Indianapolis Art Center on thu 19 feb 98
I have a student who would like to investigate producing work for
mail-order catalogues. Is someone on the list willing to share
experiences and opinions of one catalogue retailer vs. another, and any
tips about how much to produce, pricing, who's looking for what, and
what to expect about contracts, payment, etc.? I would also appreciate
any references to articles in CM, Crafts Report, or any other magazine
that discusses this issue.
Please reply privately or on the list.
Thanks,
Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center
inartctr@netdirect.net
Wendy Rosen on wed 11 mar 98
Dear Julia,
Several catalogs such as Sundance, Smith & Hawkins, MOMA and others
purchase craftwork for sale.... few however carry large ceramics in these
catalogs. Most are small pieces that sell for under $100 retail (or $40
wholesale). You must guarantee that you can ship an ungodly number
(eventho they might only be able to guarantee just a dozen or two). The
QVC thing is a better deal... 10,000-14,000 first order... you can buy back
any remainders IF YOU wish.
Good Luck... (Don't make too many!!!)
Wendy
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have a student who would like to investigate producing work for
>mail-order catalogues. Is someone on the list willing to share
>experiences and opinions of one catalogue retailer vs. another, and any
>tips about how much to produce, pricing, who's looking for what, and
>what to expect about contracts, payment, etc.? I would also appreciate
>any references to articles in CM, Crafts Report, or any other magazine
>that discusses this issue.
>
>Please reply privately or on the list.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Julia Muney Moore
>Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
>Indianapolis Art Center
>inartctr@netdirect.net
*******************************************
Wendy Rosen
The Rosen Group
Niche & AmericanStyle Magazines
http://americanstyle.com
The Buyers Markets of American Craft
http://www.rosengrp.com
http://www.americancraft.com
3000 Chestnut Ave #304 Baltimore, MD 21211
Voice: 410/889-3093 Fax: 410/243-7089
*******************************************
John H. Rodgers on thu 12 mar 98
-- [ From: John H. Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
QVC will order quantities as low as 2000 units of some things. In Alaska, an
artist associate of mine designed nesting ceramic Sea Otter salt and
pepper shakers, and won a contract with QVC for 2000 sets of them for
QVC's first ever 50-in-50 show. There was no way he and his wife could
produce that quantity in his home studio. Since I have a large production
studio we did all the greenware casting for him and he did the finishing.
They were presented during the Best of Alaska show, but presented as the
very last item in the show. They completely sold out in 10 minutes at
$14/set. QVC re-ordered another 1400 units.
The ability to pretty much replicate your work is going to be important in
making sales with an outfit like QVC. Everyone out there in TV land wants
what it is that they see on the show, so the pieces all have to be exactly
the same or there will be unhappy customers. Curious thing about the public,
they have a hard time imagining acceptable variations of the items they
actually see, ie, if they see a brown otter but receive a black one they may
be unhappy, so if the display otter is brown, then all 2000 of them had
better be brown. That means you as a craftsperson must be able and capable
of replicating your ware pretty much exactly. That is going to be a big
consideration for catalogs as well. My shop has sold to mailorder houses and
that is always a big consideration. A good glaze that is wildly different
from piece to piece, even if the form is the same, could cause you problems.
In that kind of market, uniformity is the thing.
Just my experience.
John Rodgers visiting in Alabama
The Iditarod race to Nome is running in my home state.
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
Date: Wednesday, 11-Mar-98 09:43 AM
From: Wendy Rosen \ Internet: (wendyr@rosengrp.com)
To: Clayart \ Internet: (clayart@lsv.uky.edu)
Subject: Re: Need information about producing for mail-order catalogues!
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Dear Julia,
Several catalogs such as Sundance, Smith & Hawkins, MOMA and others
purchase craftwork for sale.... few however carry large ceramics in these
catalogs. Most are small pieces that sell for under $100 retail (or $40
wholesale). You must guarantee that you can ship an ungodly number (eventho
they might only be able to guarantee just a dozen or two). The QVC thing is
a better deal... 10,000-14,000 first order... you can buy back any
remainders IF YOU wish.
Good Luck... (Don't make too many!!!)
Wendy
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have a student who would like to investigate producing work for
>mail-order catalogues. Is someone on the list willing to share
>experiences and opinions of one catalogue retailer vs. another, and any
>tips about how much to produce, pricing, who's looking for what, and
>what to expect about contracts, payment, etc.? I would also appreciate
>any references to articles in CM, Crafts Report, or any other magazine
>that discusses this issue.
>
>Please reply privately or on the list.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Julia Muney Moore
>Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
>Indianapolis Art Center
>inartctr@netdirect.net
*******************************************
Wendy Rosen
The Rosen Group
Niche & AmericanStyle Magazines
http://americanstyle.com The Buyers Markets of American Craft
http://www.rosengrp.com
http://www.americancraft.com
3000 Chestnut Ave #304 Baltimore, MD 21211
Voice: 410/889-3093 Fax: 410/243-7089
*******************************************
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
| |
|
