When Is the Art and Frame Expo in Atlanta?
By Christine Schrum
If you've been in the framing industry for some fourth dimension, you've no doubt heard of or attended DECOR Expo Atlanta. A moulding-world mainstay for decades, the almanac outcome was legendary for its exhibitions, pedagogy, special events and, of form, the mingling and connecting with peers. Two years agone, Redwood Media Group CEO Eric Smith acquired DECOR Expo Atlanta and has been quietly planning a big relaunch of the popular show, slated for September 9 through 11, 2015, at Atlanta'south Marriott Hotel. DECOR interviewed Smith virtually the show'southward future.
DECOR: Redwood Media Group has a storied history with iconic art shows, such as Artexpo New York and [SOLO], along with heady new shows, such as SPECTRUM Miami and Art San Diego. What made you determine to go into the framing expo business?
Eric Smith: Opportunity and history. Fine art and framing have always gone hand in hand, and information technology's a natural fit for our business. I'k also very familiar with the framing marketplace: From 2000 to 2008, I was vice president of Elevation Business Media, and I ran DECOR Expo until we sold it in 2008. At that betoken, it went to another visitor, and I didn't really hear much nearly it. But in its heyday, DECOR was huge! Information technology was a mainstay in the framing manufacture, and everyone, including me, had really addicted memories of the show.
Then naturally, when in late 2012 I received a call from a business concern associate who asked me if I was interested in purchasing the DECOR properties—which included Art Business News, DECOR, DECOR Expo Atlanta and DECOR Expo New York—I couldn't resist. I actually missed the testify. And now that my company, Redwood Media, is in a growth phase, I run into no better time. The start pace was launching DECOR Expo Showcase in New York this spring, aslope Artexpo New York and [SOLO]. That was a big success. We're looking forrard to bringing the showcase back to Pier 94 side by side spring and so launching the all-new DECOR Expo Atlanta in the autumn.
DECOR: Why do yous think the original DECOR Expo Atlanta tapered off?
ES: Information technology's important to realize that, from 2009 to 2012, it was nether entirely different ownership. I'k not actually 100 pct sure the owners even produced the evidence, although they endemic the name. I believe that grouping went on to other businesses in the terminate. Since Redwood Media Group acquired the evidence, we've been sort of incubating ideas around it for the past year or two. We believe in the ho-hum-but-steady approach, only similar we've taken with all our other shows: We've more than than doubled the size of our company in the last two years! And so, what framers really demand to know is that DECOR Expo Atlanta and New York are under completely new direction and will give them an exemplary experience.
DECOR: Tell u.s. well-nigh that debut of the showcase in New York. How did it get?
ES: It was bully. We have a small venue that we allocated for framing exhibitors, and nosotros had about 30 exhibitors right at the forepart of the hall, so they got first-class traffic. More than than 22,000 people get through Artexpo New York each twelvemonth, and, of those, about 4,000 are trade buyers. So, we made a actually large bargain nearly getting the trade in to meet the framing products, and our exhibitors were quite happy with that.
On the final day of the show, I did an exit interview and went around shaking people's hands. Of the 30 exhibitors, 28 said they'd return. Bear in heed: The New York result's actually more than of a showcase, non an expo. The total-diddled expo nosotros'll be doing in Atlanta is a much bigger issue. We'll have production demonstrations, extensive education, a larger floor plan, and more than exhibitors. At the showcase, it's more of an addition to Artexpo, and we're really just showcasing new products. That said, it could grow into a total-blown bear witness anytime. If we could double the size adjacent year, nosotros recall that would exist keen.
DECOR: You launched DECOR at the showcase this leap in New York. What's your vision for the publication?
ES: Well, as I mentioned earlier, Redwood Media Group acquired DECOR, DECOR Expo, and Fine art Business organisation News all together in late 2012. Our starting time initiative was to become Art Business News dorsum in the market place because it fits so well with the 4 art shows we're already producing: Artexpo New York, [SOLO], SPECTRUM Miami and Art San Diego. Once we got that back into publication, we added a decor/framing component to it via our DECOR section, which readers seem to exist enjoying.
Nosotros have excellent resource and writers inside the framing industry—our show director and publisher Michael Pacitti, "the Guerrilla Framer" Paul Cascio, Tara Crichton; the list goes on and on. And, of course, we're always on the lookout for more writers and more intriguing content, and we encourage interested parties to contact us. To date, we've been pleased to feature some really exciting profiles on industry players, like Roma Moulding and Urban Ashes. It's an manufacture that keeps reinventing itself, and it's exciting to play a office in documenting that.
Over the last xc days, we've attracted over 300 subscribers to the new DECOR. If that continues, nosotros'll have 1,400 to 1,500 make-new subscribers to the magazine in the next year to add to our list of four,000. This all circles back to the shows: One reason exhibitors exhibit at shows is to run across new customers and peers, so we're going to invite all of our subscribers to the expos. Nosotros want to brand information technology like shooting fish in a barrel for framers throughout the continent to network and connect.
DECOR: What new initiatives exercise you take for the new DECOR Expo Atlanta?
ES: For starters, we've got an all-new venue. We're not going back to the Georgia Globe Congress Centre, where the show was usually held. We've decided to have a 3-year growth approach, building year upon yr, and hold it at the Marriott in downtown Atlanta. It creates a beehive of buying and networking. Everybody will stay in the hotel, eat in the hotel, drink at the bars and relish an excellent, 3-day framing expo in the ballroom.
Nosotros're likewise planning a really compelling front end-of-the-shop educational series, which volition be free for all attendees. We're going to take cutting-edge product demonstrations on the show floor. And nosotros are going to revive our extremely popular DECOR Expo Meridian 100 Fine art and Framing Retailer Program. We're going to throw a large party during the testify and honor these hardworking framers and too give them exposure in DECOR magazine. There will be other surprises mixed in to make things heady, interesting and fun for participants. Information technology'south going to exist a very heady event, and nosotros hope framers from across North America will join us.
DECOR: What practice yous hope exhibitors and attendees will take abroad from these two new framing expos?
ES: For attendees, seeing new products, sharpening their skills … and, hopefully, they'll have domicile a Tiptop 100 Retailer Honor. For the exhibitors, they'll meet lots of attendees they don't see at the West Coast show. There are a lot of framers in the Due south and Southeast—and, for that matter, the Northeast—we've made contacts with over the past twelvemonth, and everyone has been telling u.s.a. they miss DECOR Expo Atlanta.
As fine art-industry veterans, we try to stay on the forefront of all the latest advancements in the world of artists, galleries and frame shops, and nosotros have a lot to offer framers in that regard. We can't wait to welcome everyone back to DECOR Expo Atlanta next fall.
Christine Schrum is editor-in-chief of DECOR magazine. She has extensive feel in the fine-fine art industry, specially in art-show marketing and production, social media, blogging and magazine writing. She is currently managing director of content and social media for Redwood Media Group, purveyor of fine-fine art shows and publications.
Source: https://artbusinessnews.com/2014/12/decor-expo-atlanta-a-design-world-mainstay-returns-to-atlanta/
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