Well, I attended NY Now. If you follow us on Twitter, you've seen the pictures of what it was like being there. I thought I was an old pro, having been to the American Made Show. Hoo boy, was NY Now something else! 35,000 attendees — mostly buyers — four floors of booths, not nearly enough seating at lunch time, people almost stampeding at the Amex OPEN lounge over the free cookies …
The biggest difference was that I had to work much harder to track down American-made goods. I met so many nice people and saw so many lovely goods, but I had to pass on quite a lot of them because of the commitment we've made to American-made and fair trade products. I got very good at asking, “Where are your products made?” upon entering a booth, though, to save time. I worked that show for three days in heels, people; nobody was getting unnecessary steps out of me!
All this choosiness paid off, though. I’ve added more fantastic makers to the lineup: Uncle Goose and Tree Hopper toys; Farmhouse Pottery; Library of Flowers perfume; Articulate art hangers; IndieFlix; The Coin Laundry tea towels; Formaticum cheese cloths; Maker’s Circle and We Dream in Colour jewelry; Misc. Goods Co. and Rustico manly stuff; Saturn Press and Rifle Paper Co. stationery; Creative Women and Caroline Z. Hurley textiles; and I'm afraid the list goes on and on and on …