Monday, October 12, 2009

BOWER BIRD BAZAAR


The thing about me and the limelight is that I only really enjoy basking in it for a minute or two. Any longer and I'm longing to crawl back under my rock and hide.

Three days is a long long time to be switched on and exposed to the public.
I am terrible at small talk, I am appalling at selling my own product (and just selling generally).
My real skill is convincing someone to go for my cheapest product, not my most expensive. or not to buy anything at all.
Do you really need another cushion in your life? I don't think so. quick, get out of here before you spend money.

The Queen's Theatre in Adelaide didn't disappoint. It is a magnificent, unrenovated stone building - the oldest theatre on mainland australia. This was a truly awe-inspiring space, very hard to capture its essence in photos. There were two long skinny rooms that led on to a large central space.


















Crumbling walls, exposed beams, concrete floor .. very cold the first couple of days.
But nobody minded too much, not with the superb catering for the venue.. sensational local vego food, coffee and organic wine. I am determined to return to Adelaide on a road trip for an eating/ drinking holiday.



Here are just some of the other talent at Bowerbird:
Melanie Hill from Melbourne is seriously prolific and makes an eclectic range of products from found and recycled woollen materials and beads and buttons and all kinds of stuff. i've got one of her cardies and scarves - always get comments when i'm wearing them. And look at those puppets! Mental. Love them.


Here's my hotel room buddy, Ursula, from flat bird. She and her partner have a ridiculous number of my cushions and are currently the world record holders for owning the most number of feedthedog products (my sister has more but i don't count her because she doesn't pay for them).


Love my neighbours? Did i ever. On one side i had the wonderful and 'real' susanna from local multi-disciplinary design company, enoki, who had the wildest rugs i've ever seen. Graphics like this pink dog are hand-stitiched (takes about 3 days) onto high quality carpet underlay. They also make other sustainable products like cardboard children's furniture and provide a broad range of design services.


On the other side was the so very sweet and very talented young Adelaide jewellery designer, Sarah Rothe. This was her first market ever and i tried not to scare her too much with my tired old carnie stories.


I wish I had a better photo of these killer purple striped shoes worn by my jewellery designer mate from syd, Kristina who has a glorious wardrobe that more than rivals her stunning jewellery collection.


My corner of the Bowerbird Bazaar. Before the crowds.
Before my very special presentation booklet, which i had made up in the US, was taken from my stand while i was off getting a coffee. I was a little upset to say the least. But then my neighbours bought me a drink and we started the party a little early and I was over it in no time.

Now I need to take a very deep breath, clean up this pigsty I live in and get ready for the next one. PYD DESIGN MARKET is on from Saturday 24th to Sunday 25th October and will be my only Sydney outing before Christmas. This year the event is sponsored by Vogue Living magazine and I hope I get the time to make my extra-large space everything I want it to be. It's less than two weeks away. Feeling very much like Sisyphus rolling that giant rock to the top of the mountain only to have the damn thing roll back down again .. and on it goes.

Bowerbird was a great success for me personally, for many stall holders, for the organisers, and for the people of adelaide who supported the event. It wasn't fab for everyone though. These kind of big big events can be tough. Until you've done one of these gigs there's just no way of conveying the complexity of the experience.
The stress, frustration, joy, irritation, physical and mental exhaustion, bitching and moaning, joy, envy, excitement, self-doubt, boredom, joy and an awful lot of laughing.



I'm not sure why or how I do it.

*Denis from MessageMark has sent through a link to all the great photos he took on the Sunday. Really worth a peek here:
BowerBird photos

6 comments:

Kim Wallace :: Udessi said...

Wish I could have been there, it looks sooo amazing! Next time....

inaluxe said...

Sounds like an amazing time! I laughed in the bit where you mention "carnie" stories! ha ha. But I have to say - good on you for doing something this awesome. I have never done a market, I think I'm quite terrified, but I probably should get on with it. I'm not very good at selling, and especially not my own stuff. I don't even comfortably take compliments - lost cause? hope not! Really thrilled you had such a ball! Your work is soooooo cool! cheerz... K

Cathy said...

Haven't left a comment here for ages. Your work is amazing and I am not surprised you did well at your event. Loved the photos on the link. I love looking at pictures of craft events etc. Reminds me of the time I used to do some years ago.

Ange said...

And WHERE can we buy you in France??? Very attractive stuff.

Lucy said...

Hi, I have just found your blog and totally sympathise with your market experiences and not being good at selling your own work! I have just done my first ever market and have just blog-posted about how hard I found it to sell my own work!! It was reassuring to hear your comments and makes me realise I am not the one suffering from crap-selling-of-own-work disease!
I love your work BTW - gorgeous and very clever. Lucy

Lucy said...

Whoops - I meant to say I'm not the ONLY one suffering from crap-selling-of-own-work!