Filed under: session | Tags: costing, crafts council, finance, price, register of makers, research
Heather rigg covered aspects of cash flow and finance, including forecasting for the first year of business / career.
It terms of comparing my prices in relation to the competition Heather suggested looking at the Crafts Council’s DIRECTORY OF MAKERS.
Filed under: session | Tags: buy handmade, calculation, cost, discount, formula, price, retail, wholesale
Always a sticking point with me – pricing and cost – but it has to be cracked if I want to make money.
Good to have a ‘formula’ from yesterday’s session to work with, it’s a starting pint at least – if nobody is willing to pay what comes out at the end then I’m going to have to rethink a few things.
I’m a bit confused about the different levels of pricing – wholesale, discount, retail. I’ll pick this up with Debbie, my mentor later in the week, she is really good at this sort of thing.
A good place to check out the prices of the competition (and sign up when i have made my stock):
BUY HANDMADE
Filed under: inspiration, research | Tags: contemporary, craft, creativity, creatures, design, Donna Wilson, fair, favourites, Lustre, market, price, quality, toys
Lustre lived up to it’s name and reputation. High quality design and craft, all deliciously displayed for me to drool over.
I was pleased to see Donna Wilson’s creatures there, although sad they were in a glass cabinet and I didn’t get to meet her. I got to have a good look at her creature calendar and a Sleepy Pom notebook which I wasn’t aware was in production, they were lovely, creative and well priced. There were very few other ‘toys’ at the show, which I found interesting. Although I have had my fill of flower corsages – aren’t people fed up with these by now?
The quality is certainly very high and the prices reflected this – not your average ‘craft fair’. It gave me hope though, as my products are likely to come in priced at the higher end of the market, especially with the raw material being organic and therefore a bit more expensive than your standard wool. I think they wouldn’t look out of place.
I was surprised that there wasn’t more variety and creativity in the display of the work – some of it tried too hard and lost the products in the process.
Here are some of my favourites (i.e. I’d buy from them if I had the cash):
KEN EARLEY’s ceramics
Lauren Van Helmond’s little collage sculptures
David knight’s glass forms
SUILVEN PLAZALSKA’s contemporary jewellery
LYNSEY WALTER’s fun and fresh felt
