Laura Bullard Scott, left, and Patti Bullard of Wubbers Pliers, center, helping a customer at a previous Bead&Button Show. Last week, show owner Kalmbach Media announced that Bead&Button will close permanently.
The Bead&Button Show, the largest consumer show for jewelry-makers, is closing permanently Kalmbach Media, the show’s owner, announced last week. The final issue of Bead&Button Magazine will be published in October. Although the beading community had witnessed the show’s attendance dwindle over the last few years and the noticed the magazine getting thinner, the news, coming amidst the myriad of other pandemic-related cancellations, felt like a real letdown for many.
Bead&Button was held each June at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee and 2020 was to be the show’s 20th anniversary. Highlights of the show included more than 600 classes taught by expert jewelry instructors from all over the world, exhibits, competitions, and a vendor marketplace. Although there are other bead shows in the US, Bead&Button was the largest and the premier show in its category.
The history
The Bead&Button brand was founded in 1993 by Coterie Press as a magazine and was bought by special interest media company Kalmbach Media in 1996. Four years later they launched the show and then continued to expand the brand, adding a book publishing house, two websites (FacetJewelry.com which offered free jewelry-making tutorials, and JewelryandBeadingStore.com which sold books, magazines, tools, and supplies), a short-lived subscription box called Facet Jewelry Box, and a series of jewelry-making retreats called Creative Connections. The websites and retreats, and eventually the publishing house, will all be shut down as part of this closure.
An economic decision
The show was the profit driver for the brand. This year’s cancellation due to COVID accelerated Kalmbach’s decision about Bead&Button’s future.
“It was really an economic decision for us. We’re evaluating our brand portfolio constantly and it was just not profitable,” said CEO Dan Hickey. “We loved the event and our customers loved it. We’re disappointed.”
Hickey says the company saw the audience for beading shrink over the last few years. “The beading category was a bright spot for us, but over the years we saw a declining audience at the show. We were losing people faster than we could bring them in.”
“When we look at the younger generation, we are asking ourselves if they have hobbies. I joke that their hobby is their phones. Really, though, that’s the fundamental problem with hobbies like beading that have served the baby boomers so well.” He noted that many of the larger retailers had reduced their presence at the show.
The magazine was also struggling to get advertisers. According to Hickey, the circulation was approximately 20,000. “Even the bigger publishers, like Meredith, are reevaluating right now,” he said. “That’s the challenge of being in the magazine industry right now.”
Dan Hickey has been CEO of Kalmbach Media since the fall of 2017.
Longtime exhibitors are definitely disappointed. Well-known beading designer and teacher Jill Wiseman described the news of the show’s closure as an emotional blow for her. “I literally have Bead&Button, both the magazine and the show, to thank for my career,” she said, recalling when, years ago, she sent a few of her designs to the magazine while working part-time at a local bead store. When they were accepted she got her first national exposure.
Jill Wiseman in her booth at a past Bead&Button show.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Thornton.
It happened again a year later when she was accepted as an instructor at the show which she described as “like getting called up to the major leagues from the minors.” Soon she was teaching 13 classes at the show and making half her annual revenue there. She credits the exposure with securing her a book contract and appearances on the PBS show Beads, Baubles & Jewels.
In addition to the business contacts she’s made, Wiseman said the show was also just fun. “We referred to it as summer camp. My entire year revolved around the show in Milwaukee each June.”
She said she cried when she received the email announcement of the show’s closure. “I’m crushed knowing I may never get the chance to see those people in person again.”
Andrew Thornton, co-owner of Allegory Gallery, a bead store in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, has been attending Bead&Button for 16 years, and his family has been a vendor at the show since it began (his sister, Cynthia Thornton, owns pewter bead company Green Girl Studios based in Asheville, North Carolina). Like Wiseman, he looked forward to the show as a place to connect with friends and business contacts. “It was one of the only places our tribe gathered,” he said. “We’d hang out and do things in Milwaukee, too.” The show often coincided with the city’s Pride celebration and he recalled one year when he and a group of friends spotted Cher.
