I’m a newbie when it comes to being a vendor at art markets, but I did almost an entire year’s worth of what I’d call intensive research leading up to my first in-person market last December. I’ve now got three more solo seller events under my belt (all within the last three and a half weeks), so I’ve picked up lots of tips along the way. In case any of you are looking to grow your skill set in the world of selling at markets, whether you’re an artist, baker, vintage curator, or any kind of seller under the sun, I thought I’d share a breakdown of the most important advice I’ve gained while styling a booth or table setup.
DIY Beginner Art Market Booth Styling Tips:
1. Create height in your display by turning wooden crates like these on their sides and placing them at the back of your table. If you don’t love the look of crates, cover them with fabric to hide the boxes from sight. The bonus is that crates double as carrying totes for all of your market essentials before setting them out as display on your table!
2. Another way to add visual height to your booth is with smaller tabletop risers like these. You can arrange them in all sorts of ways on your table, so they allow you to really tap into your creativity, and help get your pieces up closer to eye level for your customers to view.
3. For a cleaner look, I would encourage you to gather risers and display stands all in one color scheme or finish. You’ll notice that almost all of my display accessories are in raw unstained wood. That consistent blonde-colored wood tone keeps the focus on my ceramics, not on the display itself.
4. When it comes to tablecloths, I always opt for a style that goes all the way to the floor. That way you can hide anything that you might stack or store underneath your table, like empty tote boxes and extra shopping bags.
5. Since my pottery is colorful, I went with a light cream tablecloth that doesn’t distract from my work, but if your collection is already in a neutral palette, consider using a tablecloth in a brighter accent color or black to help make your pieces pop.
6. A custom fabric or vinyl banner is a great thing to pin on the front of your table, or you can hang one up high at the back of your vendor tent. This creates brand recognition, and tells your customer exactly who you are from the moment they step up to your booth.
7. In a lot of cases, customers aren’t going to want to be forced to ask questions about your work, so make sure you have signage out that clearly communicates what certain pieces are. The function for my Peace Petals, for example, wasn’t immediately obvious during my first event (pictured in today’s post), so I later created a sign that said what they were—ceramic versions of worry stones—and now customers know exactly what they are without having to wonder or ask.
8. Keep pricing visible. I price every single thing on my table with a printed sticker, and if I notice browsers struggling to find the tag, I make sure to mention that everything is priced on the back. I think I’m eventually going to upgrade to these types of magnetic price signs once I get my collection to a more consistent grouping of items at more limited price points, that way customers don’t even have to pick up an item to know what it costs.
If you’d like to know where everything from my beginner booth setup came from, you can click here for a full linked list. As I said, I’m still very much in the learning stage and have yet to even put together a tent-style vendor booth, but I’m hoping to get accepted to a few larger markets later this year so I can get more experience under my belt. The good news is that I think a lot of the same rules apply when it comes to styling a booth, whether you’re in a 10×10-foot tent or have just a 4-foot table to your name. The more events I’m a part of, the more tricks I pick up, so I’ll be sure to update this post if I think of anything new. In the meantime, feel free to use the comments section of today’s post to share your own advice!
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