Changing times (bit of a ramble)

[Admiral]

Agree its the economy, as no one "needs" custom craftsmanship, but they "like" it, and if the dough is there, they buy. It's also regional in the sense of even in the so called "wealthy" areas, folks are still digging out financially and frankly just starting to get their footing back and ain't buying like they used to. The "recovery" from the 2007 depression, oh, sorry, "great recession," has been slow and is still chugging along slowly; and while the US is doing a bit better than the rest of the world, we ain't setting anything on fire. In more economically challenged areas, maybe, just maybe folks see a light at the end of the tunnel but know its going to be a long haul, so they ain't buying.

But the worm will turn, don't know when, but it will, and things will pick up. The generation that came of "financial age" during this current period will sort of be like my parents who came through the Great Depression of the 30's, watching their dollars and not living too high on the hog, which were lessons imparted to me, but such lessons sort of got lost for folks who came of age in the 80s and 90s.

[jteneyck]

I really never understood galleries. Yes, nice stuff, sometimes exceptional, but from where I stood in the financial heirarchy I was never going to be able to buy any of it. Frankly, even if I could have I wouldn't have. Does anyone really need a $10 or $20K table? I know Don Juvet and some others here hope so, but the delivery truck won't be bringing one to my door anytime soon. Even the more mundane furniture stores were selling wares that, for the most part, were above my means back when we first bought our house and needed furniture. It's one of the reasons I took up woodworking; it was the only way I would ever be able to afford some of the furniture and cabinets I wanted.

There was, is, and will always be a small group of people who will buy a piece from some well known furniture maker to impress their friends or satisfy their own desire to have something few others can afford. But most of them don't want to go to a gallery and buy something anyone else with money could buy. They want someone to make something just for them. As a crafts person you have to figure out how to find those people, but I'll bet most crafts people will tell you they never do find those people; those people find them through word of mouth from their friends and associates. I sell some work, not to make a living fortunately, and not of the class you see from some folks here. I don't do craft shows and I don't build pieces and try to sell them on-line or through stores or galleries. Every sale I ever got was by word of mouth where someone I did some work for who told their friends, or their friends saw something I made while visiting. The age spectrum is all over the place. I've sold stuff to people in their 20's and people in their 70's.

I don't think the craft is dead or in danger of dying. But if you want to find people to buy what you make - good luck, your sales will be few and far between unless your name is well known. The business I get is because people have a problem. Custom size, matching finish, fix a problem, design to meet building codes, etc. I am a problem solver for these people, and internet sales will never take over that segment of the market.

John

[Phil Thien]

Excellent post. I can only add that I think overall, the economy is struggling quite a bit.