Workshop results for the symposium: Building the market for collectors of contemporary craft in the North West

Image by Chris Payne

A bit chilly, maybe, but studio 6 at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair was a hotbed of ideas and discussion this October.

The North West Craft Network organised the symposium BUILDING THE MARKET FOR COLLECTORS IN THE NORTH WEST in conjunction with Great Northern Events, who are the brains behind the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair.

We had four mini-workshop sessions addressing how we can build the market for collectors of contemporary craft. The results are published here. Lots of interesting stuff to absorb and digest, but it is noticeable that marketing features strongly in the section about what we should do, and building relationships (even, in one case, facilitated by sherry), comes over strongly in the 'what has worked' section.


Great to get together curators, makers, policy makers, agencies, collectors, directors and more to put out heads together and see what we can do.

The workshop results will feed into the future plans for the North West Craft Network so watch this space for the group's next steps.

Workshop 1
WHAT SHALL WE DO (COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY) TO BUILD THE MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT IN THE NORTH WEST
Ideas: practical to aspirational; general to specific

RESEARCH
Do some research is needed into why the non-purchasing attendees of crafts fairs don't purchase.  They're obviously interested in craft, but could we investigate what is holding them back from buying?

BRANDING/ MARKETING
Acknowledge snobbery
Getting craft from local makers on TV shows
Craft needs marketing
Craft Magazine on wrong shelf
Posters in public places
Cinema adverts
Get Art Schools to carry the ‘craft’ brand
We need to talk to brand and advertising and TV
Prada trusted brand – do we need a brand?
Have large brands advocate individual makers like they do with designers!!
Brand confidence
Raise awareness through a popular medium – Television – there’s too much cooking and baking!
More high profile personality to advocate
Use the word ‘Design’. Poor craft connotations are negative
Crafts mag off bottom shelf – should be with designer mags
How do we tap into brand led society
Grayson Perry – clear honest presentation
Sponsorship of craft exhibition by fashion design house

INTRODUCE PEOPLE TO CRAFT
Show people it is not intimidating
Take time to talk to visitors
Talk about what you are wearing and what you buy
Wear what you buy
Communicate quality and craft stories to a wider audience (currently non-buyers)
Exhibit stories of why people craft (ordinary people)
Stress the ‘renaissance of quality’ in handmade items

MAKERS
Respect for makers
Communicate the crafters personality
Create aspirational pieces within my work
Be visible as a maker

PROVIDE EXHIBITIONS OPPORTUNITIES
Too few outlets for the region
Emphasis on degree/MA shows and further this to advocate and promote craft – free space
Taking craft to different levels by curating different shows and kinds of retail shows
Curate exhibition on a range of platforms
Have opportunities to bring related craft alongside Art/Craft exhibitions
New venues for new audience

COLLABORATION
Architects collaboration
Collaboration – bring in other institutions
Support each other and work to create opps!
Can galleries help? USA?
Networks – talk to people

ADVOCACY
Be an advocate for craft
Advocate

PARTICIPATION
Learn a craft yourself?
Direct engagement
Buy, buy, buy!

NEW AUDIENCES
Diversity
Curating exhibitions in a new way to attract new audiences
Promote work that is not only your taste
Seeing craft in different venues
When buying something from GNCCF, seller to give a card, saying something like ‘congratulations, you are now a collector’
Try to bring the fashionista’s market to craft
Mini craft shows with makers in office blocks

EDUCATIONAL TALKS
Stories of why people buy
Talks lectures – interior designers
Gallery: Talks and events for our public about craft
Re: Gallery Sector: Educate the public on the  levels of training and emotional input that makers put in
How to value time
Talk!

Workshop 2
WHAT HAS WORKED FOR YOU
What has brought great engagement, sales or audiences?
What is your experience?

POSITIVE PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
Positive attitude
Being engaging and likable
Being a good/nice person
Being approachable
Passion about your work
Authentic as a person – authentic work
Creating
Creating good work

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
Building a relationship with the customer
Building up relationships over time
You tell the story of the piece
Personal connection – hearing it straight from the maker
Sharing your story
Telling a story about my work – NOT sell the work
One on one conversation
Engaging with the audience – creates market
Never questioning my audience’s ability to understand or relate to my work
Want to be a friend of the maker/artist
Being there with your work and information the viewer

MARKETING
Social media
Digital portfolio
Website and marketing
Mailing list
New pieces of work promoted well.

INFORMATION GIVING
Lecturing and demonstrations
Raising awareness of skill and creativity

EXPOSURE
Persistence – trying all avenues – not giving up
Repeating something – perseverance
Being visible and getting out there
Exposing friends to craft who wouldn’t normally buy craft

EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions that are accessible
Get your work out there
Galleries are a barrier?
Finding the audience
GNCCF
Group exhibitions
Meeting the audience!
Gallery shop: Running events for people on our mailing list to come for private views to buy craft
Finding the right audience for your work

COLLABORATION
Let people help you
Networks for makers for mutual support
Engagement with focused makers to get involved with

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
Showing craft in the gallery space, presented as wearable art. Art/Jewellery crossover
Exhibiting art and craft together. This is an important route to getting the considerable audience for "art" to cross-over  into critically engaged "craft".
New events, fresh ideas for events, unusual locations
Immerse yourself in the commercial world
Public collections - allow public PR: open interpretation

MENTORSHIP
Mentoring (both as mentor and mentee) appropriate to your stage of career

ENDORSEMENT
Endorsement by major galleries e.g. exhibitions

QUESTIONS
Do we have to differentiate between buyers and collectors?

