From “zipper” to Facebook shop:The workshops at h+h cologne 2020

Good products? Competent advice? This is what customers expect today. What brick-and-mortar retailers can offer the handicraft sector in addition in order to survive the competition – this will once again be the focus of the h+h cologne workshops in 2020. At the world’s leading trade fair for the sector, trade visitors will hear expert speakers talk about which tools, marketing measures and new trends can be used to retain their customer base and even gain new target groups.

Introducing new techniques and do-it-yourself projects to customers is one option. The courses where handicraft professionals share creative tips and new trends are therefore among the most frequently used workshop offerings at the trade fair. Stylist, florist and freelance editor Jutta Nowak shows how easy it is to create an eye-catching statement hoop for walls and doors with tubular yarn made of paper. The course by Nienke van der Zwan is about creative plate painting. Inspired by the ancient Aboriginal art of dot painting, once back home she experimented to find her own style and technique.

“Zippers” and kimonos

Tailor Inge Szoltysik-Sparrer is known to many from television, where together with Guido Maria Kretschmar she served as a jury member to find the most talented hobby sewer in Germany in the second season of “Geschickt eingefadelt”. At h+h cologne, she will demonstrate different ways of placing zippers perfectly on clothing. The exercises with different zippers take place in the workshop and are done on sample fabric pieces, which each participant can then take home with them. Or how about something more exotic? Then Mia Fuhrer’s workshop is exactly the right one for you. She demonstrates how to sew beautiful stylish kimonos. The workshop participants receive a pattern in their size and choice of fabric as well as tips and help on how to achieve effective and professional workmanship.

Learn to tap into the potential of social media

In addition to creative techniques, the h+h 2020 workshop programme also includes marketing topics. Social media expert Mikaela Ioannou looks at how retailers can use Facebook effectively for their business in 2020. Tips on the profitable use of a Facebook shop are also sure to be exciting. “Rock your Instagram Stories” is the name of the workshop with Susi Strickliesel.

This is an interactive beginner course. You are already busy posting photos on Instagram, but haven't dared to try Stories yet? In this workshop, Susi Strickliesel shares her very own tips so that participants can actively use this Instagram function for their company or blog. Trade visitors who are interested in this course should create their own Instagram profile beforehand if they have not done so already.

Perfectly staged products

If you have an Instagram presence, the question arises of how to fill it with attention-grabbing product photos. This is where Tanja Kosub comes in. The stylist & set designer for advertising photography gives a practical workshop on how product photos become customer magnets. Because: a photo attracts our attention within a tenth of a second. Or maybe not. In just a few steps and with the right props, Tanja Kosub shows how an optimal image composition can be achieved and effective product photos staged. And of course they do not only have to be used on Instagram.

Self-organisation: the secret of success

The first step to being successful is often the most difficult: self-organisation. At h+h cologne 2020, Kati Muller helps workshop participants successfully overcome this hurdle with a “Bullet Journal”. The 46-year-old founder of the label Malamu first gives an introduction to the topic and then it immediately become hands on. All participants receive a 5-point plan for more focus on their own success factors and start their journals in the workshop.