NZGBA – New Zealand Glass Bead Artists

Hello fellow glass artists,

My first post at last!  Don’t know about you guys but it has been a bit too hot for me to do much glass work lately.  I’ve been very focused on coldworking and fusing – no torch required!  But I’m keen to get back to it now that the Auckland heat is subsiding a bit.

Not that the climate is purpose of this post but rather, the heat on pricing our wares.  The pre-christmas period was a busy sales period for me as I’m sure it was for you too.  As anticipated, I had a few cheeky people wanting to “steal” pieces and offering silly prices.  However, I stuck to my prices and did not provide any discounts.  I explained to the punters that the beads & jewellery are after all, art and the results of many hours of work.  No different than buying an original oil or watercolour painting!

I have to say (being the outspoken Dutchie that I am haha!) that I am concerned that some very talented people in our group are, in my opinion, selling their glass beads and jewellery at a similar price level to cheaper, imported, mass produced jewellery.  My question would be: what is the point?  You spend hours developing designs, using expensive materials and time at the torch/fusing only to put your works of art out there with no price premium.  I believe that the issue with this is that if one person prices too low, the expectation is that others will need to follow in order to achieve sales.  The end result is that glass bead & jewellery artistry as a category will not develop effectively in New Zealand and utimately, the art will not grow and thrive.  As a single artist, it means that people will come to see you as someone who produces low priced jewellery and its hard to put your prices up once you have created an expectation of lower prices.  Sorry to be so blunt

As a marketer (my main occupation is web development and marketing communications) I often say to my clients: don’t price yourself too low, its hard to pull back from a low pricing strategy and it puts emphasis on quantity as opposed to quality.

Think of the greatest prestige brands in the world.  They have carved out a niche in the market based on “uniqueness” or what we in marketing often refer to as a “USP – unique selling point”.  This is what allows these brands to carry pricing that is consistent with its special qualities.

I believe glass art is unique, highly differentiated and above all, true artistry.  I hope that we as a group can benchmark ourselves through our uniqueness and follow that up with strong, premium pricing.  And you know, just because you are a beginner, that’s no excuse and neither is the recession!  Lets band together this year and work hard on our pricing so its worth it for everyone – the artist and the purchaser.