The writing was on the wall
Still, Thornton said he could see the show declining for years. “It used to have energy and enthusiasm. But then the aisles were spaced wider and wider apart. The vendor fees started going up.” He also noted that the show got longer and longer, to the point that it was a two-week affair. “There would be a preview event to the preview event,” he said, and the number of classes ballooned as well. “People would come and go before the marketplace even opened.” Then a glass show was held concurrently forcing many glass bead vendors to choose to attend one show or the other. “It just got super quiet,” Thornton said.
Wiseman, too, said she could see things changing.
“The show had been visibly declining for years. The magazine was getting slimmer with far fewer ads. That business model is obviously suffering in the era of everything being demanded online.”
Single stitch bead crochet was offered as a class taught by Candice Sexton.
Japanese diamond chain mail-bracelets were offered as a class taught by Vanessa Walilko.
Jardin Majorelle bracelets were offered as a class taught by Erika Sandor.
A cyclical market
As to whether the market for beading is truly shrinking, Thornton thinks that may be true. “Most crafts go through seven-year cycles, with highs and lows, and beading is more challenging right now.” He noted that many brick-and-mortar shops around the country have closed. Those shops served to recruit new customers to the craft and online shops would then capitalize on that energy. “Now, those recruitment centers are no longer in business.”
“Bead&Button was the pinnacle of the bead industry for 25 years,” said Wiseman. “I’m grieving for the loss.” Thornton is hopeful that something new will rise up from the ashes. “In some ways, it was time for this to happen,” he said. “Whatever comes next will be more grassroots and more in touch with the people and their needs.”
Andrew’s sister, Cynthia Thornton, owner of Green Girl Studios, with Lorelei Hill Eurto out together in Milwaukee during Bead&Button.
Abby Glassenberg
contributor
Abby co-founded Craft Industry Alliance and now serves as its president. She’s a sewing pattern designer, teacher, and journalist. She’s dedicated to creating an outstanding trade association for the crafts industry. Abby lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
I am so sad this was on my bucket list i was going in 2020 then the virus hit so I put it on my 2021 list now I will never get the chance to enjoy this. No where in the world is there a bead show of this magnitude. Really really sad. Also what’s sad is how they let there supporters like me renew for two more years knowing they were not going to publish and offering no refunds . Disappointed been a subscriber for many years
Annette, send an email to Customer Service at Kalmbach and request a refund. I did so and received a reply that said, once the labels etc are done for the October 2020 issue of the Bead and Button magazine, they will issue refunds when requested. Do it now !!!
I did the same as you, and got that same response. I’m a charter subscriber and have every issue, and had just renewed my subscription again in May.
Huge sad
Has anyone had success in getting a hold of Kalmbach Media regarding refunds? All of their links for Bead & Button Magazine give the “Sorry, your request cannot be processed” message. It’s almost like they hope people will just give up and deal with the Discovery subscription. I just renewed and my subscription lasts until April 2023 and I have absolutely no interest in the Discovery magazine. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I just emailed customer service – CustomerService@beadandbutton.info
And they cancelled my subscription for me! Although now I’ll have to try and purchase the October issue separately.
I guess I should be grateful my subscription was ending in August. I went to four shows back in the early 2000’s and they were fun fun fun. These days if I want patterns, I go to Etsy. Its sad that this part of my ‘hobby life’ is now totally gone gone gone. RIP B&B. You were fun.
Yes its very sad. I was about to do the same. My check was just returned and I am very sad….
Call a request a refund. I did. They refunded with no problem. I told them I wasn’t interested in the other magazine offered and I wanted a refund. Good luck.
the same with my renewed subscription – they said in the last issue i will get a magazine called Science? for the remaining year – i am a beader with german mothertongue and NOT interested in such magazine
Annette I agree about continuing to send subscription renewals knowing that the magazine was ending. I had a 2 year renewal ready to be mailed when I received the final issue. I was a subscriber for over 20 years.
I too had attending this show on my bucket list. As a struggling starting designer (business wise) I couldn’t afford the trip but it was a dream of mine to one day make it. I planned on it being a vacation for me. I didn’t even know bead & button was ending ( the magazine) until this past week! I no longer subscribed due to life events but always grabbed the current issue at a local store when I could. Heartbreaking. So much is being lost recently. Now even Swarovski may be gone as well. Don’t know how much more I can handle losing.
