Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : jewelry sales

Can you make a living by making objects of beauty? An exhibit of Wiener Werkstätte jewelry at Neue Galerie inspires questions.

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT

From now until June 30, 2008, you can visit Neue Galerie in New York to see an exhibit of jewelry from the Weiner Werkstätte (Vienna workshops), a movement that developed at the same time and with a similar ideology as the English Arts and Crafts movement. I found out about the exhibit from an article by Ken Johnson that appeared in the New York Times.

Johnson's review, "Rage Against the Machine with Artisans and Beauty," piqued my interest, because the more I read, the more I recognized similarities between those artisans from a few generations ago and our beloved Art Jewelry readers. Johnson points out that the jewelry's value for these artisans came "not from the raw materials but from its aesthetic, the purview of artists and designers, and its craftsmanship, handled by the workshop’s expert artisans." In every issue of Art Jewelry, we publish pieces that fit this description — it's one of our defining characteristics.

But in his review, Johnson goes on to talk about how the Wiener Werkstätte was an "ultimately untenable business model" that failed partly because it didn't have a "political vision." Instead, he says, "Its only purpose was to make beautiful things without compromising artistic quality, an expensive ambition." He hopefully suggests at the end of his review that perhaps such a movement could survive in, say, the 21st century with "rich and enlightened patrons."

The article raised a lot of questions for me:

How do you, as an artist, find the line between accessible art and quality materials and craftsmanship? Or do you even feel the need to make your art accessible in the first place?
Is it necessary to have a political vision behind your work in order for it to sell? Or can you simply make objects of beauty that are marketable on that merit alone?
Do the "political" pieces sell better than the "beautiful" pieces, or do 21st-century buyers actually fork over more money for objects of beauty rather than for pieces with political vision? Are you finding "rich and enlightened patrons"?
How does the mass-production of jewelry continue to affect you as a craftsperson?
How do modern concerns about social responsibility (where do we get our metals and our stones, what chemicals are we using, do we have sustainable working practices, etc.) compare to the concerns that the early-19th-century artisans had?

Of course, the list could go on. But I'm really eager to hear what you have to say about this. To share your thoughts, leave a comment in the comment box below.

—Kristin

Sell your jewelry through museum stores

Jill Erickson — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT

We've blogged about various venues for selling your work (on line sites like www.etsy.com and www.trunkt.org), and retail service businesses that cater to women clients (like hair salons). Here's another to consider -- museum retail shops. The Museum Store Association is an organization that helps museums with their retail sales operations. Yeah, we're talking gift shops! The association has its own magazine, "Museum Store," and a website, http://www.museumdistrict.com/index.cfm that includes information about its annual Retail Conference and Expo.

Whether you're contacting an art museum, a natural history museum, or a cultural museum, do a little homework to familiarize yourself with their collections. It's a wise move to pitch jewelry that relates to their permanent exhibits, and any special exhibitions slated for the current year. Provide the store manager or buyer with high quality photographs of your work. You might be asked to send in samples of your pieces for consideration. If a buyer agrees to purchase your work, ask him/her if you need to supply any special items or props to display your pieces.

I can report from experience that museums can be a great way to sell your jewelry. My local natural history museum commissioned me to make pins that incorporated turn-of-the-century images from their photo archives. They promoted my work in their member newsletter, which has a healthy circulation. In turn, that mention lead to another blurb and photo of my work in a special interest magazine; the editor contacted me and asked if I'd like my work to be included in their annual holiday shopping issue. Perhaps it was karma. Whenever I visit a museum, I always pop into its store after touring the exhibits. And I head straight for the jewelry cases to select a memento!

Buying and selling jewelry online

Hazel Wheaton — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:11:00 GMT

After reading my post of 12/19 about the wonders of handmade gifts and the growing etsy.com phenomenon, a reader sent me a link to another great site where independent jewelry makers (and, indeed, makers of all kinds of things) sell their work. Just as jewelry artisans might sell their work at trunk shows, now they can sell it at trunkt.org. The site has much in common with etsy.com (including some of the same artists), but I find the trunkt.org layout more user-friendly in minor ways — I personally find it easier to navigate, and so far I've been quite impressed with the consistency of quality of artists.

