft fair / craft stall display advice from Folksy. At the foot of this post is a table of links to other helpful websites for you to browse to ensure your handmade items are shown off in the best way possible at your next craft market.
WOW!… That’s the sort of reaction most of us would like to hear as someone spots our craft stall. If you have spent time and effort creating beautiful handmade items for sale, allow enough time to plan your display and do justice to your hard work. A display should compliment and highlight your work – here are a few of the most important factors to consider:
Height - Eye levels, you want people’s eyes to roam all around the space you have so don’t lay your items flat, use furniture, props, boxes and shelving to create height. You coud also consider lifting the entire height of your table to allow peope to view your items without stooping.
Theme/Branding – Display your handmade items in an appropriate environment. Think about who your target audience is and focus on attracting attention from this market. If your items are expensive they will probably suit a more sophisticated display. You should consider the overall impression you are giving to potential customers. If you are selling items for kids then ensure that the theme of your display is young and vibrant. The theme should compliment your items, not outshine them. Picking a theme will help to focus your ideas and simplify your display. Ensure that your dispay is still approachable and not too intimidating for customers to interact with you or your items.
Props – Use props to display your items and give height as well as to indicate how to use them and who might use them. Placing a mobile into one of your phone cases will help customers instantly identify the function. Use objects to fit your theme and attract a certain demographic. For example displaying an expensive ceramic bowl filled with inexpensive sweets would not be as appropriate or effective as filling it with fresh coffee beans, chillis or peppercorns.
I only have one real pet peeve about a craft stall and that’s a stall that has more stuff on it which isn’t for sale than the stuff that is. I saw one a couple of years ago selling jewellery and the stall had candlesticks and jewellery boxes and strategically placed silk scarves and glass dishes, like a proper diva dressing table. It looked lovely, but it was difficult to spot the jewellery casually draped here and there that was actually for sale :) Leanne from See the Woods
Price Labels – Clearly label items and display a price list if possible (if you have masses of different types of items a huge list will be far too difficult to read). Customers may not want to ask how much an item costs for fear they cannot afford it. Take time and effort to match your labels with your display and the type of goods you are selling. Beautiful labels will add to your overall presentation, shabby labels will detract from it. The most important factor is legibility. If you have terrible handwriting print out you labels. Ensure your spelling and grammar is correct!
Banner – You want people to remember your stall but also your company name. It’s important to display a banner or sign on your display. You needn’t go overboard as a large banner can be expensive or time consuming if you are making it yourself. Try to match this with your website or craft blog if you can to unify your brand.
Space – Use all your available space – “Think outside the table”. Is it possible to add a stand to the side or in front of the table? – especially useful for selling cards or accessories, it may be possible to remove the table so people can walk around your stands/racks. Ask in advance about the position of your stall – if you are against a wall you can use it to hang your banner or display more goods – ask about which fixings you can use.
I always have a practise, almost like a stage rehearsal, even if it is the night before on my kitchen table. I like to see what fabrics/colours look nice together. I always put my best sellers near the front, work out what is going where. I like to use pretty storage to display my items, like cake stands, pretty baskets, nice holders for all my fabric hearts. I think it makes such a difference if things are displayed nicely and up to date/on trend. Mary – Polkadots and Posies
Lighting – A well lit display will really help to show off your items, enquire about power points in advance. Your light should illuminate your work, or highlight your best pieces – ensure that they are not blinding for customers.
Access – Can people reach your items? Do you want people to? Think of ways to maximise the number of people that can be at your stall or table. Picking an item up or being able to get really close to it can only help with a sale – but beware of children’s sticky fingers. Place your valuable items in elevated and stable positions.
Safety – If you make fantastic props, stands and banners be sure that they are sturdy not only to prevent your goods being damaged but also to ensure nobody gets hurt. Keep wires out of the way and ensure your table covering is not too long causing a trip hazard.
We have lots more articles with craft fair tips and advice from our Craft Fair Secrets series. Articles ranging from what to say, how much stock to bring and how much to pay for a table. We think you will find some excellent advice from the expert Folksy members we have been quizzing recently.
