Get a Bead On

The importance of atmosphere

No, I'm not talking about the weather related kind. I'm thinking about the sort of vibe that you enjoy when you visit the establishment of a local merchant.

My daughter and I were just discussing the "feel" of the many different coffee and tea houses that we have been in while wandering around our country in recent years. We talked about what we liked in them, what they lacked, and if we were to open our own, what it would be like.

Stella's on Old South Pearl St

We have been in coffee houses with local art on the walls, with music, with live music, with tables, with overstuffed couches, and with game rooms. Some had breakfast and lunch items, others just pastries. Books and magazines are also popular draws for these establishments and encourage people to hang out for a while. We have even been in a coffee shop that also sold flowers. I have yet to visit a coffee shop that is also a bowling alley, but I'll keep looking.

This atmosphere we speak of applies to other merchants as well. Restaurants and retail shops must have a whole science around what it takes to bring people into the shop and loosen them up to stay and spend their money. I suspect that entire towns consider this when they sit down to their urban planning, but that is a much larger scope than I am prepared to discuss.

I have found this theory holds true even in temporary spaces like tents in an art or craft show. The feel of the space, the friendliness of the staff, and the ambient lighting and music can all determine whether a prospect stops to look or continues on their way. I visited a local holiday bizarre a few years ago for the sole purpose of looking at jewelry vendor booths. Many booths were flat, colorless, everything lined up like little soldiers. And empty.

One booth however was nothing short of sweet chaos. Music was playing, the lights were bright, the displays were odds and ends of bowls, small suitcases, and cigar boxes filled to overflowing with the artists creations. You had to touch the merchandise in order to look at it all, picking things up to see what was underneath. The booth was packed, the register had a line and the owner was talking to everyone in line and smiling from ear to ear.

The difference? Not quality, not price point, now even practicality. It was the atmosphere. Women and men alike would walk near, stop, and then they HAD to go in for a closer look. They just had to. Atmosphere folks, atmosphere.

Think about an establishment that you like to frequent and tell me why. It is the smell, the sound, the look...or do you just like the coffee?

It’s a bead thing that even I don’t always understand

In a bizarre case of cosmic irony, I have witnessed firsthand the hunting and gathering of beads and honestly, I don’t get it. This is an odd statement from someone who creates with the pretty baubles.

As a jewelry designer, I have attended a variety of bead and gem type events. These events have helped me to determine those suppliers with the selection and pricing that works for me and my business. They are also an endless source of entertainment, let me explain why.

Imagine if you will and entire conference center filled with purveyors of jewelry making stuffs. Booths filled with tables and tables filled with hundreds of strands of beads. Easily hundreds of thousands of beads are for sale. Are they unique? Sometimes. More often they are the same vendors with the same offerings show after show. They compete on price hope that their relationships will bring you back for repeat business.

Yet, altercations can occur.  Customer’s claw and fight for positions at the tables, snatching strands out from under the hands of the person next to them. They clutch their trays filled with goodies as if their families depended on their successful haul of riches. They argue with the vendors over prices and terms, and the quality of their wares. In short, it is ridiculous. The bead strands they are fighting for? There are a hundred more at the next table!

It all makes me wonder about the value of beads. Maybe their value is ingrained in our history, harking back to the days when they were used as currency. Beads were used to trade for items such as food, clothing, even companionship. Empires were built using beads as monetary units. Hey, they don’t spoil; they store well, and can be worn around your neck. Still, the whole ordeal of the shows is making me think I will source my things online, from the commotion of my very own desk.

What things do you value and collect? Would you fight for them?

Jewelry designers and the business of marketing

I just placed another order with LeathercordUSA today. It's difficult for me because I want to click the button marked, "One of everything." Can you imagine? I would be stacking spools of leather in my garage. Oh it would smell lovely.

I did not however order that much, just enough to compliment the leather pieces I already have. I am so bad at making a bracelet and earrings but not making a matching necklace. Inevitably someone will ask if there is a certain matching jewelry item and then here I am ordering more stuff to complete the ensemble.

This leads me to my thought for today. I spent some time last summer narrowing my suppliers down and ordering items in bulk in order to get my cost of goods under control. Check. Job well done.

This time I am contemplating limiting the designs that I create so that I don't go off willy nilly and have orphaned items of jewelry. I love coming up with new designs, and using that one unique bead that I found somewhere, but then again, how marketable is the one unique item?

There is something to be said for creating and selling a one of a kind piece. Some folks like that there are only one and they own it. I think if I were silver smithing, which might be the way to go. I suspect the price point would be much higher than what I typically work with as well.

What I see more often is a client chooses a bracelet and wants another like it for her daughter or best friend. One has tiny wrists and the other has large wrists. They should look the same, but be sized differently.

So with this thought in mind I think I will create a variation of a few designs, using similar beads and different colors of leather. If I create a new design, as I did this weekend, I will "float" it to friends, stores, and my web site to get input and gage its viability as a standard offering.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this approach versus the unique, one of a kind model. Also, tell me your favorite smell. Have I mentioned that I adore the smell of leather?

My best beading buddy Gail and I went to the International Gem & Jewelry Show show here in Denver today. We have been before, we know the suppliers and they see us coming a mile away.

I have to be honest though, I wasn't into it today. Just didn't care about the shiny beauties, the strands of lovely colors, the special deals. I felt bad about this. How can I be a jewelry designer and not just go crazy at an event like this? What was wrong with me?

Finally I pried Gail out of the show with promises of a margarita on the way home. We wound up at a little place called Paris on the Platte and we sat on the street side patio. Ritas and chips were ordered and then the fun started.

We found ourselves in the midst of some twenty-somethings who were most certainly regulars. Cute, playful, flamboyant, they had it all. Gail and I did not fit in, but we did have something in common. Jewelry.

Before you knew it we were showing off our trinkets, exchanging numbers and Facebook information and telling stories about our accesories. Where we got it, how we made it or who we were with when the idea came to us. It was a great group of people, entertaining conversation and a reminder to me of why I do what I do. I love the stories and the emotion behind the adornments of the people I meet. It's inspiring. It helps me to understand what causes someone to pick up an item I have made and want to keep it for their own.

It makes me sad to talk to a talented designer and hear them tell me that they hate the people side of things, they just want to create and be left alone. I think they are missing out on the best part of being a creative person. The emotions that pour out of a person who LOVES something that you have made makes it all worth the effort. We as designers create for other people and we should do our best to remember that. Oh, and have a margarita once in a while too. It does wonders for a poor attitude!

Over the past few months I have been working with leather and silver. Some trial and error, but for the most part, results are comfortable and supple and easy to wear with any type of outfit. New designs and colors coming right up!

Just about any blog or article written today on the topic of growing a small business will throw about the benefits of social media marketing, seo or the use of Google Ad Words. I get it, I really do. You really do have to wonder who has the time to do all this busy work, or the money to hire someone to do it for you. I wonder if it all really matters.

2010 was a year where I made the deliberate decision to take a pass on entering into craft shows or jewelry shows. I was hesitant to spend the money, not only because of the economy but because being in a tent outside can really be a crapshoot. The elements can really frustrate an artist with high hopes and plenty of ones and fives for change.

My Plan B is to delve instead into the world of social media marketing and working with shop owners to increase exposure of my business. I feel I know quite a lot, but I have so much to learn. Follow my progress here.