Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

JewelryBizGuru Blog has moved to CindyEdelstein.com

Finally! I've got a new look, a new name and a new blog at www.CindyEdelstein.com. I'm so excited!

Expect a lot more content and please don't be shy to comment or ask questions on the new site. CindyEdelstein.com offers a lot more information on the rest of our projects and events, too. So much to share! I hope you join me there.

 

One of A Kind Show -- NYC & Chicago Holiday Sales Applications Ready

Applications are now ready for the 2011 One of a Kind Shows in NYC and Chicago. The New York show has two dates: Nov. 10-13 and 17-20, 2011.

Deadline is May 2, 2011.

Jeweler's who have done the 2010 NYC show:

• Anna Ruth Henriques
• Ambermoda (Poland)
• Angela Cammarota
• Cornelia Goldsmith
• Dana David
• Judith Haas
• Jessica Fields
• Judith Foster
• Julia Failey
• Gabriel Ofiesh
• Rebecka Froberg
• Victoria Varga
• Yasuko Azuma
• Rina Young
• Erica Zap
• ....... and others - 57 jewelers in total from US and abroad

 

Jeweler's who have done the 2010 Chicago show:

• Alisa Miller
• Ardith Johnson, Silversmith
• Amy Buettner
• Christine Bartling
• Craig Hagstrom
• Dana David
• Donna D'Aquino
• Devon Driscoll
• Flying Anvil
• Jeannie Hwang
• Jessica Fields
• JL Walsh
• John/Christine Design
• Keith Lewis
• Margo Morrison
• Sarah Richardson
• Somers
• Linda Steinworth
• ....... and others - 138 jewelers in total from US and abroad

Visit the Chicago show's exhibitor page here and the page for the New York event here.

 

 

 

The American Craft Council Moves from NYC to Minneapolis

The American Craft Council will be moving soon from their New York City location to their new offices in Minneapolis, MN. As of August 1, 2010.

Their new address will be:

American Craft Council
1224 Marshall Street NE
Suite 200
Minneapolis, MN 55413
800.836.3470 --- this number stays the same.

How to find the best art fairs and craft shows for jewelry designers?

I get this question a lot -- and we go in to depth on the topic (plus dozens of others) on our website at www.jewelersresource.com.

But here's a quick primer:

ArtFairSourcebook.com is a great resource for finding detailed, ratings and information on events. 

The Harris List lists far fewer than ArtFair Sourcebook but they concentrate on the "top rated" events.

Some of the best craft fairs for fine jewelry are:
Smithsonian Craft Show
Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft
Crafts America shows
Paradise City fairs
The Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival
Sausalito Art Festival

But if you're work isn't of the "top 1% in the country level" then you should cast a wider net than those events. There are plenty more that are good. Search the web for your competitors and see where they exhibit.

On our site we have compiled lists of exhibitors for most of the top shows -- and in most cases we have a few years worth of data so you can compare and evaluate a show based on historical data. Not sure that exists anywhere else (just one of the many reasons why our subscription site has hundreds of members!).

The February 2009 Issue of AmericanSTYLE magazine (AmericanStyle magazine is the nation's premier arts lifestyle magazine for art lovers, collectors and travelers)  has a 2009 Guide to Fairs and Festivals -- so you can read about the year's worth of great fairs.

The magazines you should read are:
AmericanSTYLE
American Craft
Metalsmith (if you use metal)

If you work with beads then Ornament magazine is the tops of that market and then there is Jewelry Artist (was Lapidary Journal mag) and Art Jewelry magazines.

There are countless bead magazines -- but these seem to address more of the hobbyist than professional.

Most importantly you have to find craft fairs that match your work. If your work is middle-range then don't waste your time (and entry fees) applying to the premier shows -- unless that's the direction you want your business to grow in to in the future. You don't want to be the highest-end work at the show, either. You want a good match.

Lastly, Zapplication.org is a great online tool that many different art fairs and craft shows use to do their entry forms online. So you sign on and then upload your latest jurying images in your own account. Then you search their database of events and apply to as many as you'd like using the images you've uploaded. Makes it easy to keep applying to events since the first half of the work has already been done. And using Zapp you can discover new events to apply to and they keep emailing you deadline alerts for all the events in their system, too.

Again, knowing who does which shows is invaluable -- helps you quickly decide if a show is right for you if it has all -- or none -- of your peers.

All of these shows are retail events --- meaning you'll be selling to consumers. The only 3 wholesale craft trade shows to sell to craft retailers (galleries) are the Buyer's Market of American Craft in Philadelphia, the American Craft Show in Baltimore and our own, little precious event called globalDESIGN.

Top 25 Arts Destination Voting is Open

Each year, AmericanStyle magazine conducts a reader poll where cities spanning the country , big, medium and small -compete to be included in the magazine's Annual Top 25 Arts Destinations edition. The results of each poll, are published in the June issue with reader comments and their editors' highlights of what to see and visit. Voting is now open for 2009... go vote for your favorite cities.

jewelry_cycle exhibition: Artists Discover Hidden Sparkle in the Discarded

Holy Mother Board, Batman... it's jewelry!