Nice article that touches on several valid points. As a brick and mortar bead store; I have changed and morphed as my customers have over the years. I am grateful to be beginning my 29th year in the retail bead biz. I am also excited that in my job as a bead store owner ( I actually work full time in my shop ); I have encouraged people of all ages to become involved in making things from beads to glass to yarn and fabric.
It is my hope that this type of event or show will come again albeit in a likely smaller event. It is the gathering of like minded crafters and the energy they share, that I will miss most of all.
This really disappointing. This was my first true magazine that taught me about all of the beautiful things I could do with beads, needles and thread. After attending the show in Pennsylvania, this was on my list for 2021. I thought I would be ready for a Master class. So sorry to see it go!
Me too! I was really saddened to receive the email saying that they’re stopping the magazine! I have every issue since no.23 and brought them with me to the UK when I moved here from Australia.
Two of my bucket list items was to appear in the magazine with a project and to attend the world’s largest bead show! I have got a refund for my subscription after contacting customer service about it, but now will have to buy the last issue separately!!
so did you answer to the mail you got? I also want refund because i am not interested in a science magazine
I went on-line to find a design expert that appeared in bead & Button a decade and a half ago ( more or less ), she would look at a submitted project from a costumer and suggest changes to make it work better. I really want to buy her written books / pamphlets, but then I saw this article about the closure of Bead and Button. I got the magazine for 22 years and wish I still had them. I also went to many of the bead shows and had so much fun.
Does anyone know who the reigning color and design expert was in Bead & Button around 15 or so years ago? Anyway, I’ll miss the excitement my daughters and I felt when we’d get a new copy pf Bead & Button and run to get our beading supplies!
Why do we have to lose these little things that are so important in our lives.
I have been going to the show since year 1. i always enjoyed connecting with friends and meeting new people. i was the highlight of my summer craft show season. i will miss the show and magazine greatly. i published my 1st piece in bnb brilliant crystal jewelry 2 issue and stll get inquiries about it.
It broke my heart when I read the news about Bead&Button. It was the first beading magazine I’ve had, and 2019 was the first time I was teaching there. In fact, it was the reason I visited the USA from overseas. I have never been there except of that special time at the show. Even if I was a newcomer, I felt at home – ‘my kind of crazy’ people gathering, getting to know each other, learning, laughing together.
For 2020, I had several classes lined up, including Jardeen Majorelle shown in the article, and together with my sister, we were preparing to have our booth at the marketplace. My workshops were filling up nicely, and my heart jumped when I saw, that one of them was fully booked. I was excited to meet my students: a proud, happy beader leaving the class with a new jewel is what motivates me to become a better designer and a better teacher.
This is a big loss to the whole beading world. I still can’t believe it’s happening…
Erika, I will miss your designs and your booth. In 2019, I purchased several of your designs. Please let me know how to find your designs in the future. We will all miss the fantastic annual crazy beading experience. Where we all immersed ourselves in everything beading. Wishing you and your sister all the best in the future. Marlene Ackerman, FL, USA – m.rackerman2@gmail.com
Dear Marlene!
Thank you again for stopping by at my table last year… It was a special time, and I can’t believe it won’t be happening again.
You can find my designs at https://www.thestorytellingjeweller.com/.
Let me know if I can be of any more help.
Have a nice day and happy beading,
Erika
My daughter and I looked forward to these shows each year. The loss is heart breaking. She also enjoyed the magazine. Fire Mountain had used some of her pieces in their ad in Bead & Button.
Another great article Abby! I myself have never been a beader, meaning I don’t make jewelry or beaded clothing, but I do use beads in many of my crafts. With everything going on in the world right now, things are changing rapidly and I’m grateful to this site for keeping us informed. Crafters of all types are Extremely resourceful and I have no doubt that creative people will continue to rise to the occasion and something new will rise from the ashes. I mourn so many of our loses, but I am looking to the future with great hope and expectation. My 19 year old daughter never had an interest in sewing or needlework and it was a dream I had to let go of. With the shutdown she lost school, her job, and being able to hang out with friends. Lo and behold, suddenly she’s up in my sewing room modifying thrifted garments, learning how to embroider, sewing scraps together to make “new” fabric, and pulling patterns out of my collection to try. I’m absolutely amazed at her transformation and creativity! Miracles do happen!! I can hardly wait to see and hear about all the ways that everyone in the crafting community is reinventing themselves!!!
