Jun 1, 2012

NYIGF’s Introduces Platform for Emerging Craft Designers

Emerging craft designers and up-and-coming artisan makers are invited to apply to the new “Emerging Designer Maker Platform” produced in connection with the Handmade® Designer Maker division at the New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®). This new initiative will showcase talented designers – in particular design students and recent graduates in business for one year or less – and handmade products across the gift home and lifestyle spectrum and created in all media.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 15, 2012. Online applications, accessible at http://www.nyigf.com/Exhibitors/NYIGFDivisions/EmergingDesigners.aspx, require the submission of products or prototypes. Designers will be chosen by the Handmade® Designer Maker selection committee based on design concept, creativity and originality.

“NYIGF is committed to fostering emerging artisans,” said Christian Falkenberg, NYIGF director and GLM vice president. “This space will be an incubator for young artisan talents, and a showcase for fresh new resources.”

The works of selected designers will be showcased in the Javits Center North Connector, giving them an invaluable introduction to the NYIGF market. Participants will gain visibility with and access to press, established designers and thousands of leading design retailers, galleries and museums, such as The Museum of Art and Design, MOMA, Smithsonian, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Anthropologie Stores, which attend the NYIGF.

For more than 25 years, Handmade has offered buyers an extensive selection of handcrafted items across such categories as tabletop, ceramics, textiles, home décor, jewelry and apparel. The juried Handmade® division is categorized by process and provenance into two distinct sections: Handmade Designer Maker and Handmade Global Design. The summer 2012 edition of Handmade runs Saturday, August 18, through Tuesday, August 21, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

NYIGF is the nation’s premier gift, home and lifestyle marketplace, with 2,800+ exhibiting companies featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware. The summer market takes place Saturday, August 18, through Wednesday, August 22, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94. Some 35,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 80 countries worldwide are expected. Information and registration is available online at www.nyigf.com.