Spring Fair - Good or Bad??

[Sam Cook]

Hi All

As a regular exhibitor at the Spring Fair over the last 30 years we can't help but notice the falling numbers of visitors and wanted to get some feedback from you guys.

If you visited the show was it as good as you expected, did you go to see something in particular or just to get some new ideas? Will you go again next year? Did you go to any of the seminars on offer?
And for those of you who didn't go was it because there was no one exhibiting you wanted to see (we won't take it personally!), what would make you visit next year?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to offer an opinion - all of your thoughts are appreciated!

[Spit]

Well I enjoyed it, but then it was my first one - But I'm not sure I would go yearly, unless I heard there was something new to interest me, or the group on here wanted to meet up again.

Thinking about it, it was probably the fact that we went as a big group that made it more fun.

[kev@frames]

Hi Sam, well me and Suzi were too busy, as usual, and it, erm, clashed with a bike show.

The spring fair might heve been more interest to us if we still sold a lot of prints off the wall, though.

As far as machinery is concerned we are fairly well "tooled up" so nothing to look at, because there is nothing on our shopping list.

I dont know about everyone else, but most new developments and equipment news seem to be pretty well covered by the internet. The thrill of discovering new "treasure" isn't there.

Reps these days are a mine of information and (despite my tongue in cheek oracle entry) a great source of information on new products and machinery, and not just their own products.

Bike shows are going the same way, more a social thing, and people keep going because they always have done, and maybe to pick up a bargain on the last day if they live within an hour or two travelling distance.

Catering shows ditto.

Like spit says, going in a group makes it more of a social thing.

Seminars on the framing business, ratailing and subjects of interest to the "small high street framer" would be an attraction.

Anyway - paying to get in? So people can sell you stuff? Maybe people have changed their attitudes to that part of trade show?

Speed cameras. They put a crimp on enjoyable travel. Specially up the M5/M6....

[Mary Case GCF]

Hi Sam
Just spotted your post. I found the Fair both good and bad. I was going with a specific purpose in mind - to look at CMCs. I found one (unfortunately not the Wizard) so from that point of view it was good. However the Fair, or our part of it, is not a patch on what it used to be. It seems to be going the way of Gallery at Olympia in the 1990s. A lot of the big players stayed away and those that did exhibit all seemed to have smaller stands. I was there on the Sunday and Monday and there were definitely fewer visitors than I remember from the days when I used to drive from Edinburgh through the night with my husband and kids ( I was a lot younger then:lol: ). It could be a Catch 22 situation - fewer exhibitors, therefore fewer people feel the need to go. As Kev says, for the most part we are well served by our reps( I won't name and shame the exceptions, but they know who they are.) so we get to see new mouldings regularly. I used to go to the Fair every year, but of late have maybe gone every other year and then only if I really need to see something like machinery. If I want to see prints, as I specialise in Scottish Art, I can go to The Scottish Spring Fair at the SECC in Glasgow the week before Spring Fair, which doesn't serve my needs in that respect.
By far the best part of the weekend for me was the social side of it- meeting up with fellow JGFs and sitting in the hotel bar exchanging views. One aspect of the Fair which I enjoyed and thought was more relevant to a framer than new prints and fancy gadgets was the Seminars. Perhaps a show dedicated to framers might be an idea, possibly as a kind of show cum workshop cum seminar weekend in a hotel, centrally,(Coventry, maybe JGFs?) rather than as a very small fish in the big pond that is the NEC at Spring Fair time.

[Phill]

Hi Sam

I have been going nearly every year since the 80's, 5 or 6 years ago it was buzzing, loads of new Idea's, giving you something to think about when you got back. Then it started to go down hill with the frameless canvas print all over hall2(that's were it used to be before it went to 12).
From then on I have seen a decline in numbers going to the fair, it has become very expencieve to have a stand there, only the major players can afford, hence less stands. Getting back to this year, what made it worth while for me was to meet up with fellow forum members, without that, it would not have been worth spending 3 days there, I also spoke to a lot of the artist's that we sell, on the Washington Green stand, I also enjoyed the seminars, I think art and framing at the spring fair does not work anymore, just walk through any of the other halls, they all sell framed pictures. I think it is time for the organisers to put a show on just for the art and framing world, just like focus is for photographers, infact I think we would have a better show if it was put on within focus, after all alot of us use wide format printers and adobe software I'm sure.
I think it is time to escape from spring fair and start somewere else.

