emiko-o reware

Continuing emiko's Top 5 Tips for Getting Your Business Out There!

TIP 3: Take Note & Be Accessible

LEGO party, photo by Becca Bond, styled by Anders Ruff

Pay attention to how people respond to your work, feedback from your customer base, and who your customers are/what your niche market is. For instance,  I discovered early on that my largest client base were moms, not young women. Be open to feedback about your designs and don’t be afraid to ask what they would be inclined to purchase (“If I designed this as a pendant would you be interested in it?”)

Be Accessible: means have a web presence. As I’ve said in my lecture, “If you aren’t online, you don’t exist”. Sounds harsh, yes, but we live in a global marketplace, largely due to the accessibility that online markets afford. Invest in the time to set up a website or blog, an online store either through your website, Etsy, Supermarket, Custommade, or any of the other online retailers out there.

Also get involved in social media: have a business page on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and connect with other crafts people on crafthaus.ning.

Have as many of your professional images posted online, along with your artist statement and image description. Flickr is great for setting up collections of your work. Add descriptions and make sure to do those tags!

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 months since I last posted, but here we are again, gearing up for another Accessorize with Toys crafting marathon! This weekend we’ll be at Renegade Craft Fair at the SF Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (the large building way out back by the water), 11am -7pm. This year the organizers have really upped the ante by making this much more than a crafting bazaar selling of wares. Upstairs in the Mezzanine will be a Craft Hub, which is where we’ll be, along with other hands-on workshops by SCRAP and Etsy! Food, drink, and even live music! Best of all, it’s FREE entry (’cause they know you’ll for sure spend some greenbacks once you’re in).

We’ll be doing decorative badges, keychains, and bracelets the entire weekend, so stop by and make something with us. As always, we encourage people to bring favorite parts and bits from home to make their creations extra personal. Like last year, we are asking for a $5 donation per project to cover our material and booth costs. However, if you bring us a DONATION of small Toy or Game PARTS, you get to make a FREE PROJECT.

Take a minute to check out the Renegade Craft Fair site (we’re the first on the list of artists/vendors!) to plan your course of crafting action for the weekend.
Stay posted on our latest news and upcoming events and photos on our Facebook page. The map to the fair is linked there. Become a fan right now!

Creating a New Craft Culture SAT 9:45 AM
Round Table Discussion: “Riding the Long Tail”: Marketing Craft on the Internet
Namita Gupta Wiggers, moderator; Maria Thomas, Lisa Bayne, Amy Shaw, panelists

The moment was ripe for this discussion–Namita Gupta Wiggers (Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR) had brought together the CEO of Etsy–Maria Thomas, CEO of Artful.home (owned by Guild.com)–Lisa Bayne, and owner of the former Greenjeans store and webstore–Amy Shaw. Now we could get to down to the nitty gritty and hear from figureheads of 2 factions of craft. Unfortunately since Amy’s business was defunct, the questions and interest was more or less focused on the 2 CEOs. Honestly, it was a shame that this panel wasn’t given more time. None of the panels had been slotted enough time; one hour doesn’t cut it when there are 3+ voices to be heard plus audience interaction.

What the heck is a “Long Tail”, you ask? It really is a business term, referring to the curve of goods sold in a company. In the big retailers, 80% of their sales are from only 20% of goods in the store, which represents the high end of the curve. The goods that sell in lower quantities, at the low end of the curve is referred to as the “long tail”. Brick and mortar stores don’t have enough room to stock all of the long tail products, unlike websites. Research has shown that for online stores, the the total sales of these long tail products far exceeds the sales from the traditional top 20% of the curve. And what products are at this long tail end: Craft.

Maria Thomas

A few months ago I had attended an Esty Meet-up in SF, where Maria and heads of her staff invited local Etsy sellers to gather for a Q&A session. The turnout was impressive and the crowd was eager and hungry for the inside scoop. It felt like a family reunion of sorts. I was super impressed by the level of transparency in the company and especially how attentive Maria was to each question and person.

Here there wasn’t time for a proper Q&A, and now I see just how crucial it is for these craft factions to understand each other better and be properly introduced under neutral circumstances. (INSIDER TIP: the Metal Arts Guild San Francisco will be holding a one-day symposium in fall 2011 on the theme “Community”, and this may just be the springboard for such a meeting of the minds, especially since I’m in on the planning.)

