David Barnett
"The only thing I see at art fairs that bothers me are woodworkers who blatently steal other designer's unique designs."

Not only in woodworking, of course, but most of the other categories have offenders.

More in jewelry and metalworking than furniture, I have confronted a few egregiously obvious copyists (thieves) with polite but probing questions as to their design 'influences', to put it nicely, and have incurred responses from simply ignoring me and turning away to some of the most creative doubletalk artist-statement-speak that simultaneously amuses and infuriates.

It's unfortunate but expected and understandable for judges to miss some of these imitators simply because they're not always as knowledgeable as we would like them to be, but also because they are overworked and fatigued by a too-often grueling jurying process, seeing too many images at once not to become mind-numbed.

What's more, some judging procedures involve voting by those with no real expertise in a particular field outside their own, the rationale being that they should judge on the general quality and impression the entries make rather than specific knowledge as to where the artists fit into the so-called dialogue of their individual expression within a craft field.

So from the artist's point of view, you submit the best photographs you can to represent your oeuvre , with perhaps a couple shots of your booth layout and look (if allowed), and hope for the best.

From the judges point of view, they'll genuinely try to pick what most impresses them from what may be a sea of sameness, mixed in with rarer but more novel entries (which is where some really interesting mistakes can happen), and try for a good mix with a solid core of proven quality work, styles and attractive prestentations.

When I lived in Northampton, MA, home of the Paradise City shows, the furniture judging and subsequently chosen exhibitors were of high caliber, as were most of the other represented craft fields. You didn't find cheap hardware or poor workmanship in those shows, but Northampton has a long-standing well-deserved reputation for woodworking, with at one time David Powell, Silas Kopf, Michael Coffey, Mason Rappaport, Wm. Sayre and others all in the same building.

As for the ACC shows, I'm not so sure how the recent headquarters move from NYC to Minneapolis is going to play out. I have my doubts. The last one I attended was mostly solid but a few exhibitors gave me pause to wonder if entries were slipping downscale somewhat, and this was before the economy tanked.

Of course, when you have registered knowledgeable buyers at a wholesale show, that's one thing, at open-to-the-public shows, it's another. Either way, those most apt to plunk down the big bucks for the better items usually know what they're looking for in terms of quality and artistic positioning.

What bothers me most are those who walk through the jewelry exhibits taking pictures of items that will be soon be offered in cheaply-made overpriced knockoff versions from wholesaler exporters in one of more Asian countries. True, when the better run shows see this taking place or have it reported to them, they'll often take action, but too often it's not swift enough, and with the plethora of phone cameras, nearly impossible to control.

Woodworking isn't wholly immune, of course, but given the nature, size, and difficulty in mass producing furniture objects, this isn't so much a concern, although the design or gist of a design or signature feature is there for all to see and imitate. But whatever's shown in magazines or on internet sites is apt to get copied these days, so it's a good strategy to make as many unique and more difficult to copy features and difficult to acquire materials in one's exhibited work.

Smaller work suffers the most; boxes, turned items, and so on. The only salvation is to constantly keep changing designs, materials, and features to minimize the knockoff damage to one's business. The notion of copying as the "highest compliment" no longer means anything beyond dishonesty and theft to the individual craftsperson trying to make a decent or even break-even living.

For those plagued by design theft and knockoffs, the overarching strategy may be to prudently choose which shows to attend, which means fewer venues with greater attendance and higher spending ratings from recent shows. It helps to train booth assistants to look for those doing "research" and to promptly dissuade and report them.

At an ACC show I attended years back, I watched an attendee use both a measuring tape and even dial calipers on several wooden boxes in one booth; drawer thicknesses, tops, bottoms, every detail one would need to produce exact copies. He had already taken several photographs (and this was before phones could take pictures). The booth worker, obviously not the boxmaker didn't seem to care at all, continuing to talk to potential customers or between customers staring at the flow of passersby. Nearly a half-hour passed before the 'measuring man' walked away, presumably to another booth. Amazing.

It can get interesting and amusing. I once shared an indoor booth at a small craft show with a close friend and former student, a superb goldsmith who was insecure in promoting his work publicly. We had an attendee become highly miffed and downright irate when we wouldn't share the names of our suppliers, even after politely explaining we had no suppliers, fabricating all our parts from raw materials, alloying our own 22k gold, drawing our own wire and rolling our own sheet. I can't even imagine how she would've made a replica of our Etruscan loop-in-loop granulated chain with off the shelf findings. Another woman waved off our main piece saying "That's not so special. I saw one just like it in the British Museum's Egyptian room."

There are a few sites where art/craft shows trade magazines have anthologized anecdotes of such occurrences. Google something along the lines of craft show horror stories to read some these to marvel at human nature. Really funny.

Anyway, for those who want to know more about the craft show industry, The Crafts Report is a good place to start, and for gallery representation and retailing, Niche is worth a look.

Of course, most of the above wasn't aimed at you, Thomas, but was for others who might wonder about selling their work, and often craft shows are a good place to break in the act. Galleries are where it's at as far as I'm concerned and I don't mean consignment, although I have had my work profitably represented by others at a couple specialized retail shows with adequate security. At any rate, one can learn a lot doing or attending craft shows, and they're all worth at least one look.