SE20 Craft Fair celebrates the joys of making and selling beautiful arts and crafts and showcases new crafty talent in the Anerley/Penge area! This year it will be on Saturday 9th December between 11am and 4pm and as usual, we have space for up to 20 stalls. The theme of this fair (there's always a theme, just for fun!) is Community.
You can book a whole stall for £10 or half a stall or £5, and here's how!
Step One!
Read through the blurb at the bottom of this post. This bit is important because SE20 Craft Fair may not be the right place for you, so it's good to read through and make sure it's something you definitely want to apply for!
Step Two!
Send an e-mail to [email protected] stating your interest in selling at the fair. Please include the following information:-
- Your name
- The name of your crafty business if you have one (it's not mandatory to have a name but we like to know it of you do!)
- What you make (be as specific as you can please!)
- Your contact details (e-mail address and phone number)
- Pictures of some of your makes (Please can these be as up to date as possible!)
- Your average price range (If you are new to this and you're not sure what price you'll be selling things for yet, you can give me a ballpark range!)
- Whether you would like a whole table (£10) or half a table (£5) and whether you have any special requests (for example - whether you need to be near a plug socket, whether you have a display stand of your own that you need room for). Not all special requests can be accommodated although I will do my very best.
- Any social media accounts you have for your makes (FB, IG, Twitter etc) (again, it's not mandatory to have these!)
Also please let me know if you have read the info at the bottom of this post (if not I'll send it again!).
Step Three!
Wait for a reply! This may take a couple of weeks as I'll wait until a substantial amount of people have applied before going through them all, so do not fret if you don't hear back straight away! Don't send me any money with your initial e-mail please. If I get back to you saying you're successful then I'll let you know how to go about paying.
Other Important Info!
- Your stall fee gets you a table or half of a table, and as many chairs as you need, so you don't have to bring your own!
-Payment will be asked for in full once your application is accepted (but it's not loads of £££ so never fear).
-Once you've booked and paid, refunds will only be given if cancellations are made more than a week in advance of the fair.
-If your initial e-mail doesn't include info about what you make, price range and photos then I can't offer you a stall I'm afraid.
-SE20 Craft Fair is a community affair and if you're a stallholder, I will definitely be asking you to help in the run up to the fair. This will include things like having a poster in your window, flyering, spreading the word on social media and helping set up and clear up. You don't have to do all these things but please be willing to do something! It's down to all of us to make the fair a success, not just me! Please don't apply if you aren't willing to help out in some way.
- Last year I set up a Gofundme page to collect donations to use for the purpose of advertising and decorating SE20 Craft Fair. It was really excellent to raise a few extra monies because I usually self-fund the fair (it's non-profit, completely) and to have something extra for flyers and posters made a HUGE difference to the general attendance of the fair. This year, I won't be doing that. HOWEVER, I will be providing Paypal details for anyone who would like to make a donation to the upkeep and promotion of SE20 Craft Fair. These details will be included with all booking information and put about on social media in the run up to the fair.
Okay, I think that's all of the information you need for now. Except for the long and highly exciting blurb below, that is. Please scroll down, read it, and then.....get booking!! Hooray! Last year's craft fair was fun, well attended, full of joy and made a lot of people smile. Let's make this year's fair even better *releases balloons and throws glitter about the place*
This has been repeated before, in previous blog posts, possibly more eloquently than I'm about to do it here, but basically - SE20 Craft Fair was originally set up for people I knew who made things but had no platform on which to display and sell those things. It grew pretty much right away into the same thing for members of the wider community, AKA not just people I knew! And it remains this sort of place - a place for newbies as well as established crafters. A place to learn how to sell your wares. A place to experiment and grow. A safe place where there is no judgement and no high standard which you MUST meet or else. ALL experience levels are welcome. And we totally encourage crafters to meet, chat and exchange ideas and help each other out during the fair. It's just a supportive and encouraging environment!
This of course means that there are some things that SE20 Craft Fair is NOT.
It is NOT a competitive place. It is NOT the sort of place where there is only one of every type of craft, for example. It is NOT a place where the sole or overriding focus is to sell as much as possible and to make as much money as possible. It is NOT a place where the sole or overriding focus is on how many people are coming in through those doors. It is NOT somewhere where business and professionalism wins out over community spirit. It is NOT somewhere where only the best and most experienced sellers are allowed. It is an inclusive place for anyone who has made things they wish to sell! And that's that.
So of course, there are some rules:
- All our stallholders will have made at least part of what they are selling. It is about handmade goods! We are not a boot fair, jumble sale, market or a place for franchises to get off the ground. Not that those things are not great, but that is not what we are. Also we don't have things like tombolas etc I'm afraid.
- Don't be grumpy, please be ready to jump in and have fun!
- We like our stallholders to get involved with promoting the fair.
- I can't think of any more rules right now but I'm sure there are more.
So that's it for now! Want to apply for a stall at the fair? Get booking! Never done anything like this before? It doesn't matter! Get booking anyway! Looking forward to hearing from you.
- Christina
FB, Twitter and IG: @se20craftfair