Yesterday I went to the Buyers Market of American Crafts, a huge wholesale craft market run by Wendy Rosen twice yearly at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. More than 1500 craft artists bring their wares and try and fill their order books with business from galleries and shops across the country. Every year I go to this event to look for some makers of furniture and furnishings who make interesting work and might want to sell in the Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show.
This year I talked mostly to glass artists and potters, not by choice but because there were so few furniture makers. I doubt there were more than two dozen in the whole show. And when you eliminate some based on my aesthetic choices and some because they probably won’t want to travel from the west coast or Canada, the list is pretty slim.
Why is this? Well, I think furniture is a different bird than most other crafts. In the first place, it is more expensive. So if you add the 100% markup that most stores or galleries place on top of the maker’s price, it gets to be quite expensive for the end customer, usually pricing the item out of any sizable market.
In the second place, much of the market for craft furniture consists of work commissioned by the client to suit a specific need. This in fact is one of the major justifications for the higher prices commanded by one of a kind work. It can be tailored to the dimensional and contextual needs of the buyer. But beyond this, it fills a need which mass produced work never can, the potential for the client to become involved in creating something they cherish, knowing the maker and furthering his or her career. Selling through stores and galleries eliminates these vital connections.
Of course, as opposed to the Buyers Market, the PIFS is a retail show (though we always have and welcome visitors from the interior design community and gallery world) where artists sell directly to the consumer. So this year’s visit to the Buyer’s Market reaffirmed my belief in the unique role the PIFS plays in nurturing the world of artisan made furniture. It is the place where the artist and the client meet to initiate the relationship which is at the core of the transaction.
