‘Selling the Sizzle’ was Tina Rose’s suggestion for a title and it seemed very appropriate,and all the more so, as the day progressed and each speaker had another tale to tell about how they go about selling work. We were certainly feeling the sizzle by the end of the day!

To get things started our keynote speakers were Professor Georgina Follet and Dr Louise Valentine who outlined the exciting plans for the V&A at Dundee and what this will mean to makers and designers. To have this amazing resource in Scotland as soon as 2015 is a huge undertaking but with support, funding and the drive of a focused team is seems it will happen – I for one can’t wait.

Selling the Sizzle, Dr Louise Valentine and Melanie Muir

Deirdre Neilson is a name that is familiar to many of us -as artist in resident, mentor and textile artist extraordinaire but her talk was about how she has completely embraced all the new Social Media to promote her work. If everyone was not Tweeting by the end of the day they should be!

Then to get everyone talking we had a first – Speedcraft! The brainchild of Tina with assistance from Carol, it was a brilliant way to get people talking about their work, making new contacts and exchanging ideas.

In the afternoon we continued our theme with four speakers each with a different approach to retailing.

Maggie Broadly from West Kilbride and Craft Town Scotland, Steph Marsden from Edinburgh’s  Craft House Concept, Emma Blain from the Shetland group Text- Isles and finally Carrie and Clare from Made in the Shade in Glasgow.

The day was aimed at getting makers and retailers to look at new ways of selling, to inspire and enthuse! We certainly did that and I don’t think I have seen such an animated group of makers in one place for a long time.

Selling the Sizzle

Our event was another of HI-Arts Crafts promotions to support the sector in developing their work and to assist them to find new markets.

Through our Mentoring to Market programme makers have researched shows from Origin to Country Living.We took a group to London and Craft Central in May to showcase their work and then another group headed to Germany and EU-inqe trade and retail show. All have come back with similar tales of declining sales, the huge costs of exhibiting and all through no fault of the organisers or the quality of work on show. The public seem to love their work but very few are buying.

So where do we go from here? Are the days of trade and retail shows over as makers are getting less and less keen to commit to the outlay with no guarantee of sales?

I personally feel that the time is ripe to look at new ways of selling and to be creative with your approach.

Use social media to promote, think local and niche events, look at new customers in areas you may not have considered, get together with like minded makers for pop up shops and party events, be as imaginative as you can. And when the economic storm has passed – as it eventually will – you will be ready to take on the world!

Whatever you do, if your work means anything to you, you must not give up but see change as a new and exciting opportunity.

Pamela Conacher 8^th June 2011

Many of our projects address the need for our makers to get together; sometimes in a formal way through events such as Makers Days and at other times it just happens that the people involved hit it off and before we know it an informal group has emerged with very little intervention on our part!

Feeling isolated can be a real problem when you live and work in a remote area and anything that can be done to help with this is a really positive and essential aspect of the work we do.

Informal groups have sprung up from Makers Days, our visit to Stroud International Textile Festival, from our Making Progress mentoring project and many of the research visits we have arranged.

Emails and social networking go a long way but sometimes you can’t beat a good blether over tea (and cakes!).

Our latest visit to London and Craft Central brought this home once more.

Members of Craft Central are part of a network of UK makers who can rent studio space in two wonderful buildings in Clerkenwell and participate in many of the events organised there including Open Studio selling days and exhibitions as well as business support and workshops. For obvious reasons a large number of the makers live and work in London but some (and that includes several from Scotland) use the organisation as their London studio, giving them an affordable way of reaching new markets but also the opportunity to meet other members.

Makers that I spoke with said that having the support system of the others in studios near by is one of the most important aspects of membership.

Our makers don’t often have such a luxury so we need to do all we can to put our own systems in place.

Through our Mentoring to Market programme we are delighted to be able to now have the opportunity for our makers to become members of  Craft Central and to benefit from a London base, new contacts and networks.

We will be featuring more on this development on the website but it is one positive way of increasing our profile and gives our makers a chance to work together and with a new group of people.

As we stopped to take a break at the end of a hectic day – and yes more tea and cakes were involved – we reflected on how to make the very best of our London connections.

We are so fortunate to be based in an area that inspires and gives our makers’ work such a strong identity and now we can dip into city life and all the new opportunities that this will bring.

Throughout the next few months we will be strengthening our London links and in May 2011 we will be showing our makers work to this new audience with our Highland Showcase.

I can’t wait to see the results!

After such an inspiring trip it was back to battling snow, delayed trains, flights and the cold road home and the reality of the distances involved between  London and the Highlands. Hopefully we can do something to make this less even if we can’t control the travel aspect!

Pamela Conacher

November 2010

www.craftcentral.org.uk

Assemble

On Tuesday I was in a very hot London for the Craft Council Conference, Assemble. Set in the lovely surroundings of LSO St Lukes, I had high expectations for the day, hoping to come home inspired and informed!