MISC
Sherry for customers
Friends groups and patron groups
Showing that they are buying local

Workshop 3
BUILDING THE MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
WHAT CAN YOU OFFER?

ATTRIBUTES
Generosity
Knowledge
Be a proactive maker

WORK
The value of buying something original
Enrichment of life

EXPERIENCE
Talk to people and share my knowledge and experience
15 years of experience
Time and conversation at shows

SUPPORT
Support
Meet up to set up group
Build confidence of collectors as strong-minded independent thinkers

OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities for makers to meet potential customers
A platform for artists/makers and public to come together
Exhibitions – the opportunity to bring audiences and buyers together through events
Galleries could obviously offer shows and artists workshops and talks
Space in gallery shops and display cases
Open days where makers are there to speak through work at galleries
Curated and promoted contemporary shows to promote contemporary craft
Exhibition space

PROMOTION
Using social media to promote contemporary craft
Shared mailing list clients
Share mailing lists Northwest

Workshop 4
BUILDING THE MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
WHAT DO YOU NEED

ATTRIBUTES
Positive energy
Makers to be amazing self publicists (like Louise!)

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION/ MARKETING
Communication
Radio /TV presence
TV coverage showcasing workshops and makers
Strong digital audience


COLLABORATION
Making connections – more symposiums – more talking encouraging others to meet and discuss – common passion
More association
Match-makers

SUPPORT
Maker support

ACCESS TO COLLECTORS/ BUYERS
Access to collectors (to develop the market need to understand the current market)
Invading the commercial world
An audience that is interested
We need an audience

RESOURCES
More time and resources!
A job that pays – more opps for curators
OWN ART
Arts Fund awareness
Other ways to generate income
Investors

EDUCATION
As a fine art curator I need educating about craft
Talks about how a piece could change their like
Promote long terms benefits for collectors
Potential buyers to be educated
Lectures from makers open to the public

OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities to connect with makers
More events in the NW
A secondary market
To support and promote for contemporary craft
Collectors group – share work
Open studios/meet the maker/local

Sale Arts Trail Christmas Bazaar

Sunday 23rd November 2014 12-7pm

Another brilliant opportunity to get a craft fix and buy an authentic handmade gift - Sale Arts Trail Christmas Bazaar opens this weekend. There are plenty of new & established makers presenting their work

Follow this link to Facebook to find out more

Jerwood Makers Open comes to Gallery Oldham!

15 November 2014 - 1 March 2015

Elemental Symmetries by Shelley James

November sees Gallery Oldham give a warm North West welcome to a touring show of cutting-edge craft.

The annual Jerwood Makers Open is a major commission that gives early career artists £7,500 each to develop new work and take artistic risks. Chosen from over 240 applications, the selected makers not only include two collaborative duos – the first time in the award’s four year history – but also offer a range of projects across different disciplinary backgrounds, from architecture and spatial design to more traditional craft-based skills in ceramics and glass.

This year the artists selected are ceramicists Hitomi Hosono and Matthew Raw, artists Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen, glass artist Shelley James and spatial storytellers FleaFollyArchitects.  Each has taken the opportunity to develop new ideas central to their individual practices. Between them they are experimenting with material, technical, conceptual and narrative concerns.  From a modern day Tower of Babel to a full sized pub front the result is a fascinating and varied exhibition by makers pushing the boundaries of their craft.

For more about the artists, click here
For visiting information about Gallery Oldham click here

Gallery Oldham is a member of the North West Craft Network

Top NW Museums bring stunning craft to Ornament at GNCCF

Propagation Project: Super Jumbo Nigella, Wave, Junk Mori (see below for more details)  

Some of our North West Museums are keen collectors of contemporary craft, and 2014 sees a unique event at Manchester's Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair that tells us something more about the top quality craft that can be found around the region.

Curated by Kelda Savage, ORNAMENT is a selling exhibition of contemporary craft by some of the UK's most eminent makers. It will run alongside the main fair and add something extra special to the mix of craft and design on display.  The show will tell the stories of some the UK's our best artists and makers, and of the North West Museums who have collected their work.


Not only that, there will be the chance to buy additional pieces by these artists - a fantastic opportunity to invest in a unique and remarkable handcrafted object to enrich not only your own life but future generations!

