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So often another dealer will look at something in my display and say, "Oh, that really looks great, what a good idea." I'm torn between just saying thanks and admitting that I didn't invent it, just saw someone else doing it, and modified it to suit my needs. Usually, I end up compromising and saying something like, "Thanks, I actually stole the idea and tweaked it."
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I'm not really advocating piracy, but rather appropriation. As you develop your own signature booth set-up style, don't hesitate to look at what others are doing. If you have trouble figuring out how to do something unusual or display an awkward piece, someone else has probably had the problem before. See how s/he handled it - even better see how two or three people handled it, then combine their ideas to create your own solution. |
 Cool little spotlights from IKEA |
Hang 'em high
Another of my favorite "steals" (and used with permission of the person from whom I stole it, who had himself stolen it from another) is a series of chains hung from the bar of a booth's drapery. He'd used two chains to hang a large painting off hooks placed level with each other, one in each chain. It was very classy. I've since used the same technique, but have expanded it to hang rows of pamphlets off one chain and prints off another; sometimes as many as four chains in one display. I've even used hooks, bulldog clips and the weight of the chain to hold a small scroll open to its full length without stressing the vellum from which it was made - it took a little figuring to make it work, but that simple hanging chain did the trick.
Watching a neighbor take a hook from which he'd hung a painting off the wall and pull a little tab to remove its mount, with no damage to wall, I said "That's amazing!" "No," he said, "It's a Command hook." Then he gave me one and a strip to affix it with. 3M's Command™ products are all around now, but this was when they first came out. I can't even start to tell you how often I use their hooks and strips to hang or secure things (no, not the books themselves), without damage to the substrate on which they're affixed. I've stabilized stacked bookcases against a trophy case, hung prints from the hooks, created wall brackets from strips of wood, affixed book stands to the sides of bookcases, and all without damaging anything. And I still think it's "Amazing!" and thank that gentleman for introducing me to them.
Dress it up
I once admired the beautiful book boxes that some colleagues had - they were nicely stained, with dovetail joints and lined with royal blue felt secured along the edge with upholstery tacks. Really classy! When I admired them, the owners said they'd always liked the idea of book boxes and how easily dealers who used them could set up and break down, but didn't like how most of those boxes looked. So they took the idea, had some custom built by a furniture making friend, stained and decorated them to suit their own needs; thus making someone else's idea very much, and uniquely, their own.
A fellow exhibitor at one fair had a really sharp looking booth, with a very bookish background. It took me a while to realize it was bookcase-design wallpaper strung along the back of his booth, taped at the ends to the backs of bookcases. He said he'd gotten the idea from a friend's living room which had been papered along one wall with a floor to ceiling world map. Once his wife found the book patterned wallpaper and he figured out how to mount it he had a unique look that really worked for his display, which included a lot of literary artifacts like antique reading lamps, decorative bookends, brass magnifying glasses and carved wooden book cradles which he scattered liberally around the booth. I've yet to use the idea (and I have some bookish tissue paper stashed away), but it's still percolating at the back of my mind.
Build a better ...
One thing I still want to do, but haven't yet figured out how, is to duplicate a recently retired colleague's system for adding extra support under the weaker tables some organizers supply (I especially hate those plastic tables that buckle under the weight of the bookcases, never mind the books on them!) He'd rigged some kind of expanding leg with wooden pads on each end that he could set in place, expand to fit, and use to brace the center of the table, greatly stabilizing and strengthening it. Brilliant!
My "interim" shelves
In the UK, where many fairs only give you floor space enough to erect stacked folding bookcases three abreast, a lot of dealers use rough boards inserted between two cases placing small folding tables underneath. Occasionally, they'd add a lip and slant the board to allow things to be displayed front out. We took that idea and, with the help of a carpentry-minded friend, re-worked it to suit our needs. I now carry a selection of 12" flat and slanted shelves, the latter felt-lined and with a lip to keep things from sliding off, that fit into the slats on the sides of my book cases. They give me a great deal of flexibility: on a 6' table they efficiently fill the gap between two bookcases, slanted shelves allow me to put things face up at eye level, and so many more books can be displayed in the extra shelf space! I've also found that I can use the board in any number of other ways that don't even involve the bookcases.
Tell 'em what you've got
A problem that many people who use trophy cases have is how to display an upright note card with the books, when an angled card would be too far above the average sight line. Many people insert them under the strap that holds the book open, or just lean them against the item being displayed, but if you want the card beside the item, not against it, what do you do? One of my favorite ideas - one that I long to steal, but that just wouldn't work in my counter case layout - is the use of place card holders designed for formal dining situations. They come in such a wide variety of designs that no two users would choose the same ones. Other solutions I've seen are bulldog clips with the wires removed, or small mounds of blu-tac behind the cards. They work, but they're not nearly as classy!
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Last updated: 04/02/2017
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