[David]

Hi Sam

I got up to the show on Thursday and could not believe how quiet it was, there seemed to be more exhibitors than visitors.

I started going in the late 80's, Sundays were a nightmare you literally could not move for people a real scrum. That was when I started visiting in the week although I didn't go last year.

We moved away from selling prints due to the attitude and activities of certain large publishers, we now concentrate on artwork that isn't copied and has some originality. The NEC used to be a major part of our buying year not any more. We became very disillusioned with formulaic copies of copies. I see it hasn't changed. There were some original small publishers and artists which was refreshing, I took a couple of cards but its not part of the business we are looking to expand.

The only thing I'm looking for is a CMC mount cutter and the show is the only place you can see them all together. But we need to move premises before I buy. If it wasn't for the CMC I probably wouldn't have gone.

Gave up the autumn fair years ago.

I like the idea of more seminars I sat in on a couple and they were very useful. I also like the idea of a dedicated show running along side Focus as there would seem to be alot of overlap and I'm a phjotographer so it would save me a trip.

Good luck.

David.

[Weston Super Frames]

Ive been going to the show for around 15 years and it certainly is "dying a slow death". The numbers of both exhibitors and buyers is getting less and less each year. I find I keep trekking up to Birmingham each year in case I miss out on something and i keep coming away thinking I could have given it a miss. Having said that my trip up this year was rewarded with a great show price on a new Hot Press and I did think there were some good innovative products on display that i might be able to incorporate into the gallery in some form.

[Framerpicture]

Although the show has changed I reckon its still worth visting .The benefits of it being smaller and less crowded mean Its now possible to get round it easly in a day, even with a 300 mile round trip.

As I no longer order prints from these shows, I get plenty of time to look round the machinery and mouldings. You rarely get to see a companies full range when the rep visits.This year I found several very good deals.

So as far as I'm concerned I will always visit a show with a good selection of machinery and moulding companies, but prefer not to have endless publishers.

[Martin Harrold]

It's interesting to read all the opinions.

My own view will always be that to have a strong art and framing industry, we need a strong annual show, a strong trade magazine and a strong trade association. The trade boomed 15 years ago and has been slowly returning to a more normal rate of growth ever since. In those heady days, there were 350+ exhibitors, this year it was down, I'm guessing here, to around 150.

Key to this years show was the first effort at presenting 'training'. It was quite successful and I'm told that some useful lessons were learnt for '09.

Lion had a small booth at the ultra successful West Coast Art & Framing Show in Las Vegas the week before Spring Fair. There, over 1100 framers had signed up for training, typically paying $90 a session and over 3,500 framers came to the show. That show has gone in 9 years from zero to become the senior framing show in USA. Some of that training involved rooms with 30+ matcutters and paid lecturers running a 3 hour class. So, let's hope Spring Fair will take that sort of big scale training on board. They are already making noises, but I don't really think that they have the courage to follow the WCAF size of operation. Frankly, they know very little about framing, whereas the WCAF is run by Rob and Bruce Gherman, who publish Picture Framing Magazine.

Will Lion be back at Spring Fair Birmingham in '09? Yep, we've re-signed, but for a little less space. We have to go where the customers are, so in '09, we'll have more space at Focus-On-Imaging, which opens on Sunday and last year had 32,000 visitors, against maybe 1,800 who came into Hall 12 at Spring Fair. We'll take a little more more space at SACA in Bologna, where we meet our overseas customers, and at Art Fair Europe in Germany, which had nearly 4000 visitors for its first event last October.

