the National Stationery Show 2018

One of the big accomplishments of 2018 for me was debuting Sketchy Notions at the National Stationery Show in NEW YORK CITY! For those of you not directly tied to the paper world, the National Stationery Show or NSS is a HUGE trade show for all things paper. Retailers come from all over the world to shop for their stores for the following year from their old favorites and also from new folks...like me! Big brands send people to source artists and designs to license from too.

When researching, I had a hard time finding information from fellow card makers about their experience at NSS so I wanted to do a bit of a breakdown of my time in NY and how I pulled it off!

FYI - this is a really long post so no hard feelings if you just want to scroll and look at the pictures ;)

I had been thinking of doing NSS for the past couple years (I first started getting emails from them in 2016) but didn't really think I had the range in my line to pull it off. After some nudging from my boyfriend and mom, I decided to do it. It was a good opportunity to put my line out there and hopefully network with big companies while my overhead was so low.

To give you an idea of who shows up, here are some of the name badges I saw during my 3.5 days on the floor of the Javits Center: Martha Stewart (not Martha herself, she's got people for that), Bed Bath and Beyond, Anthropologie, Trader Joes, Paper Source, Amazon, World Market, and a ton more. It's very intimidating standing in your little booth hoping these big names stop in, especially when big brands like Rifle Paper Co. and Hallmark are also selling in the same room as you. And there are hundreds of other card shops hoping they also get spotted by these big names too.

Yikes.

Setting up a booth at NSS is a completely different animal compared to preparing for a craft fair or market. For a craft fair, I can usually fit everything in the back of my trusty Rav4 - canopy, folding tables, chairs, display racks, and inventory. For NSS, I flew across the country and had to ship decorations or check them in a suitcase. While I didn't have to bring lots of inventory (at NSS, you only take wholesale orders to be shipped when you return home), it was still a LOT of stress trying to figure out how to translate Sketchy Notions into a 7' x 10' booth with just checked luggage.

Besides having to pay for the booth space (ouch $$$), you then have to figure out your walls, flooring, lighting, and display. And of course get your flight, a place to stay and hopefully still have money left to feed yourself.

I researched as many options as possible and consulted my NSS Guru, Craig (he's a good friend and showed at NSS years ago before found his current company, Lavande). Through his advice and copious amounts of research, I ended up making these decisions...

• I purchased the wall package through Javits! It ended up being the cheapest option and fitted my needs (white walls that were strong enough for nails) and included lighting, labor, electricity and take down. Plus it was a great relief just showing up at the booth with the walls and lights already done! Some East Coast stores opt to drive their own wall displays down but then there's the added stress of having to drive/park a car in NYC. 
• I also rented two chairs through Javits as well. A lot of booths opt out of having seating but I knew I needed a place to sit during the lulls. 
• For lodging, I found an awesome Air B&B that was walking distance from Javits because I knew I didn't want to deal with cabs or Ubers while hauling my display luggage to Javits or the stress of navigating New York subways. It was waaaay cheaper than the hotel "deals" through NSS too. The Air B&B allowed me to make breakfast and coffee in the morning too and heat up leftovers for dinner to save money. 
• The rest of my display stuff I purchased or built myself with the mindset that I will reuse these items for future NSS or trade show visits! Items I purchased include...
• Small folding camping table from Amazon to display business cards and hide my supplies underneath
• Matching pillows and rug with my succulent design from Society 6
• Copper sequin table clothes and plain white table clothes, also from Amazon
• Foam tile flooring! Craig really recommended foam floor to help with the pain of standing all day long and it was probably the 2nd best expense I had after the wall package
• A wooden sign for "Sketchy Notions" that I painted turquoise and copper, which I've used at every craft fair since
• LOTS of mini copper binder clips and copper nails! 

The shelves I cut and painted myself so I could tape them together with foam tape and stick them right on the walls without power tools. Javits is really particular about what tools and stuff you can use, even ladders (if it's something that a union approved construction company can do, they want you to outsource the labor and hire their guys). 

I shipped my foam tiles, small table, table clothes, pillows and rug directly to Javits. It took a little bit to track it down on the day of while I was jet-lagged from my red eye from San Diego (another story for another time) but it was the best option. Everything else (cards, clips, line sheets, business cards, baskets, freebie postcards etc) were in my checked suitcase. And then I just had to fly to New York and pull it all off...by myself. Gulp. 

The blank slate booth when I first got to Javits!

Luckily I had some awesome booth neighbors in my aisle to keep me sane during the week, including my new friend Amal from Ohmeed (formerly Studio Fig), My Infinite Agenda, Ingeneius and the Paper Wilderness. I also got so meet some amazing folks behind brands that I've followed for years, including Afsaneh from Joo Joo Paper! Plus being able to walk through the displays from brands like Rifle Paper Co. and One Canoe Two was pretty damn inspiring.

I had heard from Craig and a few other folks that you shouldn't count on the walls being perfectly square or straight so hanging narrow shelves for the cards to sit on wasn't going to be an easy option. Instead I opted for small copper nails with small copper binder clips to hang each card, postcard set, print or calendar. It took a while to get them all measured and straight but it looked awesome and clean up was really fast! I even took over the downstairs hallway at my mom's house to tape up the cards and see if I had enough selection and if they'd even all fit!

Overall, NSS was an amazing experience. I had a LOT of help getting ready for it (hi mom). But pulling it off solo kinda put in perspective just how much I can do on my own with this little business. I got a few new wholesale accounts, got some contacts with big companies that will hopefully pan out and came back with a lot of knowledge for the next time I go to New York for NSS. 

While I won't being going to NSS in 2019 (they moved it up from May to the first week of February...ew, cold) I'm planning on some bigger markets out of state! I'm hoping to really grow my collection next year too with more variety of products and new designs so when I do get back to NSS I'll be ready with even more goodies! 

Well, that's my NSS story! If you're thinking of attending I would definitely encourage you to do it BUT with a lot of planning ahead of time. It's a very stressful and expensive endeavor! Being the procrastinator that I am, I did leave a lot to the last minute and still pulled it off but it wasn't without lots of sleepless nights and stressed out days. If you have any questions, feel free to send them my way too!