Vince Pitelka on mon 16 aug 04
> Slightly longer than Christmas tree lights.
> About 3 years.
> That's longer than the majority of John or
> Jane Q Public will keep functional ware
> before they tire of it and it goes to the
> yard sale, thrift shop or dump.
Earl -
I am curious as to where this opinion comes from. This has never been my
experience, but then I am not sure who you are refering to as John or Jane
Q. Public. Most people want to get the most out of their money, so they
make things last, even if they buy without imagination or passion. Those
with a great deal of disposeable income may tend to buy on whim and turn
over such things quickly, but I cannot imagine them treating handmade
pottery that way. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. Those who
do buy with imagination or passion, which is more likely to be the case with
handmade pots, would certainly hold on to them for a long time. Three years
seems a very short attention span when it comes to handmade wares.
I was a studio potter in Northern California for ten years, and left there
twenty years ago. I have never tried to figure out the quantity of stuff I
sold locally over those ten years, but it was at least 50% of everything I
made. Friends report that occasionally my stuff appears at yard sales or
flea markets, but not very often. Certainly there has been a lot of
attrition through breakage over the last twenty years, but that still leaves
a great quantity of pots still in use in people's homes.
This may be one of those cases where it helps especially to cultivate your
market. When people know the potter, they feel a more personal connection
to the pots, and are more likely to hold on to them for a long time.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Earl Krueger on mon 16 aug 04
On Aug 16, 2004, at 10:45 AM, Vince Pitelka wrote:
> I am curious as to where this opinion comes from.
Vince,
Below is my earlier reply to Cindi who asked the same
question.
Back in the 50's, 60's and 70's my father traded in his
automobile every two years. Not because he wore it
out but because he just loved automobiles. I think
the same thing is happening today with many people
with many things. They don't wear them out, they
just get tired of them and want something new,
something different.
Different people view return on their expenditure in
different ways. Some believe they must eke out every
single penny's worth of functionality they can. Others
are content that they have received adequate return
when they tire of their purchase.
Pottery is unlike almost anything else available in the
marketplace today. It can last a 1000 years but just
because it can doesn't mean that a purchaser must
keep it forever. What's wrong with a customer
replacing their tableware every 3 years? Keeps the
potters working.
Earl K...
Bothell, WA, USA
Earlier reply to Cindi:
By observation! Of the households we have visited
regularly over the last 8 years:
One changes their decoration at least once a year.
Their tableware is usually bright and bold, modern,
and matches the current theme. They have moved
once to a brand new house.
Three other households have replaced their tableware
at least twice. They generally go for middle of the
road in design and quality. They redecorate occasionally
and one of them has moved once.
One household has tableware that they got shortly
after being married. It is high quality and of elegant
design but dull from use and marked by utensils.
There are not enough cups to go around so I always
get the old mug with coffee stained craze lines.
They have lived 24 years in the same house.
My favorite place to go.
Maybe it's just the crowd I hang out with?
Earl Krueger on sat 21 aug 04
On Aug 19, 2004, at 11:13 PM, Vince Pitelka wrote:
> It would disturb me to find out that there are large
> numbers of people out there who develop such a
> shallow connections with handmade items that
> they want to get rid of them after three years.
> I simply cannot imagine that.
Vince,
I work in a high-tech, last month's new gizmo is
old-hat-this-month industry. Our customers will pay
more than what a place setting of handmade
tableware would cost, yet after only one year will
casually toss the product in the trash without a second
thought. This is the world I live in and it has
undoubtedly affected my attitudes and those of my
friends.
On the other hand, if I may extrapolate and conjecture
a little, you have spent a considerable portion of your
life enveloped in a more conservative industry with
a long history and centuries old traditions. This has
probably affected your attitudes.
Or, maybe because of our attitudes we have just
naturally gravitated to our respective industries. Either
way we both, likely, have a jaundiced view of the general
public.
I appreciate well-crafted handmade items but I have
trouble understanding the reverence for them that
you and some others on the list seem to have. After
all, they are just objects. Sure, they have uniqueness
and a well crafted piece shows the developed skill of
the maker but these traits, by themselves, are not
sufficient to keep me from replacing the object with
something new and different. How long I keep an object
depends on how long it "speaks" to me. A few months
ago I paid about $45 for a plate. It's a nice plate but it
now only speaks to me occasionally. I would guess that
by this time next year it will have been replaced and be
living in a new home.
Perhaps it is not the shallow, unimaginative people who
replace their tableware but rather the thinking and truly
artistic who enjoy the mental stimulation provided by the
variety.
Or, is this really all about marketing?
Earl K...
Bothell, WA, USA
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