HANDMADE® SPOTLIGHTS JEWELRY & SUSTAINABILITY AT WINTER 2009 NYIGF

WHITE PLAINS, NY, December 11, 2008…Handmade® at the New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®) will welcome some 60 newcomers to the winter 2009 edition. Showcasing both sustainable designs and jewelry, these new exhibitors will join the division’s 575 artisans from 36 American states and 13 countries worldwide at the winter show, January 25-29, 2009, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

The Handmade selection committee – comprised of retailers, craftspeople and industry experts – considers uniqueness, originality and authenticity as well as marketability when reviewing applications. “The Handmade jury felt that the quality of applicants for the 2009 market far exceeded their expectations,” said Dorothy Belshaw, NYIGF director.  “The product lines were very sophisticated and design-driven.”

SUPERLATIVE JEWELRY DESIGN
Edgy and bold jewelry design, will be well-represented at Handmade with the addition of Cari Cohen (Miami, FL), Eric Silva (Whittier, CA), and Patams (Brazil).  These new participants join an established and growing contingent of talented jewelry designers within Handmade, including Elizabeth Garvin (New York, NY), Catherine Weitzman Handmade Jewelry (Honolulu, HI), Pick Up Sticks Jewelry Co., LLC (Clovis, NM) and Elements by Jill Schwartz (Great Barrington, MA).

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY
In line with a growing national trend of sustainable product design, many of Handmade’s newest participants are environmentally-friendly businesses and supporters of social causes.  This includes newcomer Grant Dawson Collections (McLean, VA), who will introduce decorative home accessories crafted from sustainable and recycled materials, often with motifs of endangered or threatened species of sea life, botanicals, and reptiles; and Love Heals Jewelry (Ojai, CA), a mother-son-daughter team which designs and hand crafts jewelry, then supports the planting of 10 trees for every piece of jewelry they sell through the Trees for the Future organization.

Handmade craft artisans already noted for their use of green materials include the Melange Collection (Aspen, CO), Sea Stones (Windham, NH), and Sugarboo Designs (Roswell, GA).  Often, these companies will also be involved in social causes such as fair trade agreements with struggling international artists’ communities.

SPECIAL FOCUS AREAS
Following its successful August 2008 debut, the “designer-maker” identification system will return to the Handmade division, better enabling buyers to distinguish individual artisanry from production craft.  More than 250 Handmade exhibitors are designer-makers.

Meeting the demand for American-made craft, the “Handmade in the USA®” showcase includes more than 30 exhibitors offering U.S.-produced merchandise, identified by signage on the show floor and at each booth.   This January, a distinct few companies, featuring tableware, pillows, and jewelry, will be showcased in both the division’s “Handmade in the USA” section and designated as “designer-maker,” including dbO Home, LLC (Sharon, CT), Alison Evans Ceramics (Greenfield, MA), Elisabethan (Paonia, CO), Lois Aronow Porcelain (Brooklyn, NY), Metal Monk, Ltd. (Greenport, NY) and Sugar Post (Salt Lake City, UT).

“The designer-maker identification and grouping of American-made craft enable buyers to more easily source products of a particular provenance,” added Belshaw.  “Feedback from buyers has been very positive.”

This winter, Handmade will open on Sunday, January 25, and close on Thursday, January 29.  This change from the division’s traditional Saturday-Wednesday date pattern, was necessitated by venue availability.

Handmade is located on Level 1 and the 4th Level Galleria of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.  For more than 20 years, Handmade has offered buyers an extensive, juried selection of handcrafted items across such categories as tabletop, ceramics, textiles, home décor, jewelry and apparel.

NYIGF is the nation’s premier gift and home accessory marketplace, with 2,900+ exhibitors featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware.  NYIGF is held concurrently with Home Textiles Market Week® at NYIGF (at the Javits Center and Passenger Ship Terminal’s Piers 90, 92 & 94), 230 Fifth Avenue and 7 West 34th Street.  Some 36,000 buyers from around the world are expected to attend.  Additional information and registration is available at www.nyigf.com.

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