Okay, I’m about to be a traitor to my craft.
What is the big deal about “handmade?”
Is it what you DO, or what you MAKE, that is important to you?
If you just want to make a table, and you want to compete with tables sold at Kmart, then you want to make one that's fast and easy and sells for less than $200.
If you want to make a beautiful one-of-a-kind table made of recycled chestnut wood from an antique barn with handcut dovetailing and handsanded to a soft gleam, then you you will probably have to charge more than $200 for it. And people who are looking to spend around $200 for a table will complain about your prices. You will have to market to people who APPRECIATE (or who can be taught to appreciate) your investment of time and attention to detail and quality of materials.
And more importantly, your table better not look at all like the one they can buy from Kmart for less than $200.
I think this all started with the “Hand Made/High Tech” conference sponsored by the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen awhile back. I wrote one of my first blogs about this event. The conclusion of the conference was scary but simple: In an age of increasingly sophisticated technology, simple time may not be the highest indicator of value in a manufactured object. Increasingly, the value of a handmade item will lie in the creative vision of the artist that makes it.
In essence, "handmade" will not be able to compete with "mass-produced" in price, and maybe not in quality. And "handmade" alone may not be enough "sizzle" to justify its price.
It's gonna have to have a WOW factor.
I get confused anyway by the delineation between “manufactured” items and “handcrafted” items. Especially since the root words of “manufacture” come from “made by hand”. Even the most tawdy tchochtke was touched by human hands at some point in its production. Mass produced means a lot of something is made quickly and cheaply, but does not automatically mean little robots are assembling the stuff. Cheap imports are still made by SOMEONE overseas. Just because American hands touched it, why is it automatically better? Why is your artistic vision more worthy than theirs?
And the AMOUNT of time real hands touched the work isn't enough, either.
If we want to have our prices respected, we're gonna have to work harder than that. Our story is going to have to get better--for our customers, not for us.
I recently heard someone justifying their high cost for their wares by saying they had put so much time into it. But your time ALONE is not of benefit to your customer. Sorry, but true. There comes a time where your unlimited time invested in an object is simply not worth it to a customer. Unless your work is SO SPECTACULAR and AMAZING that they understand the time they are paying for is actually a piece of your life. And I don't mean spectacular and amazing to YOU, but to your customer.
I listened to a jeweler explain to me recently why a simple pair of patterned earrings were 4 times what I expected to pay. She explained that she did some design procedure by hand, which most jewelers don't, and I nodded as if I understood--but I DIDN'T. I didn't understand why I should pay $120 more because she did it by hand. In what way was it "better" or of benefit to me? I couldn't see or appreciate the difference.
Maybe it's because I'm unsophisticated about certain jewelry making techniques. Even so, it's her job to TELL ME why her way makes the piece AMAZINGLY better and worth that extra money. It's like the example of someone mowing your lawn--just because someone being paid by the hour to mow your lawn chooses to use a pair of scissors to do it, doesn't mean it's automatically worth that extra time to you.
Please, please, please don’t play the “time” card alone when pricing your product. Use the time card when it’s impossible to do it any faster and keep the quality, or that special effect. Use it when it’s something fabulous, or unique, or strange. Use it when its your personal vision, combined with a fantastic story that grabs someone’s heart and pulls them in. Use it when that extra time results in a perceived benefit TO YOUR CUSTOMER.
But please don’t ask me to pay more for your widget just because you are really slow at making it.
