Amy, I hope no other artists out there accept your inflexible “rule”
about not consigning work as gospel–they may only suffer financially!
I have extraordinary demand for work, but rather than sell outright
directly to numerous outlets, choose to work on a consignment basis
with selected ones. This has nothing to do with “confidence,” the
quality of the work or sellability, but with keen business sense. To
explain…
- Having a consignment arrangement with certain outlets gives me
a higher profit (60%). 2. There is never a “risk” to the store/gallery
when taking new, experimental work. I can put in anything I want-- not
every store owner is a “good” buyer. No item is “too high” or “too
strange.” 3. I can get greater amounts of work into stores because
they are just giving me “real estate”, i.e space. The greater amount of
work displayed often results in greater sales. 4. Being able to
“babysit the work” is exactly what is often necessary, as not every
store/gallery owner really knows how to market an artist’s work. I
can set the display, arrange the materials and…totally set the
price so I don’t have to deal with a potentially greedy owner who will
buy and then jack the price up to who knows what.
I write from long experience, and with a very, very healthy bank
account…Marty R.
Reynard Designs
Contemporary Jewellery & Wearable Art
Victoria, B.C.
www.reynard-designs.com