Sales down slightly at wholesale craft show - Show news - Brief Article

BALTIMORE, Md -- The Buyer Market of American Craft has reported that sales for exhibitors at its summer 2003 present to view were down 5.9 percent to $88 million. Sales were up however, for fiber, copse and mixed-media artists. New artists claimed 10 percent of total reported sales at the exhibit which was held in July in Philadelphia.

Fiber artists had the highest increase in sales at 58 percent thicket sales came in second with a 26-percent increase, and mixed-media artists showed just a slight 12-percent increase in sales.

The wholesale craft display features more than 1,000 American artists exhibiting handmade crafts in glass, ceramics, jewelry, fiber, art-to-wear, furniture, forest metal and mixed media. Nearly 7000 buyer from across the geographical division representing galleries, boutiques, museum stores, craft stores, department stores and mail-order catalogs attended.

"American consumer have a stalwart desire to buy American-made yields so the American craft community has weathered the economic slow-down of the past several years well," said Rebecca Cason, general manager for the display division of The Rosen collection which produces the show. "With a brighter economic watch for the near future, we are anticipating more confident buyer thus creating a real strong and vital 2004 marketplace."

The 2004 Buyer Markets of American Craft will be held Feb 13 to 16 and Aug. 6 to 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.americancraft.com.

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