Spring Fair: meshing modern art, retail & the craft of display

<WRITER> Emily Stephens
<PHOTOGRAPHY> Emily Stephens

As one of the UK’s largest gatherings of retailers and makers — an exhibition space for thousands of brands awaiting discovery, and for buyers to determine their seasonal curations — Spring Fair 2026 opened its doors, and we caught a train to the NEC for a day of browsing, wandering and quiet study of the subtle architecture of display.

But it wasn’t quite subtle. Each stall’s distinct identity — a mix of homewares, gifts, books, fashion and fresh concepts — called in texture, lighting, colour and layout. They spoke their first sentences visually, before we even started a conversation.

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BLACK GINGER: PAINT, SKIES & PURPOSE

A foldable sun hat is practical. For Black Ginger, it’s an accessory of colour, nature, and confidence. Scarves lined the wall in rainbow knots, pastel hats dotted above, and a surfboard-shaped sign wrapped in taupe kaftan fabric smeared with neon paint splashes — the brand name discreetly printed in black.

Reflective silver of an attached foil board fanned scarves and hats like light through stained glass, and a nearby sign read: FOLDABLE. ADJUSTABLE. COLOURFUL.

Eco-conscious design can perform as boldly as any work of art. UK-based and family-run, Black Ginger’s rollable sun hats are crafted from recyclable paper straw. They’re durable, biodegradable, and made by a team proud of their artistry and our planet.

THE GALLERY EFFECT

There's an obvious question you can ask yourself as both human and curator: how do you feel when you’re in a room?

Rather than a one-way, stall-to-stall route, the expanse and entangled aisles of the NEC let our senses determine direction. We got lost. Walked in accidental circles. Adjusted to see products from new angles. Moved with a purpose of wonder.

The structure of Spring Fair shifted my mindset from the typical, habitual traverse of retail space — fussy shopping, list ticking, and selective focus — to pause, inhale, absorb, reflect. It’s the same mental reset that happens upon entering an art gallery.

Sculptor and large-scale installation artist Olafur Eliasson says: ‘the role of the viewer is not to observe, but to participate in the unfolding of the work.’ If there is no such passing ‘viewer’ — if, in an exhibition, we become an extension of our surroundings — what does our immersion in a similar space say about how we engage, select and imagine?

How we participate in places of art, creation and craft has consistently more to say about retail today — our shift from transaction to performance. Visitors and shoppers are co-creators. Design and experience emerge not exclusively from the organiser, but through our eyes, our minds, our curiosity. Maybe the right headspace for retail isn’t one of being spoken to — but, as in the presence of art — speaking with.

Maybe the right headspace for retail isn’t one of being spoken to — but, as in the presence of art — speaking with. .

ÒIR SOAP: SUSTAINABLE, CURATED, SPOTTY

Soap is a personal product. And among the many wellness and beauty brands with a space at the Fair, Òir were doing things differently. Less like toiletries, more like sustainable, delicate sculptures.

Plastic packaging at the door, each soap bar stood in its own territory, exposed next to its own unique (and recycled) cardboard box. Minimalist and equally bold, black and pink spots sat within a cream canvas — signalling all quality, all style, no junk.

Òir’s display was a tiny, monochromatic exhibition that wasn’t loud, but intentional. Shape was the craft here, with softened corners and in-set circles asking for touch, smell, and inspection. I thought of clay. The art of pottery in miniature, hand-sized form, where curve meets surface and imperfection becomes essential.

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INDIVIDUALIITY

Beyond the gallery feel brought by Spring Fair, it was a search for distinction.

Awash with small and boutique makers, some looking to land supply contracts with major retailers and become the next Emma Bridgewater, others looking to secure contracts with independent shops — the event is a space of ambition as much as exhibition. Both big and small aren’t necessarily chasing scale — they’re chasing difference.

For smaller retailers, that means survival: offering unique finds in-store that set them apart from larger chains, but for bigger retailers, the dynamic is different. Often dealing with ubiquitous, mass-produced products, they look to sprinkle their ranges with carefully selected lines that introduce individuality — creating the impression of discovery.

This is a balancing act — held by influence, personality and smaller makers’ creations. But individuality doesn’t just announce itself; it has to be displayed. Given space. Interacted with. It then has to be cherished.

Retail borrows from exhibition. Products are staged, framed, swept into the eyeline with colour and craft. They become artworks we do more than respond to — but we relate to, find identity within, and admire.

STRIPEY CATS: GOOGLY EYES & STORYTELLING

For a card to be considered a small, one-off purchase is just unfair. This was my thought stumbling across Stripey Cats’ bright yellow, busy stall of tiny characters, each card lined up like a miniature gallery across the wall.

Googly-eyed foxes, curious cats and perplexed, hanging bats — every design carried its own fun, but delicate personality. Cards spilled through the space in a collection of colour and expression. There must have been a hundred creatures, each asking for their own little backstory.

Handmade in the UK by Jonathan, who admits he’s ‘thinking of opening a zoo’, the arrangement gave life to — and saturated — what could have been a simple, bland space at Spring Fair. Design, done with care, humour and detail, can turn an everyday product into the playful, the whimsical, the collectible.

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<01> Accessories brand, Black Ginger
<02> Òir Soap gallery style exhibition stand
<03> Scottish home of sustainable luxury handmade soaps, Òir Soap, and its spotty soaps
<04> Stripey Cats exhibition stand at Spring Fair 2026
<05> Stripey Cats greetings cards range

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