[Jewelry making - Article 00576] - Re: [Orchid] Wholesale One-Offs

[Kennedi Milan]

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Dear Noel:

>     Are you saying that production work is what one needs in order to
>     wholesale, i.e., one of a kinds will not work in a wholesale
>     market? That could be... I guess I would hope that the uniqueness
>     would raise the perceived value in the eyes of the buyers, as it
>     ideally does with customers. 

    You bring to light the problem many artisan jewelers face today.
    Speed and production go hand in hand for wholesale work. It is where
    you will make your money. Many artists I know can't even charge for
    their labor because they would price themselves out of the market. 

    For the first year and a half of my artisan jewelry business I had a
    wholesale arrangement with one upscale boutique that nearly bankrupt
    me. The contract was for 10 - 20 one of a kind peices each month plus
    custom orders I received from her. (When I say one of a kind, I mean
    just that, couldn't sell the same item to another store or via direct
    methods and couldn't make the same item for her boutique twice.) The
    boutique owner had other local artisan items for sale in her store
    and wanted to expand to jewelry as well. I thought this was terrific
    because I thought both she and her customers would understand the
    *uniqueness would raise the perceived value in the eyes of the
    buyers.* What a BIG mistake. That is exactly what you stated
    above...an IDEAL situation. Not only can this be a creative struggle
    every month, but my art had to compete with the Barse jewelry it sat
    next to. 

    First of all, it's difficult to get faster at producing work when
    you aren't making the exact same thing all the time. Yes, your basic
    skillset will get more efficient but when creating something new all
    the time, you are opening yourself up to that margin of error, not to
    mention that it takes time to test run a piece before it goes out to
    the public. Additionally, the worse the economy got, the more I was
    expected to bring my prices down to the Barse jewelry (made in
    Mexico) level. Remember, large corporations don't have to adjust
    their prices everytime the metal markets change! Don't forget what
    doesn't sell in a few months, they want you to take back and expect a
    full refund for. It's the nature of the market we serve. Needless to
    say, I currently no longer wholesale. 

    I have found that going the artist run gallery/guild route has been
    very good to me. But with all galleries you need to be very clear in
    what "production" or "one of a kind" mean. As I read on some of these
    posts, "one of a kind" to some means that you can make multiples of
    those "one of a kind" pieces to sell to one exclusive gallery and
    another set of one of a kind pieces to sell to gallery B. Both of the
    artist run galleries I am with stipulate no "production" peices,
    meaning that you can't produce multiples of the same work. I have
    some specific pieces in mind for production but they are designed
    with several things in mind (time to make, cost of materials, target
    customers, etc.) but even those I will sell direct only at art shows
    to the public. Of late, I have been hearing stories coming from
    artisan jewelers who did large shows such as Rosen,got big orders,
    only to have their buyers back out just before the orders were due to
    ship. While I hope that this particular issue is in the minority (you
    always hear more from the unhappy folks), it's enough to reenforce my
    thoughts about selling wholesale. But if you really want to sell via
    the wholesale route, choose the art you are going to wholesale very,
    very carefully, be ready to fight for those prices, and don't be
    discouraged if your work doesn't fly out the door. 

    Sorry if I sound so negative...

Kennedi
Kennedimilan AT ml1.net


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