The Craft Council used the conference to launch research papers as well as the giving us opportunity to debate economic innovation and the social value of craft in the new economy.

 I was fortunate to have Gilly Langton from Plockton with me (she had been funded through our Go and See programme, see her report http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/Crafts/go-and-see-visits-reports.htm) as I did not spot many other familiar faces. It is a pity, as one of the reasons for going to conferences is the opportunity to catch up with colleagues as well as making new connections!

Although the Craft Council is billed as the national development agency for contemporary craft in the UK, I do find the London- centric slant of their programmes irritating. Every time they say that they are rolling out a programme for the UK I feel like saying ‘but not Scotland’ as whenever I have approached them about projects I would think could benefit our makers I have been told that they are only for England. Fair enough, as they are funded by Art Council England, but they should not say the UK when it is clearly not the case!

Saying that, we do benefit from some of their programmes such as the work we have borrowed from their Collection for our exhibition, Made it – but it is very unusual for this to happen and certainly the first time work from their collection has been in the Highlands.

As the day progressed I tried to make sense of what was being discussed and how it relates to the work we do here in the Highlands. So much talk of digital media and making sure we embrace it or we will be left behind! Possibly all true, but I do worry about the time and energy all this takes and how we are in danger of moving away from what craftspeople do –making beautiful objects with their hands- and hope we will not be left with makers with amazing skills in digital media who can throw a wonderful virtual pot but when faced with real clay are unable to do anything with it!

I trust not and do have faith that makers are practical, realistic and love what they do, realising the huge importance of creating with your hands especially in these difficult economic times.

By the end of the day I felt frustrated that I had heard so much before and that no clear idea of a way forward was being suggested, perhaps it was the heat but I felt the audience was not really engaging with the conversation and that it was a missed opportunity.

However, as always it is important to go to events such as this, especially when you live in the Highlands, as it is too easy to get complacent about the work you do and forget about the rest of the world. Even if one comes away feeling slightly disappointed, there will still be benefits, even if they are just to confirm that we are on the right track here!

As Gilly and I agreed on the train home, the best bit about going to London is getting the sleeper and waking up the next morning in the Highlands knowing that what we are doing is right for us in our area and that we are so privileged to be able to do this in such an inspirational place!

Pamela Conacher

24^th June 2010

www.assemble.org.uk   www.craftscouncil.org.uk

http://craftresearch.blogspot.com/2010/06/assemble-london-session-1.html

Our makers at Stroud, with Hazel and Pamela

Travelling Makers

From Shetland, Westray, Iona, Lochaber and Inverness, we arrived by trains, ferries, buses, taxis, planes and in some cases, all five!

Organising Highland invasions like this seems to be an integral part of my job and one I relish. By the very nature of our location, we usually work in isolation and although this can be wonderful a lot of the time, sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zone and look at the rest of the world. The chance to meet with like minded people, to discuss and plan, inspire and enthuse and then to return home exhausted with a head filled with new ideas, friendships and contacts is essential for those of us who live here.

Our group to attend the Stroud International Textile Festival was such a visit – all makers who were exhibiting as part of this year’s festival plus Hazel Hughson from Shetland Arts, Avril and myself from HI-Arts.

We were also going to see how we could be involved in the festival in coming years and to look at ways we could translate this to the Highlands.

Attending the festival was a great way to get our band of well travelled makers together and then to watch what happens as they realise that they are not alone in their struggles, that they  have all to leave and organise their workshops, families and life. That wherever we live, we have similar needs and demands.

Where the Highland and Islands are different from most of the rest of the country is that we have serious transport issues to address; getting supplies, organising exhibitions, meeting other makers and organisations take on a whole new dimension when you have to deal with ferries,planes, weather and single track roads.

Our Stroud trip confirmed that this is something that people in other parts of the country have really no idea about. I heard one comment at our networking supper that seemed to sum this up, ‘Shetland, is that where they make Harris Tweed?!

Hazel usually takes out her map at this point and then shows the bemused person where Shetland sits in relation to the rest of the country, and when they also realise that the Highlands are a huge area geographically and I tell them that my commute to Inverness is a 5 hour round trip, they get some idea of the scale of the area we cover!

Perhaps this is why our makers work really demonstrates such a sense of place. Looking at our groups work at Made in the Highlands at Made in Stroud you are struck by the way the colours reflect our area, the quality is outstanding and the designs are  contemporary but still retain the essence of our heritage, something that was commented on by so many people.

I hope by taking groups to other areas, our makers go home feeling less isolated and that the places and people they visit have a better understanding of where we come from and what we do. And best of all, I look forward to makers getting back in touch to tell me about their new plans and projects as a result of their trip!

Next week we are off to London and Collect with a new group, so watch this space for my update on that visit!

Pamela

www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk