I mentioned last week that we were preparing for the gift show, and it’s already over. It flew by this year. In case you don’t remember a gift show is kind of like a convention. Many businesses that produce a similar good, in our case handmade jewelry, get together and set up booths showcasing their new collections. Store owners walk throughout the show and make large wholesale orders for the coming season. This is how our jewelry ends up in boutiques, museums, and stores across the country. Gift shows have really been suffering lately. Partly due to the economic dip we experienced a few years back and also because lots of store owners would rather save money on flights and hotels and do their wholesale shopping online. It is more practical to do it online, however we keep doing shows because I think it is a more effective way to connect with wholesale customers. The show allows us to meet the people we are working with face to face and create a personal connection. It also lets us talk about the jewelry and help the buyer choose good pieces for their store. I really prefer that people see the jewelry in person before making a big order. For the first time in many years we all had a good show! We are very close to a lot of the other sellers, so we are always happy when everyone is doing well. The NY Now gift show is very large, but since we are handmade, we get a separate pavilion that is much smaller. Many of the same people come year after year and we have grown close with them and become fans of theirs. This show I purchased my daughter a pair of earrings from Daphne Olive. I have know her for years and she make beautiful pieces, you should cheek out there website.
Here are some pictures of our booth at the show and of some of the new pieces. Sadly, it will be awhile till they hit they retail site since they are still in production. But let me know what you think of these samples in the meantime!
Here is Michael, tired from a day of selling, almost falling asleep in his chair! As I’ve mentioned before, Michael is the salesman and face of our business. He is just so much more social than me and great talker. So he does all the shows I just come to set up the booth. Nicki also sells during the show, she usually is handling customer service, which makes her a great saleswoman. She already knows many of the customers since she e-mails with them and talks with them on the phone. Rafael, our photographer, also stopped by the show to take some pictures of the booth and help set up. 
Rafael took some great shots of the new Hamsas and Judaica. We have a ton of cute new pieces. They are all very lightweight and use much less enamel then most of my pieces, making them have more of a metal appearance. The top Hamsa is a new one, but in my traditional style, the ones below were made using this new technique. which do you prefer?
Here is the new Judaica 
And also some sneak peeks of new collections, do you like them?
Finally, here are just some shots of us setting up the booth. It always takes very long! Luckily the NY now show is at the Javits center, so close to our studio. So we all take a break from making jewelry to come help Michael out.