Jewelry_cycle is an educational showcase of wearable treasures made from re-cycled circuit boards on exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design until January 4, 2009.

Circuit boards contain precious metals, such as copper, silver and gold, which add a precious element to what would otherwise be considered e-waste. The curators, Christine Dhein and Christophe Koch, along with invited artists Shana Astrachan, David Casella, Reed Easley, Aimee Golant, Kelly Nederman and emiko oye discover the hidden potential and transform these materials to create brilliant, sparkling jewels.

Christine hopes that this recycled jewelry collection will “inspire visitors to appreciate the potential value of discarded objects in a new way.”

The details of the exhibition design received as much attention from the curators as the jewelry. Koch believes that “contemporary jewelry should be presented in a modern way that leaves a lasting impression.” Dhein focuses on the way jewelry is brought to life when it is worn. Using these ideas and inspiration from “La Belle et la Bete” a movie by French director, Jean Cocteau, the curators collected used and borrowed mannequin parts to create a surrealist environment that showcases the jewelry in a way that visitors will remember.

The co-curators each bring a unique perspective on Green Design --- Dhein is a jewelry designer who has been using recycled materials for over 10 years, as well as an educator at the forefront of the Green Jewelry Movement. Koch, an eco designer trained in France and the USA, pushes the envelope of green industrial design and packaging. For over a year, the pair has worked together on green jewelry.

When they happened upon a lot of small, discarded circuit boards, they agreed that these materials would be the perfect starting point to create jewelry that raises awareness about the problems in the mining industry, as well as with e-waste and over-consumption.

With the idea of the exhibition in mind, the curators invited members of Metal Arts Critique Collective, a group of metal artists that Dhein co-founded eleven years ago, to create wearable pieces from small, discarded circuit boards. Participating artists were also asked to write about and photograph their process. Koch complied the results into a book, which is part of the exhibition, and demonstrates that all of the artists found inspiration in the materials and felt good about creating something beautiful from trash.
 
~ Kelp Necklace, 2008, by Shana Astrachan, re-purposed circuit boards, sterling silver, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ Geek Bling, 2008, by Kelly Nedderman, re-purposed circuit boards, brass, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ 21st Century Breastplate, 2008, by Christine Dhein, re-purposed circuit boards, brass, rubber, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ Link Necklace, 2008, by Aimee Golant, re-purposed circuit boards, sterling silver, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein

New Wave Craft Movement - something to talk about?

According to a post on the ACC Policy Discussion Forum  the American Craft Council has added a new section in their show for New Wave Crafters. One "old wave" master, James Aarons, questioned this and wanted an explaination of "New Wave."

I found the reply interesting and in line with some research I did two years ago when putting together a talk on "Trends in Craft" and I thought about all the 20-somethings who make "stuff" and sell it. Yet don't relate to the traditional "craft" world. I found a host of cool websites that were fresh, young and "crafty" in a a new way. Guess the movement is growing.

Mary Fichter  of the ACC replied: The Council has identified several exceptional self-proclaimed "new wave" crafters via a number of local craft shows such as Renegade Craft Fairs, Maker's Faire, Craftstravanga, etc. We also received several nominations from organizations such as Church of Craft. These artists are producing high-quality work but have not yet applied to large national shows like Baltimore. With this opportunity, the Council will introduce this new audience of makers to the national stage of craft including all of the fine makers who already exhibit at the show. We hope to expose them to more advanced work and thus perhaps inspire them to take the next step in their careers. Since this is a new endeavor for the Council, the decision was made to test the water first by accepting applications via nominations.

Wendy Rosen of the Rosen Group - producer of the Buyer's Market of American Craft offered her definition and thoughts: The New Wave Craft movement, I assume is a reference to the Third Wave Craft movement. Demographic: Twentysomething art school grads, radical feminists who use nostalgic images, found objects, to express a cynical distaste for boomer society. Founded as an online social group, this community has grown to more than 100 radical craft fairs mostly in urban environments and has more than 300,000 members online posting their "works". This group does follow "some" of the guidelines of Arts&Craft genre, such as reverence for nature, but there is little technical skill shown in the works... it's more about the community identity and feminist ideals... than technical execution. We have accepted about a dozen artists into our shows that are affiliated with this group...
it's an experiment for us... and they of course must show technical skill and
provide a well-crafted product to be part of our universe.

For a great history of the American Craft Council (ACC) and the shows they've nurtured and produced read this personal recount by David Bacharach.

To read some contemporary thoughts on the new craft movement read this blog RedefiningCraft.com and visit  Renegade Craft.

There are many more sites to hop to from these -- there's a new movement and it's yours!

[TIP: Think about this development vis a vis your own business -- does it apply to you? Is it a trend you can exploit? Is it something your customers are sensing and can you be a beacon of light for them to shine to their customers? Remember, it's still a sales category regardless of the artspeak.]