I didn’t learn anything new and ground-breaking with what turned out to be a general explanation of how each company runs, but this is a hot topic right now, and it will be interesting to see how selling craft on the web evolves over the next few years.

Below are quotes by the panelists that sum up the hour:
Maria: “Esty never set out to be an expert filter [on the issue of Quality] but to help people make a living…connecting makers and buyers.”
Lisa: “DIY has been a lightening rod in the media. It’s not the only thing in craft happening today.”
Amy echoes Rob’s advice: “We all need to work together, collectively as we’re all working towards the same goals.”

Word loudly heard from the audience:”AMEN.”

Creating a New Craft Culture–Friday AM, Part 2

Elissa Auther

9:45 AM Elissa Auther on “Lifestyle an Livelihood in Craft Culture”
Background: Elissa Auther is assistant professor of contemporary art in the visual and performing arts department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Her book String, Felt,Thread and the Hierarchy of Art and Craft, 1960-1980 (to be released Dec 09), focuses on the innovative use of fiber in American art.

Integration of Art and Life
Elissa’s presentation was a historical overview of counterculture art lifestyles of the 20th century, starting with the Arts & Crafts Movement of the UK–”The Love you liberate in your work is the love you keep” to postwar US –Craft as Conscious Choice.

Pond Farm

Then focusing on California (go CA!) from the 50′s-70′s, such as Marquerite Wildenhaim’s Pond Farm Experience (summer ceramics commune with a focus on process: idea that if students could master the process of being a craftsman, then the mastery of their “objects” would follow); Tom D’Onofrio’s Baulines Craftsmen Guild and the book the Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution by Olivia H. Emery–”All of life is artistic expression.”

Craft as Critique of Culture
Moving on to present day, Auther presented the emergence of the D.I.Y. movement and the rejection of the art world. As the group Pottery Liberation Front puts it: “Lifestyle defined by objects is hollow.” And of course a conversation about craft wouldn’t be complete (or controversial, apparently) these days without mentioning Etsy, and how it is bringing many new faces to the craft scene as people are discovering they too can achieve economic independence from the mainstream market by selling their handmade goods.

In the Q&A segment, the point of geography having something to do with art lifestyles flourishing in the 70′s, esp in the West Coast makes me think that it is happening again not only in CA but in Oregon and WA , this time with the burgeoning of Indie Craft. The coming together of a community, all around the joy of making. Reminding me why I love living in the Mission in SF in all its grungy, edgy, albeit pricey glory.

Gallery Panel SNAG

The last segment of the PDS program, The Evolving Role of the Gallery in a Virtual World of Commerce, gave us the insider perspective of what it takes to run a gallery in this age of internet commerce, not to mention a bad economy. Each gallery owner had 5 minutes to show a powerpoint presentation about their gallery and mission. From left to right: Ruth Synderman of Works Gallery, Beth Ann Gerstein of Society of Arts and Crafts, Sienna Patti of Sienna Gallery, Whitney Couch of ObjectFetish, Patti Bleicher of Gallery Loupe, Karen Lorene of Facére.

Questions posed to the group were:

1. What does a Brick and Mortar Store (all are physical sites, except for ObjectFetish being the sole online-only store) have to offer that justifies the 50/50 split on sales? Why wouldn’t an artist just sell retail through their own site or on Etsy?

2. How are they finding and educating new, young collectors?

3. And how is the internet affecting their sales?

Answers (higlights):

1. “the gallery is there to facilitate the future of the artist,”-Sienna Patti. “It’s ALL of our jobs to be the advocate for art jewelry,”-Karen Lorene.

2. Co-sponsoring important art jewelry exhibitions with local art museums, as Patti Bleicher did with the recent Helen Drutt Collection show; brings in new audiences. “All my customers are collectors,” says Karen, who makes a point to educate every customer about the artist they are purchasing from, even with a letter welcoming them to the world of art jewelry collecting.

3. Whitney finds that the competition, like Etsy, pushes her to work even harder to promote her artists; she encourages the competition!

Thanks to the PDS organizers for all of their hard work: w

SNAG PDS organizers

From left to right: Andy Cooperman, Harriete Estel Berman, Don Friedlich, Ken Bova. Also, much thanks to Etsy and MJSA for sponsoring this program.

