Handmade Headlines

I am getting really excited because I am planning to attend The New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF®)! The show will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94 beginning August 14th and running through the 19th.  


NYIGF® is the nation’s premier gift, home and lifestyle marketplace, with 2,700 exhibiting companies featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware. Some 31,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 85 countries worldwide are expected.


What has added to my excitement of attending this incredible show is that the handmade industry will be represented at this international event like never before!  Beginning in summer 2010, NYIGF’s Handmade will present two distinct categories of handcrafted merchandise: Designer Maker and Global Design. NYIGF Handmade:Designer Maker will include some 360 designer-makers from across the United States and around the world, and Handmade: Global Design will include some 200 imported resources featuring traditional designs and craftsmanship and Fair Trade production from around the world.  


Both divisions will be located in new space at the Javits Convention Center.  Handmade Designer Maker will debut in the new Javits Center North, a wide open space that is 40,000 net square foot exhibit space at the North end of the Javits Center accessible both from the Street and from the North Concourse Lobby of the Center.   Handmade Global Design will present Within the Javits Center’s Hall 1D, a temporary home due to continued construction.  Having all the handmade products in one location is going to be wonderful and really easy and convenient for buyers!  Not to mention, the increased number of handmade sellers at this huge show indicates that there has been a shift in consumer thinking with regards to handmade and handmade artisans.  Traditionally, handmade products were not viewed as having an economic impact on our economy.  There has been a shift in thinking that locally made products are not only instrumental in building the economy but also preserving important aspects of our heritage.


This shift and many other new changes are all a part of NYIGF's three year strategic plan entitled “Focus Forward NYIGF 2013".  These changes, which will be implemented over the next three years, will position NYIGF as the defining marketplace for fashion-forward and design-driven home, gift and lifestyle resources and handmade will be a very important part of that!