shows. “But they go to Paris because
it’s core to their business, which is
fashion.”
If your jewelry is fashion-forward, it
may make sense to look into renting
out a suite during a high-profile event,
perhaps pooling resources with other
jewelers who fit that category.
NYC has its own fashion market
week. Jewelry that turns heads at
such events is edgy, not necessarily
glitzy. Kathleen Novak Tucci makes art
jewelry from recycled inner tubes and
espresso pods and does quite well
marketing her work during New York
Fashion Week. New York also hosts
Jewelry Week now and many buyers
are in town for that. This year it takes
place November 18-24.
GOING IT ALONE
Another jeweler, who asked not to
be named, began holding private
showings in Manhattan more than
20 years ago, after the crafts show
held by the American Craft Museum
closed. She was concerned she’d lose
access to the customer base she had
developed at that show. So the fol-
lowing year, she rented a luxury hotel
suite near The Armory where that
show had been held, inviting cus-
tomers individually. They came and
bought, enough to make that ritual
her only NYC show from then on.
She found she liked selling that
way. It was cozy and intimate and
she could invite who she wanted. She
found she preferred this to working a
booth at a show. A few years ago, she
stopped showing at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art Craft Show and began
showing privately there as well.
She finds the ritual has turned
drudgery into pleasure. “Selling at
shows used to drain me,” she says. “It
took days to recover.” In early Novem-
ber, she sends invitations and rents
a suite at a luxury hotel near Central
Park South. In early December, she
and her sister show up with food and
wine and decorate the suite in elegant
holiday spirit.
“It’s really fun. People wander in
and out all day,” she says. “We talk
and eat and try on jewelry. I’ve made
some good friends doing this over
the years.”INTIMATE AND SELECTIVE
You have to have a solid mailing list
of customers likely to be in the city
that weekend, but attracting a big
crowd is not the aim. “I don’t invite a
lot of people, probably 100. Of that,
maybe 50 come over two days,”
she says. “These are all people who
have bought from me or their friends
who’ve expressed interest. I have to
rein it in. I have no security. I have my
sister and she’s not very ferocious.”
It’s not about saving money, she
warns. She goes all out to attract the
well-heeled customers who can afford
her one-of-a-kind high-karat jewels,
which range from $500 to $25,000. A
five-star venue provides the ambience
as well as a gracious front desk staff
who will call up to announce guests,
so she can approve them individually.
She doesn’t have to set up and
break down every day, answer endless
questions from the curious, non-
buying public. Instead of the four-day
run of a typical show, she hosts herown two-day trunk-show holiday
party, spending the night in her suite.
Private showings can be a great
alternative if you get turned down for
a show, which happens to the best of
them. When Judith Kaufman, whose
jewelry is in the permanent collec-
tions of several art museums and the
private collection of Hillary Clinton,
failed to get into the Smithsonian
Craft Show this year, she decided to
try her own private showing. She was
afraid she didn’t have a strong enough
mailing list in the D.C. area but took
the gamble and rented a suite at the
luxurious Hay-Adams at Lafayette
Park in April.
“It wasn’t cheap but I’m telling
you, it was worth it,” she says. “I
didn’t have a lot of people, but two
were heavy hitters that have been
collecting my work forever.” One
just donated a couple pieces to the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Kaufman is sold on private showings
now. “I think it’s the way to go,” she
says. “I was thinking you need a lot of
people to come. They say if you send
150 invitations, maybe 30 people will
come. But you know what? It isn’t
about those numbers. It’s about the
people who are your patrons.”CATHLEEN MCCARTHY has covered
jewelry and business for Town & Country,
JCK, The Washington Post, and her own
site, TheJewelryLoupe.com.“I don’t invite a lot of people.... These are
all people who have bought from me or
their friends who’ve expressed interest. I
have to rein it in. I have no security. I have
my sister and she’s not very ferocious.”
“It wasn’t cheap but I’m telling you,
it was worth it.”
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 11
find more online
“How to Sell Your Jewelry at a
Private Hotel Showing”
http://www.interweave.com/category/
article/jewelry