I Won An Award At My First Ever Trade Show: TOP DRAWER S/S!

This is such a mind-blowing blog post for me to write I feel like the past few months have been a complete whirlwind, from booking my first trade show, Top Drawer S/S extremely last minute, to designing an entire new collection of greeting cards and wrapping papers, to winning an award for best new product in the launchpad for my travel prints! I'm so so proud of myself for this one, meeting so many incredible people from shop owners to other small businesses exhibiting and not having a heart attack in the process woo go me.

Now if you know anything about me you'll know I like to live life on the edge (still not sure if I like it or I happen to have an unlimited source of adrenalin). I booked the show in late November, while working part time at the new curated makers pop up shop in York, giving me less than two months to prepare for something I've never done before. This included making the stand, designing a wholesale catalogue, and figuring out what to wear (the most stressful part haha) amongst other things.

Not to mention the fact I had a pre-show self doubt wobble where I decided to design a whole new greeting card and wrapping paper range using both artwork I had in the archives and drawing a whole load of newness. I'd say up until now I'd call myself a print designer/artist so God knows why I decided to turn into a card designer a month before my first trade show but hey ho it definitely paid off and forced me to do jobs I'd been putting off for months including finding a new manufacturer for wrapping paper and cards.

Some of the newness included...

Fur Baby's: A bright, bold, and fun collection including cute dogs, cats, and guinea pigs for all the pet lovers looking to celebrate birthday's and 'just because' days.

Girlhood: Inspired by my best-selling travel prints I thought I'd design some travel related cards to go alongside. From gap years to 'catch flights not feelings' galentines cards I even made some cute wrapping paper to match.

SO MANY NEW WRAPPING PAPERS!! Over the years I've designed so many patterns that I never really did much with (although I always had the intention of using for wrapping papers and fabrics). This event pushed me to finally source an amazing manufacturer and get the job done. The results are unbelievable, the brightest most gorgeous wrapping paper you've ever laid eyes on which certainly got a lot of attention at the show.

Despite having a wobble, hating all my designs last minute and designing a whole new range of cards and wrapping papers my printers went above and beyond to get everything to me in great time for the event to ensure all my samples were up to scratch. 

I've never really delved into wholesale other than half setting up a faire shop but it's been something I've wanted to work on in 2024 to help grow my brand. I chose top drawer to start with simply due to the high quality of the exhibitors I saw the first time I visited, the location, and the types of brands/shop owners it attracts.

I have to give a special mention to my fiance Ollie and his dad who pretty much built my display stands from scratch based on my crappy sketches, not sure how I'd of managed without their support. The morning we set off poor Oll walked into my open car boot leaving a massive gash on his head (luckily his hat protected him from it doing more damage) and I ended up dropping a spirit level on my head but thankfully that was about as much bad luck we encountered and everything else went to plan.

My choice of colours really attracted people to my stand, as people walked past I tried to break the ice by asking if they'd like a free sunbed as the bright pink and orange felt so warm and uplifting it honestly felt like I was in a mini paradise.

Andddd voila!! We have the first Freya Niamh Design stand aka the sunbed! 

Absolutely buzzing with how it came out! I was part of the launchpad zone (for businesses that are exhibiting for the first time) so my lights were included in the package free of charge.

Moral support from my uni besties who I got to meet up with the first evening for a lovely curry! 

I can't believe it! I won an award for best new product in launchpad for my travel prints! I was sat on the middle row with Ollie and two of my new friends (fellow exhibitors) who all screamed for joy when my name was announced. I went up on stage to get my certificate in front of all the top drawer exhibitors where they took a photo which sadly I will not be sharing as the free wine had started to take effect at that point and I look like a melted wicked witch of the west, but I have the certificate which now sits proudly on my desk.

And then we packed up and headed home... in total I got six new stockists from the show along with some amazing contacts, commercial illustration commissions for other brands, and incredible brand exposure so I'm really happy with how it went considering how last minute I left it. Like I said it forced me to get a load of jobs done that I'd been putting off while running my business day to day and started my journey into wholesale. I'll definitely be returning to the A/W show in 2024 to hopefully build on my success with new products and a lot more prep.

Here's Ollie my absolute superstar tucking into a well deserved maccies on our journey home (both still covered in white paint after repainting the stand, wish I'd known they repaint the stands free of charge if you let them know by a certain date which I obviously missed).

If you'd like to stock Freya Niamh Design take a look at my new and improved Faire shop here:

SHOP FREYA NIAMH DESIGN: WHOLESALE

And if you have any questions comment below or send me an email at contact@freyaniamhdesign.com.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Hannah X