I'm a jewelry artist and will be doing two small shows in the fall. I've done one before that was even smaller than these two, and had a different type of jewelry at the time, so I can't really go on my own experience. I'm wondering how many pieces I should have made ahead of time for a show. It's not that I'm worried about selling out.....I know I this economy that would be silly, but I don't want to make too much either as I have galleries to keep up with as well (and they sometimes order specific things that I might not be going to the fairs with). What do those of you with pricing between $50-$400 take with you?
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As jewelers with pricing between $20-750 we generally have about $30K in finished inventory. When we were first starting out? We had $3K-5K and those numbers have just gone up over time. We know we will never sell out, unless a miracle occurs, but we also now know what sells the best and try to make sure we have a good level of back stock of the best sellers, our "bread and butter", those items that have the "wow" factor that draws people in, will only have 1 on display.
2 weeks ago we sold one of the "wow" pieces and I don't see that we'll have the time to make it and replace inventory for the next 2 shows, but that's okay. We sell 10-15 "big" pieces in the $400-700 range a year, and the rest of the year we are happy with multiple pieces selling in the $35-75 range.
This year we've done less shows but our galleries have taken up any and all slack and we just can't keep up with the replenishing. Loooking forward to a month off in August to restock!! Never had that before but show acceptances didn't go as expected so we're now taking the month off and expect to be slammed later in the year.
A general rule of thumb, no matter what the medium, is to have a well stocked and attractive display. Have enough to be fully stocked for the entire length of the show.
During the 80s and 90s we would add; "then double that". But today that's not really necessary.
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2 weeks ago we sold one of the "wow" pieces and I don't see that we'll have the time to make it and replace inventory for the next 2 shows, but that's okay. We sell 10-15 "big" pieces in the $400-700 range a year, and the rest of the year we are happy with multiple pieces selling in the $35-75 range.
This year we've done less shows but our galleries have taken up any and all slack and we just can't keep up with the replenishing. Loooking forward to a month off in August to restock!! Never had that before but show acceptances didn't go as expected so we're now taking the month off and expect to be slammed later in the year.
A general rule of thumb, no matter what the medium, is to have a well stocked and attractive display. Have enough to be fully stocked for the entire length of the show.
During the 80s and 90s we would add; "then double that". But today that's not really necessary.