Live streamed events as well as virtual shows via Instagram are taking place with a number of dealer groups and fair organisers.
The CADA Flower Show
The Cotswold Art & Antiques Dealers’ Association (CADA) is returning after the success of its The CADA Flower Show on Instagram last year.
This year, running from May 17-22, florally inspired items from dealers’ stock will appear in different posts on the CADA’s Instagram page @cadaartandantiquesassociation.
The first CADA Flower Show took place last year at the same time that the Royal Horticultural Society held a virtual show, as the pandemic prevented The Chelsea Flower Show from taking place.
After 108 years, The Chelsea Flower Show is moving to an autumn date, however, members of The Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association decided to keep the May dates for this year’s The CADA Flower Show.
www.cotswolds-antiques-art.com
Decorative Living Fair
The organisers of the annual Decorative Living Fair which is usually held in Eridge Park in Kent in mid-May are instead running an Insta event @decorativelivingfair today.
As well as posting on Instagram, a gallery of the 50 exhibitors will show on the website decorativelivingfair.co.uk which will remain open for a week.
Caroline Zoob of Decorative Living Fair, said: “Even with real fairs up and running, we believe that Insta fairs are here to stay. They create a much wider market for dealers, selling overseas and to parts of the UK where such fairs are non-existent or poor.
“They enable dealers to sell without having to have masses of stock, and so just keep things ticking over. The shipping is very efficient, people have become accustomed to buying online, and so on.
“We have discovered some interesting new dealers as a result, some of whom would not be able to do the real fairs, either because of geography, or because they are just too expensive or too much for them physically.”