People love art.
People love martinis.
Put the two together and you have a fabulous party.

“Martini” was one of the most successful theme events that I hosted in my Portland, Maine, gallery. Participating artists were asked to create any object that would suggest “martini”—a glass, pick, stirrer, etc. We ended up with some amazing pieces: a feathered martini glass with feather picks, a martini glass with a crown on the top that was made by a local crown maker, a silver makeup compact shaped like a martini glass, and a wire martini glass with green glass-marble olives, just to name a few.

“Martini” was a hit because the artists enjoyed making the pieces, the guests enjoyed viewing them, and the event drew people into my gallery to see not only the “Martini” pieces, but all of the work on display.

The goal of hosting an event is to generate interest and excitement in your jewelry. Don’t expect to always sell a lot of jewelry at the event itself; if you do, it’s a bonus. Instead, your main focus should be to spend time socializing with potential customers in a no-pressure atmosphere, getting to know them, and allowing them to get to know you and your work. The whole idea is making potential customers feel warm and fuzzy (martinis help), and this will inevitably lead to sales down the road. For example, a guest at my “Martini” event loved the idea of handmade martini glasses to celebrate a special occasion so much that she ordered a set of four glasses from one artist.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to have a retail space to host special events. You could host an event at a local hair salon or restaurant, at your home, or in your studio. Or you could get together with a group of your peers and rent space to host an event. Seven Portland studio jewelers I know got together and rented a reception room in a local inn to host a pre-holiday event focusing on handcrafted jewelry as gifts. They slapped up posters on every bare spot in Portland and sent out hundreds of postcards to market the event. It was a huge success. The jewelers promoted themselves to the local community, received a lot of free press, and made money. Each artist contributed about $300 to cover rental fees, marketing costs, and refreshments, and they all felt that they received a satisfying return on investment—so much so that they hosted the event two years in a row.

If you follow the simple event-planning steps outlined in this article, I’m sure your event will be just as successful as “Martini”. Cheers!