This is an excerpt from an internet discussion on buying local. This post is my response to the claim that I am being hypocritical if I support buying local and at the same time sell on Etsy.
First- a disclaimer! do not intend to say one should ONLY buy local when I argue in support of buying local. Nor do I intend to suggest there is only one measure by which to be guided in shopping. I support shopping in many different venues for many different reasons- and of course I support shopping on Etsy
First- a disclaimer! do not intend to say one should ONLY buy local when I argue in support of buying local. Nor do I intend to suggest there is only one measure by which to be guided in shopping. I support shopping in many different venues for many different reasons- and of course I support shopping on Etsy
Not only do I sell on Etsy, but I openly support Etsy on our Facebook page, on my blog, The Art of The Etsy Treasury where I post treasuries that I created or selected, and I even support Etsy in our email newsletter.
Some may ask why? Am I not supporting the competition? I suppose I am but I am also supporting the global community of workers who own their own businesses- which is not the same as the state owning the means of production and parlaying it as the workers owning the means of production.
One of the qualifications for being on Etsy is that the owner of the business must have a hands- on involvement in production, which excludes designers that outsource production. This is our family story. While my parents were part of a young urban designers movement tin the 1950’s they took a different path when instead of designing for large manufacturing companies they moved to Maine and started their own production with a hands-on involvement in the manufacturing process.
Etsy is the only business model that I know of that is priced for the micro-economy. The cost is so low that it is even accessible to those workers in countries where labor is dirt-cheap. If such a person prices their work competitively on Etsy, one sale can equal a month’s income from working for a large manufacturing company.
Etsy is the only business model that I know of that is priced for the micro-economy. The cost is so low that it is even accessible to those workers in countries where labor is dirt-cheap. If such a person prices their work competitively on Etsy, one sale can equal a month’s income from working for a large manufacturing company.
This contrasts with Wal-Mart, which may provide service jobs in this country that are perceived as better than the “sweat shop factory work”, - Marx’s depiction of manufacturing-, it only shifts that manufacturing- sweatshop or otherwise- to countries without benefits or labor rights laws- or environmental standards- such as China, one of the most polluted countries on the globe. And I doubt those workers are getting health care benefits.
Support for the artist designer community is part of Andersen Design’s story. My father formed an early American Crafts Association when he was in Ohio in the 1950’s. My parents were founding members of the Boothbay Art Foundation, and I have in my possession a hand written notebook of the minutes of an early Maine Crafts Association, for which my father was the last person to record those minutes.
Etsy is the cyber evolution of the designer craftsmen community- only it is not a non-profit organization it is an organic, self-governing, self promoting global private enterprise community of designer craftsmen.
I once attended a marketing forum put on by the Maine Arts Commission. We were told that we must not take our own photographs but hire a professional. I thought as I was listening to this that if my parents had to abide by these rules, Andersen Design would not exist today. They took their own photographs and created their own promotions. They didn’t have the start up capital to hire a professional. This is also the case with Etsy. The artist-designer, who starts with limited capital because they want to be involved in the engaging and mindful process of creating something. The designer-craftsmen who start their own businesses often have to do so with boot-strap capitalization. They have to do their own photography and marketing- and much of it is very creative, especially when filtered though the circles that each individual creates himself.
And I need to mention that Etsy has a genius networking system that is based on self-created circles that generate an unending flow of activity from the creative global micro- economy community. It is important for artists and designers to keep in touch with the living evolution of creativity that Etsy offers- and I enjoy this aspect of Etsy as a form of downtime which is also productive.
There is nothing hypocritical about supporting Etsy- it supports values that I believe in globally. The reason why this country is losing manufacturing jobs is because we are up against unfair competition from manufacturers in countries that hire labor dirt-cheap and offer no benefits. Etsy is an alternative to that –globally. If we were not faced with global competition from countries that violate our own principals and way of life, there would not be the need for a “shop local” movement. We would be operating in a fair global market. Etsy is, to my experience a fair global market.
I recently came across this article that describes the unemployment problem in Great Briton as not so much an unemployment problem but that the British have become unemployable. The British are not just having jobs exported overseas, even the jobs in Briton are going to a foreign work force.
There are a lot of parallels to be drawn from what this writer describes about the British dilemma and what is taking place in Maine. It boils down to the British have lost their work ethic. This is where the labor intensive designer craftsmen community can have a rejuvenating impact. Speaking for the ceramic slip-casting process - it is mindful and engaging process, resonating with the image of manufacturing that the author reminisces about- a time when Briton took pride in her manufacturing, and of course one of those industries was ceramics.
The author, An Wilson has this to say about the current state of affairs of the Bristish potteries:
Support for the artist designer community is part of Andersen Design’s story. My father formed an early American Crafts Association when he was in Ohio in the 1950’s. My parents were founding members of the Boothbay Art Foundation, and I have in my possession a hand written notebook of the minutes of an early Maine Crafts Association, for which my father was the last person to record those minutes.
Etsy is the cyber evolution of the designer craftsmen community- only it is not a non-profit organization it is an organic, self-governing, self promoting global private enterprise community of designer craftsmen.
I once attended a marketing forum put on by the Maine Arts Commission. We were told that we must not take our own photographs but hire a professional. I thought as I was listening to this that if my parents had to abide by these rules, Andersen Design would not exist today. They took their own photographs and created their own promotions. They didn’t have the start up capital to hire a professional. This is also the case with Etsy. The artist-designer, who starts with limited capital because they want to be involved in the engaging and mindful process of creating something. The designer-craftsmen who start their own businesses often have to do so with boot-strap capitalization. They have to do their own photography and marketing- and much of it is very creative, especially when filtered though the circles that each individual creates himself.
And I need to mention that Etsy has a genius networking system that is based on self-created circles that generate an unending flow of activity from the creative global micro- economy community. It is important for artists and designers to keep in touch with the living evolution of creativity that Etsy offers- and I enjoy this aspect of Etsy as a form of downtime which is also productive.
There is nothing hypocritical about supporting Etsy- it supports values that I believe in globally. The reason why this country is losing manufacturing jobs is because we are up against unfair competition from manufacturers in countries that hire labor dirt-cheap and offer no benefits. Etsy is an alternative to that –globally. If we were not faced with global competition from countries that violate our own principals and way of life, there would not be the need for a “shop local” movement. We would be operating in a fair global market. Etsy is, to my experience a fair global market.
I recently came across this article that describes the unemployment problem in Great Briton as not so much an unemployment problem but that the British have become unemployable. The British are not just having jobs exported overseas, even the jobs in Briton are going to a foreign work force.
There are a lot of parallels to be drawn from what this writer describes about the British dilemma and what is taking place in Maine. It boils down to the British have lost their work ethic. This is where the labor intensive designer craftsmen community can have a rejuvenating impact. Speaking for the ceramic slip-casting process - it is mindful and engaging process, resonating with the image of manufacturing that the author reminisces about- a time when Briton took pride in her manufacturing, and of course one of those industries was ceramics.
The author, An Wilson has this to say about the current state of affairs of the Bristish potteries:
Whereas Germany retained its manufacturing base, British companies went abroad for their manufacturing to take advantage of cheap labour, cheap fuel and cheap goods.
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