I have to admit, I was a bit behind the curve when it came to online jewelry sales. I'm continually being reminded that when it comes to the Internet era, I'm part of the Old Guard. I still remember Usenet, and the primitive message boards that we used at my college. And when personal Web sites started appearing, I was firmly of the opinion that jewelry was one of those things that wouldn't do all that well online, because buying jewelry is such a personal — and often very tactile — experience. In order to buy a piece of jewelry, I felt, a buyer had to be able to pick it up, fondle it, try it on, feel its weight. Pixels on a screen couldn't ever hope to replace that, surely!

Well, things have obviously changed. I now happily buy all sorts of things online that I never thought I would. I'm a dedicated online catalog shopper, and boy, did I miss that particular boat! How could I possibly buy clothes if I couldn't try them on first, I thought. Now, avoiding the crowded dressing rooms is one of the things I most appreciate about online shopping! And jewelry is no different. I vastly underestimated how personal personal Web pages could get, how much of a sense of the designer's style and personality could come across on a computer screen. I don't think online jewelry shopping will ever completely replace the bricks-and-mortar experience (although I should learn not to make such absolute predictions!), but there's no doubt that online adornment buying is alive and well.

Web sites aren't the only ones who are getting it — one of my favorite recent discoveries is a catalog (along with a Web site) called The Artful Home. They're proof that catalog shopping can exist side by side with limited-edition and one-of-a-kind work by highly individual artists. Browsing through the jewelry listings is like looking like a recap of my old favorites, names I've known and respected for years, with a healthy dose of new recommendations thrown in. Did I ever think the day would come when I could buy jewelry by Eleanor Moty in a catalog?

(If you're planning on selling your work online, either through sites like those I'm mentioned or through your own personal Web site, here's one very small piece of advice from a dedicated online buyer. Let me know how big the piece is. Give measurements, or include a commonly recognized household item for scale, so that I can judge how it'll look on me. If it's a ring, it's less vital, because I can estimate the real size by the shank, but when it comes to a brooch or a pendant, size does matter!)

Fun at the One-of-a-Kind Show in Chicago!

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:09:00 GMT

Lunchtime on Dec. 7, 2007, found Jill, Addie, and I (plus Addie's mom and a friend of Jill's) at bluprint, a restaurant at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. We met there to fuel up in preparation for the journey we were about to take through the floor of the One-of-a-Kind Show, which was going on above our heads about seven floors up. I ended up taking a picture of my gourmet mac & cheese.

I wanted to show the picture to Naomi Fujimoto, senior editor at BeadStyle magazine, one of our sister publications. Naomi has a thing for gourmet comfort foods. The food was so beautiful that everyone wanted a picture of their as-yet-undevoured dish.

Yum!

Thus sustained, we took the elevator upstairs and spent the next five hours inundating ourselves with beautiful works of art. Most notably — you guessed it — jewelry. Many times, we stopped by a booth and asked that all-important question, "How did they do that?" (When we ask that, we know we're seeing something magazine-worthy.)

When we're scouting for jewelry artists, we try not to take too much time away from the jewelers; we understand that they're at the show to sell their work. But many people were gracious enough to take the time to hear us out about why they should submit a project or an image for gallery. (If you're thinking of submitting something, we'd love to hear from you! Check out our guidelines.)

Some artists encouraged us to try on their work for fun — and how could we resist!! Of course, some of us went home with a couple you'll-regret-it-forever-if-you-don't-buy-it pieces.

So, thanks to the art jewelry community for delighting us! We hope to return the favor! (If we did our scouting job right, you'll be seeing some fabulous work in our pages in the coming year.)

–Kristin

Making ourselves pretty — one-stop shopping

Hazel Wheaton — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:02:00 GMT

I got a haircut last night. Not, in itself, news, or worthy of a blog entry on a jewelry-related site. But I was interested to see jewelry for sale in the salon, all set up in a glass case next to the reception desk, complete with the jewelry-maker's business cards.

What a great idea. There's an obvious connection between jewelry and beauty, of course — but it went farther than that. Because this jewelry wasn't cookie-cutter, predictable stuff; it was funky and fun. And whether the jewelry maker was a friend of the salon owner or had just walked in the door and made a sales pitch, it was a perfect business match. Where the jewelry in the case would have been out of place in a glitzy, high-polish day spa, it fit right into the funky, fun landscape of this particular salon (my stylist had purple hair). And the clientele who would choose the salon would be exactly the kind of clientele to whom that highly individual jewelry would appeal.