Having surrounded by many useful tools & machines, anyone can make furniture. Some uses nails and other uses ONLY hand tools as ancient people did. So to be some furniture maker, production is not so much trouble. The trouble is, apparently, to make sales.
You simply count number of graduates of woodworking (or furniture design) schools of yours and compare it with the number of people who newly started business. I guess it might be less than 10%. Where are the others? They can't start business because they can't 'make' stuff? no, it can't be. They must have finished at least an exercise box. But what's wrong with the exercise box? In some school (like my school) finishing the box (or small cabinet) is much harder than that DIY desk or chair. You have to hand plane its surface and put 'perfectly fit' back panel. So the box is super high quality (in this era) but probably not sell-able (as you might have seen.) Why is that?
Probably it's because no one around you wants to pay for it. Obviously the teacher and the other students don't want to. (Because they can make the same thing.) What about people in the town? 99% not. Because they know those boxes are just exercise and made every year. They don't have to harry to get them even they want to. But what about your parent/grand parents who live far away? They might pay some (i.e. you make sales.) Or maybe at Itsy (online craft store). What I mean here is, chance of sales is increased if you change place (or situation). Here I call the place "battlefield". (it's from the book I've read.)
It's not just a box, you know, it's made by a student of that famous woodworking school. Or you can repeatedly make that high quality box. That's "Asset". Those "assets" can't be obtain by anyone but only who bear up with teachers nasty words and yelling. (No, I don't mean there were such facts in my school. Trust me. Seriously. Just an imagine.)
Still your stingy family may not open their wallet for your marvelous exercise box. Maybe the price is too high, higher than the other beautiful box or a flat screen TV which your family's been craving. I don't know. But your well-built box may need to have much cheaper price than TV and the cheap price is "Strength". Here free materials for the exercise box is the "Asset" for the cheap price. In other words, inexpensive facility/material makes inexpensive box.
The next term i want to tell you is "Customer". Unfortunately the people around the school aren't your customer. Because there's no benefit for having an exercise box for them. So for those who get benefit from your box are your customer, like your family or friends, admirers. (Actually your admirers are the best customers, I think.)
Last term I want to tell is "Sales message". Your famous school is pretty good message for the customers. The hand-plane mark left on the surface can be a good message that the box is hand-made. The fact that the box is made by the son/daughter is also a message for your parents. A great design/catch copy is obviously a great message for everybody. You need to tell right message for right person.
I think most of high-proud craftsmen forget the fact where they're competing. Is it furniture battlefield (b/f from now on), or gift b/f, or art b/f? And quite often they don't know who their customers are. If you have some commission to do now, I recommend you to research why he/she has asked you to make stuff. Their reason is your strength, and the strength must come from your background.
If you have confused, I apologize. I'm drinking some fine spirit. Yesterday I went to liquor store (liquor b/f), I picked the spirit which I know it tastes good and reasonable (has strength), and has good story on the label (has good message).
That's marketing. Marketing is not for just greedy people in the big city but is happening anytime inside you and people. That's what I think. If you can say immediately 3 names who want to buy your products, you're a good marketer.
Being an independent and individual furniture maker is not easy at all. You have to be a good craftsman, marketer, and accountant. Having good skill is not enough, having good concept of design is not enough. You have A LOT of stuff to do and prepare before starting business. Now I don't know why those schools don't tell the fact. I love Krenov style but it's not for EVERYBODY. Too simple. If you want to be a true Krenov style furniture maker, you need to pay a lot for promotion, it could be a billions of dollars. (Please just guess how much a diamond jeweler have paid for promotion, just for a shiny, tiny stone until now!)
There's no good battlefield for Krenovian in anywhere in the world right now, I mean just telling a message that you're Krenovian is no good for your sales. You know what I mean.
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I think it's good for the graduate of my school to start business locally. Get as much as opinion as you get and find out what kind of "true strength" you have. Please do. Is it price, detail, or the fingerprints? I believe in what the school taught us and believe it brings some sort of happiness to customer like Krenov did in Sweden. It must happen in any language/country. I know some people get really, really interested in our products in my show in Toronto but they didn't purchase. Why is that? It must not be just the design or quality. What is it?
