Salon, what is a salon?
I take advantage of this small Salon des Créateurs lived in Oléron to tell you what this type of event represents for creators in terms of organization.
First of all it is prepared weeks in advance.
- If you are used to doing shows with the equipment that is already there then you simply have to complete your stock.
- If this is occasional, then everything is much more complicated because one must adapt to the places and also invest financially much more.
In the first case we must also adapt to the places but, experience makes that we have a plan A, a plan B, a plan C, so a priori we can face any eventuality or almost. And if this is not the case, solidarity will work with the neighbors because we can imagine that they will be small things missing: an extension cord, a power strip, hooks, screws, etc.
When it is occasional we will surely miss many more things if the site is complicated:
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a transport trolley,
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fabrics to mask,
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pliers to hold a whole bunch of elements,
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nomadic payment systems,
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of the stock because we do not know how to properly assess the needs.
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… The list can be long.
If it is occasional we will surely miss many more things if the site is complicated
For my part, I am rather quiet. Although I haven’t done this kind of salon for at least 4 years, I kept my van. I would just have to fill my big containers on wheels and hoist them into the vehicle. It’s very heavy and my workshop is not full foot but I get by without too much effort (to my surprise anyway). Arrival at destination is even better, the volunteers organizing the show, give a hand to unload. A big thank you to them!
And yes! the advantage of fairs organized by associations is that there are always small hands to help. This is absolutely not the case at franchise fairs such as Créativa or those in Paris and any other French or foreign metropolis. However, rest assured that solidarity between exhibitors works if necessary.
What does it mean to prepare a trade show weeks in advance?
These are:
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ensure a well-located accommodation in relation to its level of sale.
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ensure with suppliers that they can deliver on time. It is necessary to anticipate the hazards: breaks at the suppliers (find others) + manufacturing time.
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make sure of the exhibition space and its environment: the walls (what kind of walls, if there are walls!), the tables or no tables, the neighbors, the electrical points, the meals.
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ensure any documentation, panels to design and print.
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ensure the small miscellaneous equipment: supports, baskets, pouches or bags, spotlights, extensions, power strips, tablecloths, fabrics, labels, pencils, tape, screws, knife, scissors, cutter, multiple pliers, hooks, stringers, screwdriver, cart, stepladder etc.
We can always ask as many questions to the organizers as we want, he will forget to point out an essential thing. Like what
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that there is a walk or a problematic « chaotic » ground for the trolleys. This can waste a lot of time on editing.
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that only certain vehicles can approach,
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that the walls are smooth and cannot be screwed, nailed, taped or stapled.
All this happens and if you are abroad and you do not know anyone you must once again have multiple alternatives. And this is planned weeks in advance.
If we do not consider these different cases the note can be salty. The time allotted to set up your stand is limited and if you can not do it on time for lack of solution it can really be serious.
Beware of linen that is full of moisture!
Let’s go back to the Salon des Créateurs of the Château d’Oléron.
2 distinct spaces:
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1 large room quite classic type reception room on parquet in the main building. Traditional activities and techniques with 4 best workers in France are exhibited: gold embroidery, needle painting, days, but also patchwork.
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in the lower parts of the Citadel there are kinds of vaulted cellars with large doors opening widely to the outside. These are 3 rooms in rows all open to the outside. The space is atypical and full of charm rather reserved for cross stitch.
In the upper room there are grids to hang his works, in the cellars they are rails from which you can lower chains and hang the paintings with hooks.
The first room is « dry », the second in humidity (beware of linen that is full of moisture!).
The first room has no directional spotlights, the second benefits from gallery-type lighting conditions with aesthetic and adjustable spotlight ramps.
The first room is connected, the cellars NO, so impossible to cash with a nomadic system linked to the 4G network. But today everyone pays by credit card. It is necessary to have provided another system of collection by credit card not connected.
Again the list of consequences related to the places is long while we are on the same event!
The life of an embroidery designer is not only made of embroidery, it is obvious! It requires a lot of versatility, autonomy and a sense of anticipation and organization, in short a great adaptability to manage all eventualities.
Personally this is what amuses me in this life: having to constantly invent for everything and not just cross-stitch. We invent our life by choosing to:
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make salons or not
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to travel or not,
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to create for oneself or for someone else
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etc. anything is possible.
Isabelle Vautier told me that she draws every day, which is what she has been passionate about since her youth.
Me, I don’t care what I do, I want to live adventures. I want my life to be epic. So at the slightest opportunity a little weird I jump with my feet together. That’s why my subjects deal with extraordinary characters who certainly have extraordinary lives.
Our motivations are very different and yet we work in the same job!
I would like to end by saying that this show in Oléron has made it possible to find people that I appreciate enormously like Isabelle Vautier. The first time we met was in Florence, Italy where we were both invited as well as Rénato Parolin and Kate from Bothy Threads for a weekend of signings organized by Casa Cenina. It is one of our most beautiful memories of our entire life as a designer. This stay in Tuscany was absolutely magical. We often wondered with Isabelle if we deserved so much attention. Thank you Giovanni Bartoli!
A special wink also for the Atelier d’Eole,Delphine and Stéphane. So many memories together! We all started about twenty years ago. We participated in so many joint fairs in France before I stopped and focused on abroad that it was very moving to be there.
Our business is fragile. Really very fragile. No one can say who will be there again tomorrow. Our intuitions cannot be only creative because they are not enough to last in time. We have met so many other creators since the beginning and who have disappeared that we know when we find ourselves that our longevity is hanging by a thread… so not only to our « wonderful » textile creations. It takes many other talents…
Participating effectively in a fair is one of the essential steps to meet our embroiderers of heart, those with whom we will travel over time, those we will take to a dream country of possibilities, those who will unrecoy the artisans of our renewed creativity because it is their energy and enthusiasm that motivates the next creation.
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