So go along and see mesmerising work by Alice Kettle (collected by the Whitworth); Bob Crooks (MMU Special Collections); Caroline Broadhead (Jo Bloxham); Kate Malone (Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House); Junko Mori (Touchstones Rochdale), Michael Brennand-Wood (Bluecoat Display Centre) and Walter Keeler (Gallery Oldham)

Great Northern Events is a member of the North West Craft Network

More image details - Propagation Project: Super Jumbo Nigella, Wave.  This is the largest piece of Junko’s work produced to date.  Photo courtesy of Junko Mori and Adrian Sassoon

New North West Craft Network member! MMU Special Collections

Cow in a field (After Thomas Bewick's Kyloe Ox). Paul Scott’s Cumbrian Blues, 2007

MMU Special Collections.  Inspiring learning and creativity since 1898.

Top quality craft can be found all over the North West, and our recent North West Craft Network member MMU Special Collections has some real treasures. Here's their invitation to you to go and discover....

Tucked away inside the library of Manchester Metropolitan University, you will find MMU Special Collections. Described by one visitor as “serene and lovely”, our gallery space showcases the breadth of our art and design collections and archives which cover the historic, the modern and the contemporary. Recent exhibitions have featured Art Nouveau objects, children’s book illustrations from the 1960s, and products designed using cutting-edge digital technologies. Our Reading Room provides open access to our book collections, including more than 2,000 Artists’ Books, and our learning space is used to enable hands-on access to material. Our collections and archives continue to grow to reflect current practices and technological developments. The Manchester School of Art Collection includes contemporary craft and product design by makers and designers such as Assa Assuach, Claire Curneen, Patrick Jouin, Junko Mori, Gareth Neal and Jim Partridge. 

Access to MMU Special Collections is free and open to all.    
        

New Generation Gravity Stool, Jólan van der Wiel, 2014

MMU Special Collections, 3^rd Floor, Sir Kenneth Green Library, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Campus, Oxford Road, M15 6BH.

T. 0161 247 6107

E. lib-spec-coll@mmu.ac.uk

www.specialcollections.mmu.ac.uk

@MMUSpecial

Find us on Googlemaps

Full image details:

Cow in a field (After Thomas Bewick's Kyloe Ox). Paul Scott’s Cumbrian Blues, 2007, photograph courtesy of MMU Special Collections, © Paul Scott

New Generation Gravity Stool, Jólan van der Wiel, 2014, Photograph courtesy of Jólan van der Wiel, © Jólan van der Wiel

Two fabulous exhibitions of contemporary craft at Touchstones Rochdale

September sees two exhibitions of unique contemporary craft open at Touchstones Rochdale one of the North West's key galleries showing top craft from international and regional makers. 

Rosa Nguyen - Sanctuary. 

26 September - 22 November 2014

The preview is on Thursday 25 September 6pm-8pm and will be opened by Professor Stephen Dixon, ceramicist and Professorial Research Fellow in Contemporary Crafts at Manchester School of Art.

The exhibition is part of Asia Triennial Manchester 2014

And if that weren't enough, there's also an exhibition of Jilly Edwards’ Wanderlust tapestries opening the same evening. The exhibition runs 26 September - 22 November 2014

Both shows are part of our Contemporary Forward series supported by Arts Council England.

Touchstones Rochdale are part of the North West Craft Network. Click here for more.

Introducing the North West Craft Network

Touchstones Rochdale, a NW Craft Network member. Photo Vincent James

In 2012, a group of people met to discuss the state of play with contemporary craft in the North West.

Ranging from top galleries and museums to individual makers, arts agencies and advocates, the group set out to see what could be done to strengthen high quality contemporary craft in the region.

Out of this was born the North West Craft Network, a gathering of curators, galleries, museums, Arts organisations, collectors and makers based in the North West of England, UK.

Aside from their involvement in directing and managing museums, galleries and creative businesses, these people can be identified by their huge passion for craft, their desire to see it thrive in the North West, and a willingness to put their considerable energies to work to build a collective identity and health ecology for the sector as a whole in the North West region.

New Glass, Jan-May 2013 at Blackwell House, Cumbria

Once up and running, the group set out to understand the lay of the land with Craft in the sector, and have identified four key areas to explore. Check these out here. In April, we were successful in gaining funding to take some significant first steps.

For more about the North West Craft Network, who is involved and how you can stay connected with what we do, click here.

A boost for contemporary craft in the North West!

• Developing the market for collectors
• Maker development
• Perception and advocacy of the craft sector
• Curatorial development

Four things the North West Craft Network set out to tackle in a recent funding bid that aims to boost the contemporary craft sector in the North West.

We're delighted to tell you that we were successful! Now we have some work to do....

The award, which comes from Arts Council England's Grants for the Arts scheme, will enable the Network to look at four key goals: market development, including developing the collectors market; maker development in the region - improving access to funding, studios, equipment and support; perception and advocacy of the craft sector within the region and curatorial development including critical writing.

The funding will enable us make significant inroads into addressing these issues. We will be organising three events that support maker and curator development as well as employing a part time coordinator to administer these events, help build the Network and support the next stages of the network's activities.

For more about the North West Craft Network, click here.