自己紹介 Profile
- Daisuke Tanaka
- Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- Learning fine woodworking at Inside Passage School for three years. I Have made a variety of pieces like box, stool, desk, chair, and cabinet. All of them are one of a kind and originally designed. Right now I live in Atsugi, Japan making furniture at my friend's workshop.
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All i got to say is don't lose your passion for the craft, that's the only 'asset' we have when battling it out against mechanized furniture plants.
Great post Daisuke,
So much to think and talk about! One observation I have made over the years is the role of function in building pieces of furniture. From the Krenovian world a lot of cabinet on stands get made and while I love these as a woodworker, I have never seen one in a single house. Ever, photos or in person. Why? I have my theories but will keep them to myself. So when people build $10,000 display cabinets and wonder why they won't sell, it's not about design or quality, that goes without saying, but that the prices may be too high for a piece that is no longer a part of our home's vocabulary? Woodworkers tend to do this, build things that interest them, I'm completely guilty of it!
We are like classical musicians who can't figure out why the world won't listen to our amazing music. Is it good, yes! Is it relevant. Nope.
After sitting down I thought to myself "wow I hope that comment did not sound harsh!" It was not meant to be in any way! I think what I was trying to say was that perhaps if we start thinking of making objects that people actually want, will use and seem to buy, we may be more successful. Then we can apply our crafty "skills" to the creation of these pieces to set them apart from the others available. Tyler has done a great job of this with his pepper mills, wine holders and totes.
And I do like symphonic music by the way.
Wow! Interesting stuff. Ian, your classical music analogy wrapped up our dilemma more succinctly than anything I've heard up until now.
It is really hard to make something unique, something that stands out, and keep it functional and relevant. Not to mention, that if you want to sell it on a regular basis, it must be done efficiently.
Ikea has many great designs and their stuff is all functional. The problem is that it is all built like shit BUT they sell it for next to nothing and people gobble it up.
So even if we assume that design, functionality and relevance are a wash, that leaves us with price and quality.
Our quality - very high
Our price - very high
Production furniture quality - Mediocre
Production furniture price - Low
In a disposable society like ours , who wins the battle?
Not to mention, like Daisuke said, you need serious dollars to market yourself and whose wallet are you going to find those in?
My apologies if I sound cranky or pessimistic but I was laying in bed, almost asleep when I realized I Effed myself right in the A today. What do you get when you make mortises square that were supposed to be angled? A big pile of shit.
ian, you get a bunch of plugged mortises.
i have to say that i agree with the lord, the classical music comparison is fantastic. we just need to remember that there are still people out there that listen to classical music. it just a matter of finding our concert hall. our battle field.
i have a cabinet on stand in our house, it's for sale, but we've had it out for a while, and it's really nice, it adds a whole lot to the room.
daisuke, i think the main battle field we are fighting on, is the one of personal values. people value changing decor more then having timeless pieces. they value starter homes and furniture, rather then family homes and heirlooms.
obviously the quality price scale that we are operating on is correct, high quality for high price. this paradigm works for many markets, such as the jewelry market and every other market out there. we just need to stick with it until we get known enough and pierce into that market. we are the lamborginies and the mazarraties of the furniture world. we just need to let other people know... i think this is the crux of your post, how do we tell people?
or we can make good quality furniture for the more common folk and actually sell the stuff for reasonable prices. just minus the soul.
Thank you very much for your comments, guys.
Passion for the craft is definitely our asset, which furniture plants never able to possess. But we don't have to battle only with it, we can also arm with marketing knowledge/tools, intelligence, and network.
I'm not trying to confuse people with this blog, I simply can't stand on watching craftsmen in the "front line" being mercilessly bombed by invisible giant.
Well, if we are classical musicians, we must be playing music in a bar, supermarket, hockey stadium. Somewhere irrelevant, where customers in it don't get any benefit from symphonic music. But what about in someones birthday party? or a good restaurant, or a department store in holiday season?
Like there's no perfect music/song for everybody, there's no perfect piece/design for everybody. Some goes to IKEA because he/she wants to save money for his/her dream to come true. Some need to have famous designers chair in the office for their customers. Some home owner wants to get an one-off furniture made by a local cabinetmaker which fits in the space.
