Importing jewellery - advice?

[Emerald]

around xmas here a lot of the local schools have a Ladies Night ( o no no no nothing rude just Ladies shopping) and there is one stall holder that i came up against last year called city jewels time and time again cheap cheap cheap

[pauljoels]

Thank you Mizgeorge, Carole, Jason and Jo - some good food for thought. I wouldn't have thought about Mexico or other places as my knowledge of the industry doen't stretch as far as that.

I come from a world of pharma commerce - and deal with import/export, but it is regulated very well (annoyingly well in certain cases - strangely Russia is one of those places). In many countries, we have to submit evidence that the product works - clinically and in many instances it is up to the authorities to issue a type of registration - we can fail if we do not meet their standards, or can be classified in a lower category meaning we cannot make medical claims. I just find it difficult to believe that it is so easy to bring jewellery into this country - I realise those selling it on in this country probably do so knowing that their products are perhaps not what they purport to be, and there are those just exploiting cheaper prices.

To be honest - I personally plan to do neither importing, selling or buying, but (a) am a curious sort, and having being making silver/gold/platinum jewellery for nearly two years want to know more, and (b) to give my colleague advise since she does not know where to go to ask at all, and also does not want to advertise her products unfairly/illegally.

To me importing jewellery is part of a marketing/sales tactic, that if I was selling I would consider also doing (not claiming it to be mine though) and whilst I do not want to provoke a tidal wave of reaction against me due to my next comment, I also find it fascinating that so many of the creatives (I include jewellers in this) I have met find it so difficult to market themselves properly. Whilst not a business guru this does astonish me. I have met some of the most successful public artists and designers in this country due to my previous job, and at the same time I also met those in the middle, and those at the other end of the scale, trying simply to survive.

My boss and I (and his experience stretched to being European Marketing Director of a major Blue Chip Company), came to the conclusion there were those creatives who were commercially savvy - and did something special - they found a way of doing what they enjoyed and loved, and made it work commercially. They found their audience, they knew the price point they could get away with (too little, and you do yourself an injustice, and also rule out certain classes in this country - too much is only difficult if you cannot get the coverage you should in the right circles). They did however have to compromise their ideas. I know there are jewellery makers/artisans who are very successful and make a good living from this, but most that I have met do not, and they do not know how to. In that sense I kind of applaud anyone who can import their jewellery and turn it into a successful business.

Or more to the point, I would applaud anyone like Jason who in a previous thread thinks about having some of his own jewellery cast so he can make money to invest so that he can progress to his 18ct holy grail. If you know people will buy your stuff, why does it have to be one off? In my mind there is not a massive difference between Jason's idea of casting multiples of his own pieces to Tiffany, and to the Chinese manufacturer. Someone has designed each piece somewhere along the line.

I'll stop now, I have just realised how much I have waffled, and strayed from the original topic. Unfortunately it's a tendency of mine!

[Emerald]

I find it extemely difficult to approach someone about my work as you have found and also that goes for a lot of people on this forum but on a one to one basis if i have a stall and i am meeting the cusomer face to face i can bore them to death beacause of my passion for my craft

[pauljoels]

And I think that is a shame - the not being able to approach people about your work I mean, because that is how these things work. In my last job I was passionate about what my company did, and we could wax lyrical about key projects - but the job was not to go on so much they got bored, more to make them fall in love with the ideas of what we did that they had to consider what we did more seriously. They felt inspired to work with our craftsmen.

[Emerald]

exactly, i use to wrok for Jaeger a long time ago part time and i could sell i £550.00 suit in the wink of an eye (oh and a short skirt, mens suits you see) but when it comes to my own stuff especially having to sell it over the telephone no no no no

[caroleallen]

I don't have any problems selling my own work on a level playing field but when I pay a lot of money to be at a craft fair that's advertised as "high end", I cannot compete with someone buying cheap stuff in from third world countries. I should add that my jewellery sells very well and I make my living from it.

I think you're bound to get a negative reaction to a question about buying in jewellery from a forum comprising of people who are passionate about making their own.

[Di Sandland]

Carole, you're right but I have had this conversation so often with my OH, who doesn't have a creative bone in his body.

If you remember back along, somebody posted that in order to get stock ready in time for my craft fairs I should buy cheap stuff in and mark it as my own. I was horrified. My OH wasn't to keen on the fraudulent practice of marking it as my own but thought that importing the cheap stuff would make good business sense. Because he quite correctly surmised that I would make more money from reselling than from making and selling.

I suppose it all depends on your mindset and, as you say, to pose this question to a forum of creatives isn't likely to get a good response. Post it to a forum of people like my OH and they'd be swapping addresses of suppliers.

[caroleallen]

I suppose it boils down to why we do this Di. Do we do it for the money or for the satisfaction of knowing that people value and appreciate our work. It gives me such a glow when people recognise my work and say they love it. I'd get no pleasure from selling other people's work.

[Di Sandland]

QUOTE=caroleallen;13187]I suppose it boils down to why we do this Di. Do we do it for the money or for the satisfaction of knowing that people value and appreciate our work. It gives me such a glow when people recognise my work and say they love it. I'd get no pleasure from selling other people's work.[/QUOTE]


xx

[pauljoels]

You are right Di - my previous Boss and my current one have both been intrigued into the world of jewellery when I have introduced them to the mark-ups available, but that's thinking about it in a different way to most individual makers.

Carole, I wasn't having a go at you or anyone in particular, maybe my comments were too generalised about commercial savvyness, but I do think there is a problem. I did a design degree, but somehow through doing a placement year was exposed to everything my degree didn't expose me to - the real world of business, shafting and making money!

Re the importing, whilst I agree I can expect some negative reaction, I don't see why it should be a taboo, or hidden away and not spoken about. That just means people are blinkered to it.

Also, on the flip side to importing I think there are many people on here who should be exporting their jewellery - something I posted about a long time ago, when the forum was younger. And there are many avenues for support in this area. All the galleries we have over here are mirrored everywhere else in the world. One of the benefits of my job is that I try to make time to see jewellery in all the countries I visit with work. People seem to rely too much on the internet to do this job.