I will be at my first art fair end of the month and need to purchase display panels for my tent. I'm not sure if I should do full 3 walls or the set up that has a 'door frame/space in the back. Even though I like the look of the full 3 walls, my concern is where to pack art work that sells? Hope my concern/question makes sense. If any one can give me advice, I'd really appreciate it!
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I have the Flourish convertible back wall and a french wall and love it. I also have an extra pole and fitting to close door if I'm (unfortunately) back-to-back with a tent, building or bushes (so I can attach and tighten mesh wall). In a pinch, when there's no space in back, or even sides, I use my chair to package sales. (I hate a table in my booth except pop-up side table on my chair and pockets attached to arms for calculator, salesbook, pens etc.
I suggest practicing at home, but it is possible to stretch-wrap over corner protectors and around the middle when holding some framed or canvas 2D artwork in the air or resting on a tall chair. A black leather-like briefcase sits under my chair with nice bags for 16x20 or smaller works, plus corner protectors, 5" & 18" stretch-wrap for larger pieces. I keep pre-cut foamboard, bubblewrap, 32" black fabric portfolios and tape in my car to package up my most expensive pieces.
Great advice, thank you Jan.
Go for the door frame in the back. It gives you a place to stand or sit, out of the way and less pressuring on the customers, plus it give you easy access to back stock and a place to wrap up purchases. Most shows do give space in the back, even though some may stiff you with only a few feet, you can still stay out of the way and wrap/bag up purchases. If the space is limited, you can always negotiate to have both of you place your doorways at the opposite corners.
If you're using Propanels or something similar, go for enough panels to fill three walls. Use the ones from the where the doorway would be to do a standalone wall toward the front or middle of the tent. I use a 38" Propanel from the center toward the fron, with two 44" browse bins on both sides of the panels plus two Quik bins hanging off the ends of the large bins.
Thank you, Robert, your response was really helpful. Especially since it would give me peace of mind and flexibility. I'm leaning towards the Flourish mesh softwalls at the moment, I believe they do offer the door frame.
Lots of factors to consider. Do you know your booth location in the show? Have you been to the show you are participating in to understand how it is run? If it is a Howard Alan show , for example, the yseldom allow any space between booths ? Will the show allow a "buffer" space between booths? Some people really need to access the back of their booth for storage and some people don't. Since its your first show, you may not know how important that space is behind your booth. You may not need it. How much stuff would you like to store or hide?
Thank you for the response. Definitely good questions I should ask the event coordinator. I know not all shows are the same so the configuration of my booth is important.