Reply To: Making this into a businesse.
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Hi Frank, sorry I know this is a late reply. I don’t often check this section of the forum.
I’ve been slowly setting up my busyness over the last maybe 9 months. So first of I’ll say I’m not making any money and I’m no expert. Everything I tell you is what I’ve been taught and have not put into real practice myself yet. At the moment my focus has been stashing cash for proper machinery and a kickstart when I’m ready to give it 100% which will be this time next year.
At uni I studied Contemprary Applied Arts, which is basicaly a practical arts and crafts course aimed at getting people out selling and making work. It had a great emphesies on profeshional practice so I think I’ve got usefull knowledge on that kind of thing.
There are some things that I think are pretty important to start with. You need some very good photos of your work, and I mean very good. Galleries won’t consider your work if you have bad photos. Pay someone to take them if you must, it would be well worth the money. Get together a proper portfolio before you do anything, a hard copy and a website. Theres are tones of free websites, I use moonfruit and a decent portfolio book is about £20 to £30, I got mine of ebay and I would say it needs to be A3. 6×4 inch post cards with a strong image of your work is fairly standard in the craft world, but having standard business cards is usefull as well. You also need a well thought through artist statement. Perhaps 300 words explaning what inspires your work, this is where if your capable of writing like it you have to get romantic and poetic about it. But it needs to be clear and focused.
Having all this helps you get into galleries, crafts fairs and craft societys/organizatins which Is going to be key to getting customer base. In the Uk at least there are a lot of craft organizations that help you find galleries, give you networking opurtunities, and business help. The crafts council have a tone of info on there website. I’ve just started rewriting my business plan now because i haven’t looked at it in a while.