AFH at the New York International Gift Fair

In August, Artists For Humanity’s launched its story and its products nationally at the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF). AFH was greeted with open arms and a lot of enthusiasm as the new kids on the block came with products that were fresh, unique, eye catching, and as many Fair-goers mentioned, “different”. Great coverage in Paper Magazine helped to build the excitement (click here to read the article).

At NYIGF, there were vendors from all across North America, Canada and Europe for five days and non-stop flow of buyers browsing and buying. Perhaps spurred by the economy, the show had an excess of “knick-knacks” and “shtoopies” available for bulk purchase.

In the middle of all this visual and mental cacophony, AFH managed to stand out. With a booth that was designed and made by our young people, we physically had the tallest and most unique booth in our section. The products we displayed were our now famous ReVision tables (reclaimed magazines set in enviro-friendly resin) cast in a variety of shapes and sizes, a line of kaleidoscope inspired images of natural and urban environments dubbed "Kaleidoscopic”, three lines of T-shirts on organic cotton named “I am”, “Earth Warrior”, and "Nutritious”, and wall decals that are a series of beautifully hand drawn images of endangered animals from around the earth specifically aimed at educating young people and decorating their walls called “End-Danger.” The most successful in our line were the ReVision tables. They stopped passers-by in their tracks and draw them further into our booth to educate them about AFH. People were fascinated by the technique used to embed the magazines into the resin, the patterns that were created, the unique, individual quality that each table presented and the overall ingenuity of each design.

Manning the booth were AFH staff and some of our brightest young artists. The young artists shined because of their vibrant attitudes, knowledge of the products, overall enthusiasm for AFH and being at the Gift Fair.

We had numerous inquiries and some purchases. Interested buyers came from everywhere.. from box stores to boutiques to on line sites. Press and other vendors also came by. AFH large scale Kaleidoscopic images were selected to hang in the Press Suite and a ReVision "Signature" table was the buzz in the New Products section of the show.

Unique, genius, spunky and eager-to-learn, AFH made a resounding splash at the NYIGF. People are beginning to know more about the little non-profit from Boston with a big talent, a big heart and big goals, makes it happen. AFH is now ready to build on our success at NYIGF and market our products that speak to the brilliance of the young people and mentors at AFH. We are poised to become a leader that exemplifies honest business and hardcore dedication.