This will be the last year that the PDS will be a Pre-Conference event. Next year, PDS will be incorporated into the SNAG conference itself (no more flying in the night before, maybe…)

In preparing for Facére Jewelry Art Gallery‘s The Long and Short of It earring show (May 6-27), I made a ton of new earrings; 3 different series of work: Limited Edition Windows, sleek tiles, and more Orbit, space age fun. See for yourself on my etsy store!

The Windows were sure a hit at the Palo Alto Art Center trunk show a few weeks ago; they also come in bronze with patinated silver, and aqua blue, which will be perfect on the runway in a few weeks! I’m working feverishly on 2 new necklaces in the series, My First Royal Jewels, for a runway show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art during the SNAG conference on May 21. Inspired by the current Lalique, Fabergé, and Tiffany exhibition at the Legion of Honor (first at the Cleveland Museum of Art–a much more extensive exhibit in OH, glad I saw it there first). Lalique’s infamous Insect Women with Black Swans necklace is my next replica in LEGO®, as well as an early Blue Steel necklace by Boucheron (original images below). I’ll be posting progress on these pieces in the next week. Choo choo, all aboard for the next stop on the e-train express…..

Boucheron necklace in blue steel

My new year started off just right with an order from the Smithsonian Museum stores! A great chance to knock out some new designs for spring (and reshoot some old favs). A lot of it is up on my etsy store, as well as in my New Lego Jewelry flickr set.

Here is my latest color scheme in cafe au day 1×4 bracelet, inspired by an elaborate paper cutout installation by Adriane Colburn, which I saw recently at the Museum of Craft & Folk Art in SF.

My earlier Limited Edition styles, Mondrian and sporty stripe were restyled into more affordable, smaller bracelets.

And, in channeling the warm breeze of spring, which seems to fall upon us in the Bay Area every 3 weeks or so, between our random cold weeks of winter, are ducky 1×4 and baby’s breath basic bracelets.

I’ll keep you posted on when the jewelry is available at the Smithsonian.

Came across these unbelievably cute plushies on etsy, though no longer available, too bad….
Chris of ChrisCreatures in Rockville, MD made this awesome Tofu for Obama

the text says: “Tofu plushie knows who he is voting for this year!
This Tofu plushie is soft, cuddly, and interested in politics. He’s perfect for any Obama supporter. Includes tofu, t-shirt, and an Obama sign for rallies. Tofu’s t-shirt is removable and has a velcro closure in the back. Because each one is hand sewn and unique, it may vary very slightly from the picture. ” And even better, proceeds of tofu sales went to the Obama campaign! ROck ON, TOFU!

Cassie from talkproof in Fremont, CA had made this Eugene the Polar Bear as a response to the whole Palin issue:

About Eugene: “Eugene just heard about Sarah Palin and her opposition to putting him and his family (and extended families) onto the endangered species list. He is infuriated and sick and tired of her shenanigans, and has decided to take a stand >:(”

While we’re on the Cute-Tip, I must give props to a fellow craftsperson whose work i truly enjoy, Hilary Pfeifer, a Portland, OR wood artist who does exhibition installations of wood multiples, and makes uber cute small figures through her bunnywithatoolbelt site. Monsters, holidays, and i really like the sets she puts together as vignettes. You almost can’t just buy one by itself, they are so appealing. I mean, how can you resist a green love monster?

just in time for halloween.

and the irresistable tall orange monster, who i refer to as CarrotMonster

Hilary brings her latest installation “Natural Selection” to San Francisco’s Velvet da Vinci this coming January.

Read more about this work on her blog, Bunny with an Artblog.

Found my way into the cutest craft of the week via flickr, by way of the etsy treasury below; HouseOfMouse who makes the sweetest felt mice figures I’ve ever laid eyes on. I used to have a super obsession with collecting anything mouse until 8 years ago when a live one invaded my apartment and tormented me. These mice, however, may have cured my disaffection. Couldn’t help but share the smile with the rest of you out there.

Here is DJ Mouse Girl, and her description says, “DJ Mousy Mouse will keep you up all night with her funky beats and amazing scratching abilities (the records not your furniture). She comes complete with headphones and tiny little record in her hand. She is the perfect gift for anyone who loves clubbing, mixing or popular culture.” Go get one for yourself on her etsy site!

Thanks to Lynette of Asymmetry, I found out that my camou necklace (3rd row, first on left) was featured on the Front Page of Etsy yesterday! It’s all about color tags, I tell ya (check out how all the groupings I’ve been in are color grouped). Sweet way to start off the week!