Just like your businesses, we have to allocate our marketing budget where it will achieve the best results. But, while there is an Art & Framing section at Spring Fair, we would expect to take a stand.

If framers and gallery owners choose not to visit their annual trade show, then if it fades away, they have only themselves to blame. Having said that, I, like a lot of other exhibitors, recognise that it can cost £300 or more for two people from a business to visit the show, so we have to offer them great value for money.

[MITREMAN]

Hi All

As a regular exhibitor at the Spring Fair over the last 30 years we can't help but notice the falling numbers of visitors and wanted to get some feedback from you guys.

If you visited the show was it as good as you expected, did you go to see something in particular or just to get some new ideas? Will you go again next year? Did you go to any of the seminars on offer?
And for those of you who didn't go was it because there was no one exhibiting you wanted to see (we won't take it personally!), what would make you visit next year?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to offer an opinion - all of your thoughts are appreciated!

Hi Sam,
The show has changed alot over the last 30 years I used to frame with hammer and nails on a flat bench with a V-block the traditional way, then David Wallrock introduced the first under pinner which I used to demostrate for Magnolia Mouldings I thought this is the end of the framer, but we are still here like the show. The show used to take up a whole hall with very large company display stands, how times have changed, but we move on, may it be in a smaller scale, still threre are many firms out there only to willing to help keep our trade alive.
Training, Support, Quality Servicing, Good back up, and good quality Machines and Materials are the key for todays framers success and lots of hard work.

"Keep-on-a-Framing boy,or should I say boys and girls or girls and boys?"
Cheers MITREMAN

[Not your average framer]

I'm suprised at the negativity. I found the Spring fair worth the trip of about 200 miles each way. Are people expecting to be wow'ed by everything they see. For me it's a chance mainly to look at mouldings and possibly new equipment. Valliani being my main equipment interest this year.

Next year I intend to put aside a useful amount of money to buy much more of the discounted mouldings from Simons. Some were clearance mouldings, but some were current catalogue items discounted for the show.

I only ordered a small select number of moulding samples, from Simons and Arqadia (Larson Jul), but these days I'm looking for the real show stoppers, instead of the "run of the mill".

I particularly enjoyed meeting other forum members too! All things considered, it was a good show. If you want it to be a good show you need to focus on what you want out of it and plan you visit in advance.

[RobinC]

My wife and I visited on the Sunday. We run a high street gallery/framers and were looking for some special items to supplement our regular stock from the main publishers. In the past we have been usually found something of interest that we have added to our range that has set us apart from our competitiors - Titanic pictures in 1997, Motorsport in 1992, Trevor Horswell pictures of Freddie Mercury in the early 90's - I'm sure that most of us have done the same.
We managed to find one or two interesting items this year. One concern that we had was the volume of stretched canvas prints. There was a large stand near the "artists village" with loads of black and white posters on canvas for around £6 stretched. These featured black and white images of well known photos of Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn. We ignored these as we are sure that the copyright conditions were being breached. As a retailer if we have stock in that do not comply with these regulations then we are at risk of prosecution. It only needs a competitior to report us to trading standards and we would be in trouble selling this type of product. - best left at the fair.
A bit disappointed with one small supplier who we have been watching for some time with his open edition prints and cards. He launched some limited editions at the show, but we were disappointed to find that they didn't seem to understand our profitability needs and the implications of VAT on the retail prices - this is one of the problems that we find with artists who call into the shop trying to sell us their work -but I would have expected that if someone has gone to the trouble to rent a stand at a trade fair they would understand what is required.
Overall we enjoyed our trip to the show - the doom and gloom in the papers regarding the economy made us watch what we were spending more than usual - this year we will buy to replace sales rather than buy to stock up until we see which way business is going.

Robin

[Roboframer]

My own view will always be that to have a strong art and framing industry, we need a strong annual show, a strong trade magazine and a strong trade association.

