Making it... on Etsy

In recent months it has been interesting to listen to various figures, and resolutely anti-figures, postulate on the role of Etsy in a struggling craft climate. I liken these assessments of Etsy to the increasingly grim reports of the credit crisis that I hear on NPR. Let me explain.

The credit crisis started off with a sub-prime housing bubble that was unsustainable. Just 10-15 minutes browsing the bargain basement prices in some Etsy virtual shops is enough to realize that many Etsy sellers are undervaluing their work (their labor, materials, etc.). This type of practice is indeed unsustainable. Irresponsible lending and bad investments led to the great market collapse of 2008, which has had sweeping repercussions around the globe. With an imminent federal bailout, this grave crisis may be contained and remembered simply as a stumbling block, and perhaps a lesson to us all about corporate greed.

Recently, I had a conversation with long time Craft Show veteran Biba Schutz about the Etsy market model. Biba made clear that work selling at such low prices severely undermined the practical model that she and other full time craft artists employ in order to make a living doing what they love, making. How can someone who sells their products at a price to support themselves compete with someone who sells their products at a price too low to make a living. In short, they can't. In this scenario we assume that craft fair veterans like Biba are actually competing for the same consumer dollars (which I find to be a suspect claim). Out of almost a quarter million Etsy sellers, only 50 or so actually make a living from their shop according to Rob Kalin, founder of Etsy, at a panel discussion this past Spring. I would guess that many of those who do make a living are actually small manufactories, producing a significant quantity of work in order to drive the prices down, and make money over more pieces, rather than on a few one of a kind works. 

As strange as this sounds this was actually Biba's advice as well. She challenged me to name any jeweler or metalsmith who makes their living solely from one-of-a-kind work (as distinguished from production). Now I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about who's who in the field, but I must confess I failed Biba's challenge. I encourage you all to post in the comments anyone who may do this. Her point is well taken, there must be a certain amount of production work or multiples for a maker to succeed in relying only on their studio practice. So many of the people actually making it on Etsy do so because of their business model.

However, some people on Etsy aren't making it, financially speaking. They aren't running a full time business. I would include almost every maker I know who is on Etsy in this category. We all have another means of subsistence. Therefore the Etsy system is in our favor. To think of Etsy as "Your Place To Buy & Sell All Things Handmade" is only partially accurate. As Eileen Boris documents in Art and Labor (Tempe University Press, 1986), most makers even in the American Arts & Crafts Movement didn't make enough money to support themselves, only the organizers and proprietors who took advantage of the skilled labor did well. Etsy is just such a proprietor.  

Yes, Etsy is a marketplace, but it is also a community, a community of people making it, literally. It is a community of people who make things. The purpose of Etsy is to make money, lets have no illusions about that, but the service that they provide primarily is that of maker community lubricant. Etsy encourages people to make things. On Etsy you don't have to make a living, you can just post your stuff and hope someone thinks its cool enough to buy. For tens of thousands of Etsy sellers it would be impossible to disseminate their work without such a mechanism. The gallery is not the place for all handmade work, nor is the craft fair. Etsy is the place for ALL things handmade. Etsy represents the common man, the every man (or woman). The selectiveness and stuffiness of the gallery is dispensed with on Etsy and the ability to be validated as a maker through patronage is open to all makers.

Maybe being a self-sustaining maker is not as important as just being a maker. Recently the NEA released a 15 year study estimating the current number of artists in America at just under 2 million (this includes actors, musicians, designers, etc.). Etsy sellers (who surely weren't counted) represent a group as large as 1/8 of all artists in America. This is indeed promising news. Maybe craft isn't so dead Jon. 

The question that must now be answered is: What is more important, craft as a field, or the continued existence of financially self-sustaining craft artists. To me this is no real question at all. The vitality of the field is certainly more important than any single person. A larger field is certainly preferable to a smaller and wealthier one. The terms of being a maker in the 21st century are changing. Being a maker alone may not be a sound career choice, but like so many other artists we must diversify our portfolios. Sub-prime mortgages are not a good investment, and neither is an exclusively full-time studio practice. A combination of making, writing (which we are in need of), grant writing, teaching, and other creative projects is surely a more salient plan.

I visited the American Craft Council this past Friday and Director Andrew Glasgow was kind enough to elaborate on the current goings on of the organization. It is clear that the mission of the ACC is shifting towards advocacy for the field, rather than for the makers. His message from March, "We must all partner to go further," seems more in the fore than ever. All makers can benefit from the handmade being advertised, while only a few can benefit from focused promotion. If the ACC is to continue as a necessary and vital organization then Andrew Glasgow is onto something. Craft is a lifestyle choice, not a luxury good, and not necessarily a livelihood.

Etsy is a business. Some have called it a pyramid scheme. Rob Kalin, its founder, can certainly be characterized  as a left wing reactionary. Etsy may even undermine legitimate attempts to create a financially sustainable market for craft artists. But, for all its flaws Etsy is a place where craft is alive and well. Etsy is a vision of Morrisian Utopia, people are making things to improve their quality of life and to share those things with others. Etsy is a place where anyone can be a maker. In a time of economic crisis, in a time of corporatism, in a time of globalism, in a time of mass production, and in a time of declining craft market sales Etsy is a beacon of hope. The true value of Etsy is not as a market for craft. The true value is as a model for craft.

Comments Welcome,

Until next time,

-Gabriel  

Sean Scully on the Dysfunctional, the System and the Market

I wanted to share a poignant response to Jon Sutter's post from last week. It Comes from Sean Scully and can be found on his blog, Boho Jig.

