Today we’d like to introduce you to Jen Bailey.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jen. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
FAD Market is a roving Fashion, Art and Design pop-up market that travels seasonally to unique venues in New York City. We aim to create a thoughtfully curated platform for artists, designers and members of the public to meet, interact and together, discover the art and culture within our community.
The idea of FAD came about when I returned to New York from London in 2010 after attaining a Master’s Degree in Asian Art History at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). There were many empty storefronts in the Lower East Side neighborhood where I was living in at the time. I had a bunch of friends who were artists and I also had a side business designing jewelry, so I thought why not rent a storefront, gather my friends and other makers to put together a market? That idea turned into my very first pop-up market.
While planning the market, I received a job offer as a Cataloguer in the Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Department at Sotheby’s. A job I could not turn down as it was a career goal to work at an auction house. I decided to leave FAD and return to it one day. After five years, I decided that I still felt drawn to a more creative career so I left my full-time employment to launch FAD Market properly with the goal of making it a fixture in the New York market scene.
I revived FAD in 2016, I chose to situate the market in Brooklyn because it’s where I live now, in the Boerum Hill neighborhood. FAD hosts approximately fifteen pop-up markets a year, and we will be four years old on May 1.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Running a business has its ups and downs, and can sometimes be a bumpy ride. Our biggest struggle right now, along with millions of small business owners around the world is navigating and weathering through this period of uncertainty due to COVID-19. We are an event-based business and our business model is about bringing people together. It is how we make our income. Everything that we’ve experienced before this seems minuscule but can’t be ignored as they have shaped us into the market we are today.
When reviving the market in 2016, five years on from my very first pop-up, the market landscape in New York had changed drastically. There was a lot more competition in the business and landlords were no longer willing to rent to short-term pop-ups. Our first location in 2016 was beautiful but had no foot traffic. I remember crying after the first couple of markets. I had planned back to back Sundays for eight weeks. It felt like the longest two months. From this experience, I learned that visibility it extremely important for a market especially one that was the new kid on the block.
We’ve had electrical outages, flooding and clogged bathrooms, poor air-conditioning and heating, and sandwich boards going missing. The list continues but we rise above these challenges, do the best that we can to rectify the issues, which only makes our foundation stronger.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with FAD Market – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am proud that FAD Market will be four years old this year. I hope that we can continue growing for many years to come. We have represented hundreds of incredibly talented makers, artists, designers, and small businesses, as well as welcomed thousands of visitors. I hope that we can continue nurturing and expanding our community.
We are dedicated and passionate about our craft and work extremely hard to make sure that our community knows that we care and try our best to help promote and market their businesses, as well as be innovative and create an enjoyable experience for those that participate and attend.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We will be popping up at DeKalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn for the first time this year, and returning to Essex Market on the Lower East Side. We will continue to pop-up at The Invisible Dog Art Center, and City Point, in Boerum Hill, and Downtown Brooklyn, respectively. We’re always searching for new opportunities, venues and locations. However, one big take home after living through COVID-19 is FAD Market needs to focus on its virtual presence.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fadmarket.co
- Phone: 917 775 4636
- Email: info@fadmarket.co
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/fadmarket
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/fadmarket
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/fadmarket
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fad-market-brooklyn-2?osq=fad+market
Image Credit:
FAD Market
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