[ProPanels]

Hello,

My company is working on producing a new type of table top display for convention artist and would like some feedback on the general idea and design. We have been in the art display business for over 20 years and have a large customer base in the art festival and fairs market. I went to AKON in Dallas a few months ago and saw that most of the artist were using grid wall type displays set up on banquet tables. I felt that we could develop a more professional looking display that would be lightweight, portable and quick to set-up and take down. I have attached a couple of pictures of the display set up on a standard banquet table. It consists of 4 panels that are about 4' tall and 20" wide and a 30" wide header. These panels can be set up in a number of different configurations. The material that we use is receptive to velcro so hanging your art is really simple.





So, any feedback on the display would be very helpful.

thanks

Mark

[Purplegodess]

How much do they weight? How well do they fold down for easy transport? Can they build up? Will they come as a standard set or will you select the types of panels? Will there be a long one to support banners for studio names? Whats their weight limit for holding things like?

[Tokoz]

Those look great for 2D artists, but blocking off all your table space like that doesn't really work for 3D artists. The wire racks give artists portable shelves for stacking and displaying 3D work at multiple heights. The other thing I see with those, is that they only have a very small window (like a bank teller!) for interacting with congoers. That works for a single artist, but would cause trouble for tables with multiple artists. Trying to picture my group (three 3D artists) in a setup like that... and it wouldn't really work. But they look like a great way to control space and display things for a single, 2D or button artist!

[ProPanels]

Purplegodess, on 19 September 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

How much do they weight? How well do they fold down for easy transport? Can they build up? Will they come as a standard set or will you select the types of panels? Will there be a long one to support banners for studio names? Whats their weight limit for holding things like?

Thanks for the questions....Each panel only weighs about 6-7lbs each, so the whole set up might be 22-25lbs. The panels are connected together with a velcro strap that acts like a hinge, so they would fold up without having to disassemble them. We are thinking a standard set for a 6ft table, but we could add another panel for an 8ft table. We could do away with the header panel and put a banner bar across the top to hang a banner from or we can make the overall panels taller also. I will take another pic with the banner to show you the difference. We have a couple of other hanging systems for heavier/framed artwork. You can check out our full product line at www.propanels.com. This set up would consist of some custom sized panels that you wont see on our website.

I think that the advantage that our panels offer is that the set up time would be just a few minutes and a much more professional look.

thanks

Mark

[ProPanels]

Tokoz, on 19 September 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

Those look great for 2D artists, but blocking off all your table space like that doesn't really work for 3D artists. The wire racks give artists portable shelves for stacking and displaying 3D work at multiple heights. The other thing I see with those, is that they only have a very small window (like a bank teller!) for interacting with congoers. That works for a single artist, but would cause trouble for tables with multiple artists. Trying to picture my group (three 3D artists) in a setup like that... and it wouldn't really work. But they look like a great way to control space and display things for a single, 2D or button artist!

That is correct, this would be a set up mostly for 2D artist...We do have a method of adding shelving if needed. Thanks for the feedback. We can do away with the header to remove the window and add panels for a larger (multi-table set-up)

thanks

[obakasan]

Make sure the display will break down small enough to *easily* fit into a car.

[ProPanels]

Here are a couple more pics

This is a taller version without the header piece. These are about 5' tall with a banner bar going across the top. We can make the banner bar taller if needed.




This is what the first display version looks like broken down. Super lightweight and would easily fit into a car.

[Karmada]

I am greatly interested in these! They looks so much lighter, and really nice.

I had a couple of other questions regarding these possible displays:

1.) Would they only come in one color? Or could they come in like a lighter grey color too?
The wire racks I currently use are white, and I find they work very well with the products I sell. Black tends to eat a lot of the products I sell.

2.) Hanging images: how would one hang images, whether it's just a lone poster or something say, in a frame? And what kind of additional shelves would you think they might have? (I have some 2D and some 3D products)

3.) While these are light, is there any way to attach them to an artist table? (any sort of clamps?). The wire frames I use are sturdy and heavy, but I find myself needing to hold them down with clamps to make sure. While they may be sturdy, I find that artists tables will always get bumped regardless of how well you try to prevent it.

4.) Are there any estimated prices yet? Or was it still in the super planning stages?

I apologize for my excitement - these look really awesome! I assume there will be a website once they're all finalized? (possibly? )

[ProPanels]

Karmada, on 23 September 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

I am greatly interested in these! They looks so much lighter, and really nice.

I had a couple of other questions regarding these possible displays:

1.) Would they only come in one color? Or could they come in like a lighter grey color too?
The wire racks I currently use are white, and I find they work very well with the products I sell. Black tends to eat a lot of the products I sell.
We have 6 colors to chose from 3-greys, black and 2 warmer tan colors.