Enjoy,

-Gabriel

Contemporary Craft: Non-Functional or Dysfunctional?

By: Jon Sutter, Graduate Student in Wood

At: VCU, Department of Media-based Art and Design

Contrary to what many artists think, I believe that aesthetic choices in art are wholly suffused with the economic circumstances of life. This is nowhere more evident than in the field of contemporary craft. I am a woodworker and a craftsman who has spent many years learning his skills. So it pains me to say this, sort-of. However, craft is pretty much dead. Maybe it’s not all dead. There’s still a little bit kicking around, but, by and large, it’s breathing its last breaths. Contemporary craft has lost its main purpose for being and has devolved into a form of media-based sculpture. Both the recent dropping of the word “crafts” from the name “California College of Arts and Crafts,” as well as the renaming of the “American Craft Museum” to the “Museum of Art and Design,” exemplify recent shifts toward an honest acknowledgement of the state of craft. This is also exemplified in the proliferation of non-functional craft work.

What does it say when a functional item cannot be used? Let’s say we have a chair. The chair is made like a chair, displays the fabrication methods and the skilled labor of a chair, but cannot be used. Is this chair a sculpture? Perhaps it is. However, I would argue that it is also the symbolic and final degeneration of a field of endeavor that has become obsolete. This is craft that embodies its own tragedy, the symbolic death of the craftsman’s relevancy to culture. Because craft’s traditional usefulness has become depleted, the motivations of contemporary craft artists have begun to align with the motivations of fine artists. Because these motivations are nearly identical, the field of contemporary craft has taken up the same preoccupation with concept and theory that typifies the practice of modern fine art. How woeful it is that craft artists need to concern themselves with a “Theory of Craft.” Unfortunately, theory will never resuscitate that which has died by economics.

William Morris complained, more than a century ago, about his work finding an audience only among the well-off. He wouldn’t have been able to make his work if he hadn’t come from a wealthy family. Industrial culture doesn’t need art in the way it needs the things of everyday life. And the things of everyday life are made less expensively (and often better) by the methods of mass production. Granted, mass produced products don’t carry the uniqueness of a handmade item. However, when shopping for value, the cost benefit of manufactured goods far exceeds that of handmade ones. Therefore, the traditional role of the craftsman, someone who provides his/her community with the items needed for everyday life, has nearly ended. Without strong consumer demand for handcrafted items that can compete in the market with manufactured goods, where else but into theory, introspection, and self expression can the virtuosic energies of craft artisans go?

Of course, there are plenty of people who will disagree with me, who will claim that it is their personal vision that drives their creative work. I believe it is their personal vision. However, without very specific economic circumstances, the making of hand-crafted work, functional or nonfunctional, would not be possible. In fact, it is my assertion that the career of most craft artists will end on the day they graduate from their craft program. It will end the day their student loan payments become due. Otherwise, some alternative form of financial support is required. They may hang on for a while, but only a lucky few will find long-term employment in the field of contemporary craft or will be able to develop a viable niche market for their work.

My own graduate study in the field of crafts asks what can be done about these economic circumstances. I am focusing on the niche market. Craft, particularly furniture-making, requires the same space and tools of a regular business. In order to truly survive outside of academia, craft artists need to study the business aspects of what they do. Because of their high price, craft items necessarily serve a luxury market. However, which luxury market they serve could be the difference between losing money and being profitable. I believe that new technologies can make crafts a somewhat profitable endeavor once again. For woodworking, software tools like AutoCAD combined with newly developed low-cost CNC routers may make artisan furniture a viable enterprise. Custom furniture will never compete with low-cost, imported furniture, but it may be possible to develop a niche furniture business that utilizes these newly developed tools and caters to a market that isn’t only “the rich.”

The question for every craft artist who aspires to sell his/her work is this: “How do I create value in the work I make.” This could be work of technical virtuosity, or “green” work, or work that is interesting and unique, or work which steps into the realm of sculpture. However, work which does not find a sufficient niche market and is supported financially by the artist can only be someone’s pet project. The work may be fine art, may be significant in some way to a cultural dialog, but, in the true and traditional sense of craft that serves the utilitarian needs of a culture, its purpose for being is mostly gone. In addition, the traditional skills that exemplify the best work are going as well.

Skill, however, is relative always to the task at hand. As traditional skills die away, others are created. Today’s craft artists, in addition to the “hard” skills needed to make their work, must also master the skills of marketing, sales, and other “soft” skills to gain and maintain a market presence. Those whose success carries them beyond a niche market will inevitably find themselves in the realm of product design and will need to turn to outright manufacturing. Those whose work is celebrated and widely popular, who don’t pursue manufacturing, may find their ideas stolen by the likes of Target or others who are willing to utilize manufacturing to its fullest. Whether craft artisans are willing and able to use manufacturing to their advantage, or whether their livelihood will continue to be destroyed by it, remains a challenge for the field as a whole.

Spreading the Love

Last February I posted a call for submissions for contributing writers to add content to this blog. I am sad to say that nothing much came of it. However, today I am pleased to announce that Jon Sutter, a woodworker and furniture maker will be joining the Conceptual Metalsmithing team as a special correspondent on the subject of craft theory. Jon is an aspiring writer, and as you will see his view of craft and craft theory is well informed, though we agree less than half of the time. I am pleased to have him aboard, and I hope you will enjoy his writing as much as you have enjoyed my own. Shortly Jon will post his recent essay, Contemporary Craft: Non-Functional or Dysfunctional.

As always comments are welcome, and the door is still open to anyone who wants to contribute to the dialogue that this blog provides.

Best,

-Gabriel