I think art and framing do not have to be part and parcel - what art anyway? 99% of the stuff on display at the show, and in the trade mags is reproduction - that's not art.

I'd say the show is 'strong' - just not as. Do you/does anyone think we have a strong trade mag/association?

If framers and gallery owners choose not to visit their annual trade show, then if it fades away, they have only themselves to blame..

So, if a frameshop/'gallery' goes down the tube, it's the customers' fault?

Or is it the fault of the business for failing to attract the customer?

[Martin Harrold]

John:

You raise some very good issues. Quick reply;

I used the phrase 'art and framing industry' in its very widest sense, as I'm sure most readers realise. As a humble D-ring salesman, I have to admit that I only take a passing interest in the art at the show. Mrs H did remark that unlike in previous years, she did not see anything there which caught her attention as a possible addition to the extremely modest collection at Harrold Towers.

Strong magazine - I think that many woud agree that Mike Sims and Annabelle Ruston do a tremendous job of making ABT an interesting and informative read. In USA, PFM has a bigger circulation, of around 16,000 and a much bigger advertising base, so can afford to commission more articles. Being more focussed on framing, maybe it has more articles of particular interest to framers.

Strong trade association - it's the one we have, and the last thing we need is a second, although I do very much enjoy the JGF idea. Can I join?

Maybe the FATG does take itself a little too seriously sometimes. It's not always perfect, nor right in everything it does. But, I like many others, work in a small way 'on the inside' to try to help it move the trade forward. Often they are quite marginal gains, but added together signifcant progress has been made in many areas.

It's done a super job in clearing away the bullshit and weasel wording which used to confuse trade and consumer buyers of mountboard. The GCF scheme has settled down to become a respected and sought after qualification in the UK and in many other countries. It's easy for non-members (and, of course, members) to find things about it to criticise, sometimes with justification.

Yes, the membership fee does seem a little high for a small framing and gallery business, but the trade as a whole would probably be worse off we did not have the Guild in the background.

[WelshFramer]

David Wallrock introduced the first under pinner which I used to demostrate for Magnolia Mouldings..

Are Magnolia Mouldings still in business?

Today I'm making a frame from a Magnolia Mouldings moulding (9677 90007). I bought it as part of a job lot and thought I'd never find a use for it as it's a ghastly pink. However, an artist is donating a pink painting to a breast cancer charity auction and thought that moulding would be perfect.

Just goes to show, if you hang on to something long enough, somebody will want it.

[foxyframer]

Not to my knowledge Mike.

Magnolia - Scharf - Meridian - all consigned to the past under the Magnolia umbrella. All three had reps who called every three months, without fail. Others have passed away along with Olivers and Byron over the years.

We are left with a strong supplier stream though and a far better choice than those far off days.

Foxy

[span2iels]

I visit the Spring Fair each year as I believe it is essential to keep abreast of new and innovative ideas that might be on display it is not always the case but one cannot afford to miss out. The seminars were a welcome addition and hope that they will continue in future years; the organisers obviously realise that they have to attract framers to the fair and appear to be making an effort. Incidently, I understand that the seminars were instigated by FATG and Lion - so well done. I would also support Martin's comments re FATG, GCF and ABT, framing needs this organisation and the values it stands for - it is easy for those on the outside to throw stones but it would make more sense if they did it from within!

Martin's comment regarding rooms set aside for training is another possiblity. I visited last years Festival of Quilts(NEC), it was superb, but of interest, down one side of the hall were rooms set aside for workshops each with a comprehensive programme both teaching (hands on) and demonstrating the differing techniques and machines associated with quilting. Great idea and with some thought this might a welcome addition to the Spring Fair.

[markw]

I would also support Martin's comments re FATG, GCF and ABT, framing needs this organisation and the values it stands for - it is easy for those on the outside to throw stones but it would make more sense if they did it from within!

have you tried throwing stones from within the FATG?

[Roboframer]

Which level of stone throwing?

[markw]

obviously conservation level - unfortunately they don't like stones with zeolites in them.