2.) Hanging images: how would one hang images, whether it's just a lone poster or something say, in a frame? And what kind of additional shelves would you think they might have? (I have some 2D and some 3D products)
The easiest way to hang would be Velcro for the lightweight pieces. Drapery hooks work well for slightly heavier work and then we have a couple of other metal hangers for the heaviest pieces. http://www.propanels...anging-systems/

3.) While these are light, is there any way to attach them to an artist table? (any sort of clamps?). The wire frames I use are sturdy and heavy, but I find myself needing to hold them down with clamps to make sure. While they may be sturdy, I find that artists tables will always get bumped regardless of how well you try to prevent it.
Have not addressed this as of yet, but that is a great point.

4.) Are there any estimated prices yet? Or was it still in the super planning stages?
Not sure yet, depends on the final configuration. We are guessing at this point in the $250-$275 range.

I apologize for my excitement - these look really awesome! I assume there will be a website once they're all finalized? (possibly? )

[Dux-X-Bellorum]

Do you make them in a shorter size? Like 2 and half feet tall? If I wanted two panels that size how much would it cost?

Do you have a site showing what your colors look like?

[The Chainmail Guy]

What sort of backing are you using inside the fabric? If it's something like a cork board, you can use standard push pins to secure things to it in any shape you want. This way you don't have to worry about leaving unsightly messes when you go to move the velcro later (assuming it's the adhesive kind), and as long as you don't tear the fabric it will just heal itself when the pin is removed.

One other suggestion that would be really, really useful: pockets on the back side. One of the things you always run out of is table space for your keys/papers/tools/other miscellaneous goodies. Since you wouldn't use the back side to display, adding some storage space would give you that much more table to use and keep all the unsightly mess out of view of the public.

[Manifested Dreams]

I'm not a 2D artist, but I wanted to bring up the following point since I have friends who are.

Many artists travel via plane to conventions and pack their displays and stock in their luggage, that is part of why the grids are popular. They are small and light enough to easily fit into your standard rolling suitcase. That said, these don't look like they'd be small enough to work for that. Just something to consider.

[ProPanels]

The Chainmail Guy, on 02 October 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

What sort of backing are you using inside the fabric? If it's something like a cork board, you can use standard push pins to secure things to it in any shape you want. This way you don't have to worry about leaving unsightly messes when you go to move the velcro later (assuming it's the adhesive kind), and as long as you don't tear the fabric it will just heal itself when the pin is removed.

One other suggestion that would be really, really useful: pockets on the back side. One of the things you always run out of is table space for your keys/papers/tools/other miscellaneous goodies. Since you wouldn't use the back side to display, adding some storage space would give you that much more table to use and keep all the unsightly mess out of view of the public.

The inside of the panels is a foam material. You need something slightly longer than a push pin due to the thickness of the carpet covering. A T-pin would work.

What type of pockets would you want? like a wall pocket for filing?

thanks for the idea

[The Chainmail Guy]

ProPanels, on 11 October 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

The inside of the panels is a foam material. You need something slightly longer than a push pin due to the thickness of the carpet covering. A T-pin would work.

What type of pockets would you want? like a wall pocket for filing?

thanks for the idea

If it were specifically for 2D artistry, I'd think just filing pockets would be perfect so they could store their extra prints inside. It's difficult to say without knowing the dimension of the work ahead of time, but I think you could fit three on there vertically without problems. If I were to order one, I'd need at least one of them broken up into several smaller pockets to store my tools in with some separation (I use multiple sets of pliers, measuring tape, occasionally glasses to magnify, so on and so forth). Same basic structure as the filing pocket, just more of them done smaller within the same space. Ideally, I'd probably put a filing pocket on top, a vertically split pocket to put two in the middle, and one with a T split in the bottom to make three - one wide, two short - and copy the pattern on either side.

Manifested Dreams, on 08 October 2012 - 10:17 PM, said:

I'm not a 2D artist, but I wanted to bring up the following point since I have friends who are.

Many artists travel via plane to conventions and pack their displays and stock in their luggage, that is part of why the grids are popular. They are small and light enough to easily fit into your standard rolling suitcase. That said, these don't look like they'd be small enough to work for that. Just something to consider.

True enough. However, it does look to me that they fold up compact enough that you could fairly easily make their own traveling case. It'd be very simple to make a strap to hold them all together and sew a bag for them to fit in, and the whole bundle would fit easily onto a portable luggage cart like this (http://www.lulusoso....uggage_cart.jpg) to wheel it around behind you. Sure, it's another bag to worry about, but if you're doing enough work to warrant a display, then it's probably one of the things you can just write off as the cost of doing business.

This post has been edited by The Chainmail Guy: 12 October 2012 - 03:02 PM