Love to hear about young ladies like your daughter discovering their own creativity!! THAT gives me hope!
I am hoping they do PDF versions of the magazine people will buy them
PDFs would have been an awesome idea. I never understood why they weren’t available when all the BnB Extra issues are on Facet as pdfs
I will treasure my memories of attending the show numerous and being a teacher (2016). B&B was always a great meeting place for beadweavers from all over the world. I’m sad to see the permanence of this closure, but I’m hopeful that all who enjoy the benefits of this industry will pass on their skills & knowledge to another generation of crafts-people. Even if we teach one person one stitch, it will open up a whole new world for them.
wonder what they are going to do about people that have monthly subscriptions
you get discover magazine
I wrote them and suggested that they offer 2 digital downloads for each magazine not received. They offered me some train magazine. Obviously not listening/
I thought I would get to go once in my life. This is so sad.
I lived in Milwaukee and was there when this event started. Though these hands do many things from the artisan world bead weaving became my passion. It is heart breaking to watch this world of makers crumble during a time when we need them so desperately. I fault we baby boomers to some extent. Every one of the last five years I would attend and I too would note fewer and fewer vendors and older and older participants. Where did we go wrong that so few of the next generation became as captivated as us. Is there really just so little time in the modern woman’s life for participation in artistry? It is impacting all the crafts. I have a daughter who has been employed in the industry as a whole and has been laid-off twice in the past three years. Perhaps we need to take young women by the hand and insist they find time to create. They will find themselves better workers, better mothers and better partners in the long run. This sadness runs so deep as I fear for the livelihoods of all those magical artists out there. Remember them and find them. For many this has to be devastating.
Having been a resident of Milwaukee, I was fortunate to have attended the Bead & Button Show at least 12+ years, often for 2 of the 3 shopping days. 2019 I was able to attend, what will now be the last show. The attendance has been down along with the vendors, but I always looked for my favorite vendors and for new vendors at the show. Since moving to Florida, the Show still brought me up to Wisconsin to attend 9 of the past 12 year’s shows. Kalmbach Media employees involved with the the Bead & Button Magazine and the Show were wonderful people and hard workers as they provided a premier magazine for the beading industry. The Magazine, Show and all of you will be sorely missed. This information was just discovered by me today – it will take awhile for me to try to get past my grief over these losses along with all your subscribers and fans over your rich history.
Well said!!!
I hope someone organizes a similar event. Maybe to also include a wider range of jewelry making supplies as well as fiber and other crafts. If there is such an event in the U.S., I’d like to know about it. I would be willing to travel for it as I looked forward to Bead & Button for a main source of a variety of supplies.
Try the International Gem & Jewelry Show. I have gone to many shows in Chicago (Rosemont Convention Center). The show is huge. When we would go for 1 day, we would always say the next time we would get a hotel room and come a 2nd day. It is that big. In addition to already made jewelry for sale, they also have many selling jewelry-making components. You can get an idea of the scope by going to their Facebook page, or looking them up online for more info (although their FB page has the latest info). When I went, they had 2 sections. One for the random person who wanted to attend, and another section for wholesale use, but you needed to be able to register your business (license #). Some vendors had booths on both sides. I HIGHLY recommend it.
They never supported breast cancer survivors. So I dropped out years ago. Loved the show when it was in Portland but Wiscosin was too far away for me.
I just got a magazine called Discover that I have no interest in. Bead and Button is not printing any more?!?!??! Are you going to have it online? I have been a subscriber since like 2001 and will sorely miss these magazines!! Are you still going to have the Bead and Button show in Milwaukee? God I hope so. At least it will be some small enjoyment even if I can’t get the magazine every other month. I guess my late mothers yearly Christmas gift has come to an end.
