50 It’s showtime! Simon Burns CEO of ICHF Events talks to Craft Focus about their portfolio of leading hobby and lifestyle events Tell us a little bit about the company. ICHF Events was born out of a company called ‘Toy Exhibitions Southern’ so it’s original heritage dates back to 1972. Our founder Maurice Brown was a pioneer of modern-day events and started organising exhibitions in hotels as it was pre the likes of The NEC, Brimingham and the larger event spaces outside of London. The company has always been based in Highcliffe just outside of Christchurch on the South Coast, a fiveminute walk to the beach and 10 minutes from the New Forest so perfectly placed when you need some serenity in a fastpaced world. How has the company evolved? The company has evolved massively over the years, focussing in the early years with our two trade show CHSI Stitches and the Design & Technology Show which was aimed at school teachers. In the mid ’90s the stitching and hobby shows took off and evolved with a host of new products bringing the dawn of different craft projects within shows out of the traditional which were easier to complete and make a quicker fix for people who needed the escapism that crafts offer without the commitment of a timely project. ICHF then enjoyed a boom time in the industry taking our shows around the whole of the UK to satisfy this renewed interest in crafts and all the benefits they offer – and then the pandemic hit. Being an event organiser in the midst of a global pandemic wasn’t the best space to be in. We turned to online events just to keep the lights on. Since coming out of the pandemic, the shows started back small and slowly and we felt that we turned the clocks back 10 years. It’s only really in the last 18 months that we’ve seen a massive surge in attendance and those new crafters that started making during the pandemic have now found us through the new age of social media and craft influencers. What shows do you promote? We’ve stuck to our roots and kept to our specialist knowledge of events in the
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