Indie Market Bay Area: 3-Day Run In Richmond

RICHMOND, CA — Carpenters were nailing boards, workers were toting panels and wholesaler Guy Orban, organizer of Indie Market Bay Area, was doing 19 things at once Thursday at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond to get ready for the show's opening day.

More than 100 Bay Area artisans - makers of unique, mostly hand-crafted giftware and home accessories - exhibit their wares at Indie Market Bay Area, a three-day event for independent buyers and sellers showcasing the work of small Bay Area businesses. The trade show runs Sunday through Tuesday and is in its third year.

"It's hard for these businesses to get noticed in a crowded marketplace," said Orban as he took a break Thursday. Also, he said, "we live in a paradox. The Bay Area thrives on creativity, but a lot of the creative minds in the Bay Area cannot afford to live here."

"So in our small initiative we are trying to help young kids make it to the wholesale level," hoping this will provide enough income for them to stay, Orban said.

That's how Orban and a group of artisans and retailers came up with the idea of Indie Market Bay Area in 2016. The first event took place at Orban's warehouse on Fourth Street in Berkeley that year, with 18 artisans,
the second in the same location in 2017 with 30 makers, and this year's event at the Craneway has a total of 108 exhibitors, the wholesaler said.

In-person events such as trade shows are the most effective tactic for getting a company's name out there, outranking webinars and web events, according to 75 percent of the businesses that responded to a 2016 Content Marketing Institute survey.

But not just any trade show will do for the Bay Area's independent retailers, according to Adriana Mello, a principal with Keena, a San Francisco-based sales agency. Mello was setting up a booth at the Craneway for the various artisans her agency represents.

"In the Bay Area, there is a lot of appetite from retailers to find unique new small businesses. They want to find the local artisans who are not on Amazon. This is a way to help them do it," Mello said.

The country's established trade shows in places like New York and Las Vegas, where it costs $15,000 to rent a booth, are too expensive for the local artists who participate in Indie Bay Area, Mello said. This is a way for them to connect with local retailers eager for innovative items, she said.

"I've gotten the majority of my accounts through Indy," said artisan Kathleen Heafey, who launched her company, Woven Grey, just 15 months ago. She said 20 of her more than 30 retail customers came from her
participation in Indie Bay Area.

Heafey designs and makes every one of the woven storage baskets she sells. They are made from cotton grown and manufactured by a company in the United States. She declined to share the name of the company.

"There is now a need for true craftsmanship that is trending and the Bay Area is leading that trend," Heafey said. "In home goods, in what you eat, the 'Buy Local' movement is influencing different areas of design and
craft."

— Bay City News