We have to define our target when selling pieces. (If it's hobby, no need to define it.) Then use any skill you possess to attract targets. If the target contents with the piece/design, the message, the quality, the manner of sale, he/she is about to be your fan/follower.
I think to have your fans/followers is the first and most important priority in the fine craft world. They aren't "everybody". They have their name, face, history, and taste. Ferrari knows who their fans are. They make supercar for their fan, not others.
Jbreau, I believe we shouldn't start big promotion before having good audience. Start no-brand, small and locally and build a solid system to get fans.
I need to put at least 3 more posts to show the full picture. Please be patient.
I've been having some serious doubts about this furniture thing. I've just been thinking, "who cares?, what for?, why am i doing this?, why is this so hard to make a buck out of?". It's really starting to suck the fun and the passion out of building furniture for me.
Building all these great pieces for a portfolio that may or may not lead to customers? Am i just going to build furniture and stuff into a room forever?
But yet, some craftsman are making a buck out of this and a decent buck at that. Whats making people head to them and not to others?
Marketing? Luck? Years of doubting yourself and hard work hoping it'll finally pay off one day?
Great post indeed! I do all my woodworking with hand tools,no power tools what so ever, and market it that way... That said, I don't sale many pieces yet... But every body that have seen what I do realy loves it and realy like the fact that it is made by hand... That said, there is no line up at my door... Yet!
It is a tought buisiness, when your price for a nice coffe table is $1000+ and around the corner you can buy one for $250 that will hold your cup just as well(I don't beleive that). Thing is that now a day, we are in a sociaty of consumption so people are happy to buy cheep and get rid of it after a few year to buy something else... We have to do some education on why the custom stuff is better and why it is more expensive!! A lot of people don't understand!
I hope what I said make sens!!
Cheers
I guess Krenov was right when he said the best furniture will be made by the amatuer.
LS
Wow, I've been in Milwaukee without internet for the last couple days and I miss this ha.
The thing about school "not preparing" for the life of business. IP never stated to be a business school. In fact that was one of the first things said in intro lectures. "This is not a business school, it is a craft school."
There are other wood working schools that include business into the program. That can be readily seen when searching schools.
And of course there are entire schools dedicated to the topic everywhere.
Being seen is important of course. And yes, there is no "hot spot" in the world for the "krenovian" or any real high end furniture. But there are people out there with pieces in their homes. Problem with the "traditional" or "popular" marketing approach is that these people are very sparsely populated throughout the world. Even in the states. There are people in Montana, Iowa, Idaho, Tennessee... With the money, taste, and desire for these kinds of things. Often the may be in relatively secluded areas.
How does one approach them? I don't know. At the moment I don't pay it too much mind. There probably isn't a way to efficiently reach these people as up-starts. Osmosis seems to be a viable way. Build. Work at your local area. Keep working, not just wood working but all the rest that goes with it. A trickle may start and spread.
Most people I talk to who are making money at these kinds of professions, "jobs" they love, have no tricks, no quick fixes. The thing I keep hearing is "keep at it."
Honestly I feel that is probably the best approach, at least for me (no surprises ha). It is important to be mindful of the market around you and throughout the world, use it as an asset, but don't let it distract you. That is if you want to be making high quality intimate work. Perfectly fine if not in which case other approaches may be better.
I also love Orchestral music. I think it is still relevant. Perhaps it's not relevant to pop-culture but that is not their market.
I think these/our kind of craft work is relevant and that in coming years there very well may be a renewed interest in craft. It has happened before in similar conditions, history has a trend of repeating itself.
I realize I'm jumping into this posting 5 months late. What a great discussion. I took the Artisan program at IP in 2009. The year following the program, I struggled to make ends meet. I gave up and started my own construction company. I also was asking myself, "would I pay that much? nope."
Lately I've been pondering some things. We live in a rapidly changing world. As an artist, I don't really deal with other artists. Artists have generally always worked alone. These giant furniture manufactures are run by teams of people. What if artists started working together? And I don't mean the odd time collaboration. And something more than a co-op.
A business of craftsmen/ women.
We are all working alone, we are divided. Maybe it's time to change and let go of our gigantic ego's;)
I believe if we are to survive as craftspeople, we need to team up.
Now how to do that? I don't know.
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