22 Responses to Craft Fair Secrets – How to Make a Great Craft Fair Display
These are always such interesting posts, and so helpful. I am currently hunting for an appropriate craft fair and then it’s full steam ahead!!
Great to see this article. I have a show coming up on thursday and it’s just re-inforced the need to get things sorted for then. I like the idea of pretty boxes to ‘stage’ the display but also think it’s important not to look too cluttered with too many pieces. I’ve been guilty of putting everything out and thinking less about what it looks like to the customer.
Brilliant tips, thank you! Just want to say about lighting – it’s not essential to be near a power point as you can buy small clip on battery powered lights that do the job too.
I love planning my display, even though I’ve only done one fair so far. I have my next one coming up this Sunday and I can’t wait! :-)
Deb
All great advice, mine could use a little more work and of course I completely forgot to take a photo of mine on Saturday, but it was pretty :) I’m back again next month so I’ll have to remember to do it this time.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for old drawers to help build some height. There was a lady there who has obviously been collecting small apothocary type drawers for a while and had them painted in very soft pastel shades. She was able to stack them like little clusters of shelves and move them around individually throughout the day as her stock sold so that she didn’t appear to have gaps on her stall. It was very effective and did her stock justice as well.
Wowee! What a plethora of clicky links! Ambassador, with zese leenks you are really spoiling us!…sorry that was a terrible joke!
I think my stall’s are pretty much still a ‘work in progress’ as I often share with a friend and it’s quite hard to find suitable displays for greeting cards without shelling out a fortune!
Great post!
Connie
Super and very informative post, thank you.
Lovely to see one of my ‘Dress Rehearsal’ photographs too, I so love to play around with all the handmade items I have on offer, and judging from people’s responses on the look/layout of table, many say It really is very pretty, quaint, cheerful, and colourful, and which always draws my lovely customers in for a mooch, with a smile :0)
Mary
I must say how much I enjoy this regular feature – I must send the link to all our traders.
Great advise, but i still don’t know what to use to display my items. I make lots of different things out of wood cupcakes, mushrooms, sweets, sculls, etc, and they are quite big and heavy, at the moment i just put them flat on the table and they don’t look very good, i have got a rail to hang some things on, but i need something on the table to display them better. Has anyone got any ideas of what i can use, i would be very greatfull of any ideas !!! Please xx
wow and double wow! loads of fantastic info will have a proper read when I stop making headbands for my school fair next week!!
Just had to route back to find why the number of hits to my craft stall evolution post had gone up.
Thanks for putting a link to my blog in.
Thanks for including the thread with the link to my blog – viewings of my ‘Forest Flower Launches’ post have shot up! I hope everyone who has looked has found some inspiration :)
sorry didn’t write my website address in properly – link should work now! ;)
Glad you have all enjoyed these posts – we’re moving on next week to a series called Shop Front! Tips on how to make your Folksy Shop a Success! – Looking for contributers now.
We may of course revisit this Craft fair secrets series so if any one has any angles that they think we could cover or cover in more depth please get in touch – hilary@folksy.co.uk
Thank you for such a useful post.
great tips! I have just got started with my display and it’s taken me ages to get right – but like another person said, its a work in progress. And the dress rehearsal is an excellent idea too – I lay out my table cloth to more or less the right size on the living room floor and lay everything out – its saves faffing on the day.
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I have found this item so very helful – lots of ideas i hadnt considered. Intending to have a dry run with a craft party from home.
Julie x
This post has some new and inspiring ideas, I’ll certainly be following lots of the links (and I’ve been doing craft shows for 4 years now!) I shall certainly be using the tip about highlighting one or two items on the stall with my lighting to create a spotlight effect.
Really good advice, I’m going to bookmark this article and make my way through the links. There ia always something new to learn.
Jan x
Thank you for this article! As soon as I find a craft fair to sell at, I will be pouring over every word of this!
I’ve got a few craft fairs coming up so these tips will be very useful to me. Thanks for posting them :-)
Great article! Really helpful as I have my first craft fair in September – have time to practice my stall layout/display!