Acceptance emails are going out this week and every year we get asked this question. It’s not always easy to quantify. Hopefully this post will give you a bit of insight and transparency into why we make the decisions we do.
Administering a curated market is a double-edged sword. We love (and are so grateful) that we get many talented people applying with their fantastic handmade products. The flip side of that, is not having enough spaces to be able to invite everyone to have a stall.
For this Christmas Encraftment, we received over 150 more applications than we have spaces for, and as always the standard was amazing, which makes these decisions incredibly difficult for us to make.
As fellow crafters and stallholders we know how disheartening it is to not get into a market you’ve applied for. We really do know, all three of us have been there a time or two!
So, why didn’t you get in?
Here are a few of the common reasons:
We are a Handmade market - Encraftment is an artisan and designer market. We generally don’t accept stalls with imported, second-hand or vintage products, or products that aren’t primarily made or designed by the person applying.
Lack of space – This is genuinely the most common reason we have to say no to people and it’s the thing that makes it so hard to curate the applications. We have a few different categories of products and some of them draw in a high number of applications. For instance, Art, Jewellery, Gourmet Foods and Home décor all had in the range of 25-35 applications each. There just isn’t enough space to have all of you in those categories.
Photos – we can only see what you put in your application, including your social feeds and website links (yes, we do look at those!) This means if your photos don’t show off your products well, we can’t really judge them well.
Similar to others – over the years we see trends coming and going. At the moment it seems that people are crocheting, making polymer clay earrings, and making candles. We would only accept a few stallholders who make these items so as not to flood the market with too many of the same type of products. This is not usually a reflection on your skill, it’s usually more about how many people sell things similar to yours.
Jack of all trades – this is the stall that has a little bit of everything eg. Your stall sells soaps, candles, jewellery, hair-ties and chutney. When you’re a crafter it is tempting to make heaps of different things, because you’re capable and can. That works in some arenas, but we like to keep a focus on craftsmanship and excellence and this can often mean fewer types of products done well, rather than lots.
New stallholders – we like to have a percentage of new stalls at every market to try to keep things fresh for shoppers and to give new stalls a chance to show their wares. In order to do this we need to say no to our regulars sometimes.
Seasonality - Sometimes it's just not the right season of the year for your products.
Our customers - We are here to provide a great market for our customers. Encraftment customers are people who love and appreciate handmade, and expect a good high-quality market. We have many years of seeing them and getting to know the regulars and our demographic. Sometimes we know your products possibly wouldn’t sell well. The last thing we want is for you to not have any sales! We know this changes with time and we aren’t always sure we make the right call on this, but we try to do our best for both our stallholders and our customers!
We promise we aren’t cavalier with the work you put in your applications, and we work hard on our end too to try to judge them as best we can with what we have to work with.
Best of luck with your market season,
Bronwyn, Helen and Lee
The Encraftment Team
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