I hate to see you go,
Mary
I just copied and pasted my email from the Interweave site and didn’t see that we were losing the B&B show also. These are sad times indeed!!
Mary 🙁
I JUST LITERALLY FOUND OUT ABOUT Bead&Button ending. I always look forward to getting your magazines in the mail. I have subscribed for YEARS! My heart is broken and crushed. Like many other loyal bead fans out there, I dreamed of one day attending a Bead&Button Show on my Bucket List. Now finding out I will never be able to fulfill that dream is really sad. First BeadStyle goes, now Bead&Button is gone.
I don’t know how to cope with this loss. I just hope and pray that the back issues will be around for a little while. I’m so shocked and sad.
And NOW I know why I have received a few copies of DISCOVERY magazine. Bead & Button magazine is gone for good.
Any suggestions on another beading magazine? I am on the email list for Deb Roberti’s AroundTheBeadingTable.com. Her patterns are great and I have purchased several of them. Guess I need to stay connected to her site. Any other ideas for patterns??
I just discovered this and this news breaks my heart!!! I thought missing the chance to go to the show in 2020 because of the pandemic was bad enough, but now this!!! I have been looking forward to going to the Bead and Button show every June for I think, 20 years now and it is one of my two favorite “3-D” places to get supplies for the year. Now I have no idea where I’m going to go to see, in person, the great variety of items from around the world, that I have always looked forward to purchasing! This is important to me because online purchasing is just NOT the same! A picture of a bit of jewelry supply whether it be beads or tools etc., can not replace the three dimensional, tactility and view-ability of an item! I’ve ordered items online from vendors and I have found that, just because they show a picture of an item, doesn’t mean that’s going to be exactly what you get!. It’s basically purchasing something blind! You could get something nice but I’ve noticed, especially with bunches of beads, or cabochons or stones of any variety, the random mix may be more bad than good, that is IF you get your package at all. Too many of us have been victim to missing (most often Porch Pirates), damaged or receiving incorrect items that have to be returned (that’s an avoidable hassle when you purchase in person) & in my case – this has put a SERIOUS chill on my desire to order supplies online!!! That’s one of the reasons I really love the Bead show, you could see, ask questions about, examine and choose EXACTLY what you were going to buy!
I’ve also gotten to know many of the vendors over the years and will really miss seeing them & having the chance to purchase something from them, especially those out of State or even the US, that have become the only place to get some of my favorite supplies. And I’m not sure where you’re getting your information about the numbers of attendees, but EVERY year that I have gone (and I’ve been to every B&B Show for at least 20 years) the place has always been packed! Now that it appears the vaccines have this pandemic on the run, I think you’ll see a bounce-back in attendee numbers, that will beat all previous records & continue to do so because of those of us who have found the deep dissatisfaction of buying supplies online!
PLEASE reconsider this decision because if you reestablish the Bead and Button show in some form (especially in the Milwaukee area as it has been for so long because I cannot travel), I can assure you, every year, like thousands & thousands of others – I WIIL BE THERE!!!
WHAT??!! Am I just now finding out that no beading magazines that I have subscribed for few years IS no longer available for new subscriptions. I have for many years enjoyed learning new things to try out. Even using the beads to incorporate with the polymer clay. When they post a shared patterns for all to try the patterns themselves, even for beginners trying out the next level for a challenger to try it out themselves to get ahead as well. And now many of us who have just gotten themselves into loving doing beading over the times and have enjoyed waiting for their monthly magazines to read and to enjoy or to stare at the finished picture of the beadworks.
I am so sadden to hear that I would no longer be able to resubscribe any of those beading magazines anymore!! Anyone know any other good magazine’s publishers publishing on beadings?
News like this is disheartening, but there is still the option to visit artisans’ websites to purchase jewelry if you’re passionate about it. Supporting their craft not only preserves their artistry but also adds a special touch to your collection.
This may sound like it’s coming out of left field, but I am trying to locate a back issue of Bead and Button magazine that features a Kumihimo necklace by Jasmine Tea Designs called Autumn Swirl. Any thoughts on how I can locate this particular issue? Unfortunately, I do not know the month and year of its publication.