primalmommy on sun 28 apr 02
I have bever liked printed price tags on pots for sale. Long before I
started making pots to sell, I always disliked it. To me, it says
"WalMart" -- mass produced, machine assisted, everything we DON'T want
when we buy handmade pottery. I feel the same way about those detailed
inked stamps (or decals or whatever they are) used to sign the bottom of
pots; it makes me wonder if they are factory-produced. When I see
handmade pottery elsewhere inthe wolrd with a printed price tag it is
often stuf bought cheap in another country and market up for mass sale
here... or it is at a goodwill or salvation army store... or it is mass
produced. Those connotations somehow don't mesh with the traditional
nature of pots; I'd much rather see a hand-scribbled number. But that's
just me, and not always practical I'm sure... still, if we take the time
to individually throw/build, trim, dry, fire and glaze by hand... why
not that last act of writing a number on a sticker with a pen?
Yours, Kelly in Ohio... kids at grandmas for the weekend, so jeff and I
are -- well, cleaning the basement. Do we know how to party, or what?
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Imzadi . on sun 28 apr 02
I was mulling over getting a pricing un because of this thread until I was
at
a crafts fair this morning and saw price gun stickers on pots as well as
other booths with the handwritten labels.
My initial reaction when I realized I was looking at price gun stickers was
that it DISTANCED me emotionally from the pottery. My instinctive reaction
was that this piece is on the level of a Walmart manufactured pot,
manufactured pricing system. Interestingly, even though their prices were
outragously low, they said they weren't doing too well ath this fair (in an
extremely upscale neighborhood) and people were still trying to bargain them
out of their stated prices. The hand labeling system just seems to go with
the overall theme of "handmade" (in my opinion.) " I made this pot with care
and consideration and have priced the piece with care and consideration as
to
what it is worth and what I have decided I want for it."
Also, just a note, if someone is a price haggler, they will probably do it
regardless of what the venue and pricing system used. I know a gallery
salesperson, who works at a prestigious Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive gallery
and
some millionaires haggle with him over a muti-thousand dollar item.
Imzadi
primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM writes:
<< I have bever liked printed price tags on pots for sale. Long before I
started making pots to sell, I always disliked it. To me, it says
"WalMart" -- mass produced, machine assisted, everything we DON'T want
when we buy handmade pottery. >>
Lee Love on mon 29 apr 02
> primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM writes:
>
> << I have bever liked printed price tags on pots for sale. Long before I
> started making pots to sell, I always disliked it. To me, it says
> "WalMart" -- mass produced, machine assisted, everything we DON'T want
> when we buy handmade pottery. >>
At the Shun opening last week http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~ikiru/mackj.html ,
we
picked up a video "Mingeisota", about MacKenzie and his work. It was
filmed
in about /93. It is nicely photographed & was an NHK special. The
photographer that made it was at the opening (he often follows MacKenzie
around
when he is in Japan.)
My wife showed it to her Thrusday night English conversation group that
meets in our livingroom. Jean thought it would show them a little bit
about
what Minnesota was like. They gasped when they saw a shot of MacKenzie
pricing Matchawan (tea ceremony type bowls) with a price gun. He was
tagging
the teabowl with a stick that said $6.00. :^) I think his prices are up
a
little bit now. Jean paid 5000 yen for a similar bowl at the opening.
This
is how much the video cost too.
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~ikiru/mackj.html
--
Lee Love In Mashiko Ikiru@kami.com
"The best pots for me are the pots that I like." --Shoji Hamada (1894-1978)
http://www.awanomachi-tcg.ed.jp/mashiko.html
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