SURTEX Wraps Three Days of Business
SURTEX®, North America’s premier event for the selling and licensing of original art and design, welcomed more than 200 exhibitors to launch new designs and meet with retailers and manufacturers. The three days of business staged this past week, May 15-17, 2016 at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
SURTEX attracted thousands of manufacturers and brands that license or buy art for finished products in industries such as, home goods, stationery, furniture, giftware, toys, housewares, home textiles, electronic accessories and more.
“This year’s SURTEX was filled with beautiful art presented by new and returning artists, emerging trends and tip-filled education sessions,” commented Liz Crawford, VP and Group Show Director. “Inspirational young artists made their mark on the textile industry, and took advantage of networking opportunities and much more. Each year SURTEX attracts designers from around the world and attendees from increasingly diverse categories resulting in an unparalleled business opportunity for all who participate.”
SURTEX welcomed prominent buyers and manufacturers including American Greetings, Anthropologie, Apache Mills, Inc., Atlas Wallcoverings, Baum Textiles, Berwick Offray, Crate and Barrel, Evergreen Enterprises, Hallmark Cards, Joann Fabric & Craft Stores, Mohawk, Pier 1 Imports, Random House Inc., Richloom Fabrics Group, Scholastic, Sur La Table, Tervis, TJX/Homegoods, Walmart, Wincraft, and York Wallcoverings.
“We keep coming back to SURTEX because it has such wonderful art. It’s new and fresh,” commented Charles Gallagher, PTS Fabric. “We’re looking out for new trends, something great and different.”
“I came to find amazing designers and talent from across the world that I can’t access or find just sitting at my desk,” said Lisa Hom, Parasol Co. “I’m really looking for bold and vibrant designers. I’m from the baby category, so I’m looking for designs that really speak to that sector.”
Exhibiting artists were featured in one of SURTEX’s four key sections: Art + Brand Licensing, Atelier, The Design District, and the ReSource HuB. Art + Brand Licensing represented the largest section of the event with exhibitors offering creative designs for license. Atelier featured designs exclusively for sale and represented a multitude of product categories. The Design District welcomed new artists, giving them the best opportunity to showcase their art to a targeted attendee audience looking to source new designs for use on finished products. SURTEX also featured the ReSource HuB, with technology and business resource providers.
New and returning exhibitors filling these distinct exhibit areas included: Working Girls Design, Inc., Belly Acres Farm Studios, Paper & Cloth Ltd, Art Cottage, Lemon Ribbon, Misha Zadeh Illustration & Design, Kate Tortland Arts, LLC, Esther Bley Designs, The Pattern Social, Rigel Stuhmiller, Jennifer Nelson Artists, Simply Shelly Designs, Nerida Hansen Print and Textiles, Miriam Bos.com, Claudia Long Studios, Anais Lee Creative, Finch & Foxglove, Cheriandesign.com, Pat Sutton Designs, Black Studio, Leeds College of Art, Bitte Stenstrom Design, YUNHO CHO, Studio Kelkka, Kaleidotex, Symposium Design, Arai Design, Pointcarre, Design Works International and many more.
“I come to meet new clients. I’m attend SURTEX to expand into new markets I’m not already in. I already have great clients like Design Design and other stationery brands, but I’d like to expand into kids wear, and home decor for kids, etc,” said Anne Bollman, Anne Was Here.
“I got into surface design and there didn’t really seem to be a simple way to connect with people,” commented Kate Tortland, Kate Tortland Designs. “Based on the research I was doing, it seemed like SURTEX was the way to do it.”
The designext Competition celebrated the accomplishments of four young artists that were selected as finalists out of the nearly 80 submissions received from schools across the globe. Design students were asked to create six original surface designs inspired by “Tribal in Art Deco”. Their designs were to be applied to the surface of products and presented as a collection from one of the following four categories: Wear, Work, Live and Play. A panel of distinguished judges selected Kera Allen, a second year design student studying Textile and Surface Pattern design at the University of Bolton, in the UK, as the 2016 designext winner.
The show also featured the SURTEX Conference which presented programming in three distinct educational tracks: Essentials; Advanced Strategies; and Business Enhancements, providing attendees with design intelligence, trend sessions and business topics to help them grow their businesses.
The opportunity for exhibitors to meet, network and establish relationships with retailer and manufacturer attendees, as well as media and others attending SURTEX, is often the start of long-term, partnerships that take an exhibitor’s work of art through to a finished product. Networking opportunities including the Industry Party and the exhibitor coffee hours and exhibitor hosted events on the show floor, help to build and potentially solidify important business relationships.
Artists interested in exhibiting at SURTEX 2017 should contact John Erich, SURTEX Sales Manager at 914.421.3286 or via email at john.erich@surtex.com. Registration for SURTEX May 21-23, 2017 at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center will open in the winter.
About SURTEX
SURTEX is the annual tradeshow for the surface design industry, bringing together owners and creators of surface design (artists/designers/studios/agents/brands/licensors) with manufacturers, retailers and marketers utilizing surface design for product development needs. Since 1986, SURTEX has been the single event and global resource offering the full scope of art selling and licensing under one roof. The 2016 edition, slated for May 15-17, will connect some 300 exhibitors featuring the work of over 1,200 artists and designers from around the world, with over 6,000 attendees. For information and registration, visit www.surtex.com.
SURTEX is owned and operated by Emerald Expositions, a leading operator of large business-to-business trade shows in the United States, producing more than 50 trade shows and over 100 face-to-face events in total, including conferences, summits and other events. Emerald Expositions connects more than 335,000 sellers and buyers each year and operates within the U.S. in 10 end markets (Gift, Home, General Merchandise and Manufacturing; Sports & Apparel; Design; Jewelry, Luxury & Antiques; E-Commerce; Creative Services; Licensing; Healthcare; Military; and Food).
