Empire
Published: Thursday, 31 Mar 2011 | 4:53 PM ET
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By: Julia Boorstin
CNBC Correspondent
Etsy is like eBay, but for a niche market — handmade goods. If you've not one of the site's eight million shoppers, imagine a hipster's DIY dream of handicrafts and art. Instead of buying something mass-produced from a giant corporation, you get to browse for a unique gem.
Etsy
Source: Etsy.com
Over 800,000 people sell their homemade products on the site, everything from jewelry and clothing, to furniture and music. There's a lot that makes Etsy different from eBay [EBAY 31.84 0.45 (+1.43%) ], beyond the fact that sellers set prices rather than hosting auctions. On Etsy every item has a story, and the company considers its sellers a community. You can search items not just by variety, but also by the location of the seller. So if you want, you can opt to support just your local Brooklyn or Silverlake handicrafts.
Etsy may be all about shoppers finding unique items, but it's also a serious business. Here's how it works: it's free to set up a "shop" on the site. It costs 20 cents to list an item and Etsy gets 3.5 percent of every transaction. And that's an increasingly large pie: sales topped $314 million last year and are growing fast.
Etsy's COO Adam Freed tells us this is just the beginning.
In addition to international growth the company is seeing growth in all of its categories. And the company is rolling out more features to make shopping more personal. And the more personal the experience, the more the company expects shoppers to buy.
Investors are on board: Etsy has raised over $50 million from top VCs including Accell Partners and Union Square Ventures. And individual investors are also hungry for a piece of the business. Etsy was the third most traded company on Second Market last quarter, behind only LinkedIn and Facebook.
Etsy's community has had its problems. Just this month it faced major outcry after buyers found that feedback posts, purchases and user profiles, and on occasion even real names, were made public. The company responded by tightening its privacy settings. COO Freed tells us that it takes its members (shoppers) privacy very seriously, and that the company made a fast feature change as soon as it realized there was an issue. Freed seems to understand that even with "communities" like Etsy's, people need to be able to maintain their privacy.
Showing posts with label hand painted. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hand painted. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
New product...Etched Red poppy Fields
Makes a cute gift! Fill it with their favorite little candies!
Mothers Day! Is May 8
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Are you an artist or Craftsman? Handmade or hand assembled?
Is your work considered handmade or not? Are you an Artist or craftsman?
Hello everyone Im Jenny Reinhart.
Basically I need a break from the social networking!
I wanted to write an article addressing what seems to be two highly controversial topics among artists and craftsman on Etsy.
1) Are you an artist or a crafter/craftsman?
2) Is your product considered handmade or hand assembled and is there a difference?
I’ve been reading blogs, articles, and team threads on Etsy. I was a little surprised to see people putting down other crafters/artists because they felt their work should not be in the same category as their own due to the fact that they consider their work more
handmade than another seller.
The thread that comes to mind was a person that has a jewelry shop on Etsy, and the seller complained that other sellers tagged their work as handmade instead of hand assembled. Which I completely get, except to outwardly put someone else down because their work isn’t quite what you want it to be, seems ridiculous.(and I do realize the importance of tagging)
If you don’t know the whole process of someone’s work you can’t really say it’s not handmade. I would have to say there are probably some people that throw some beads on a string and call it a handmade necklace. They put no effort into it, but then there are the people who care about their work and put time and effort into making themselves better at their craft. When you are new to a craft it takes time to learn about it and the range of things that can be created with that craft.
Example: My niece purchases beads and makes jewelry with it. She loves it. However evidently its not considered handmade because she doesn’t actually make the beads herself? That doesn’t seem right. Ive seen her sit down, come up with a plan, or design that she wants, and put that plan into action. There is an actual process to it. (She does not sell on Etsy.)
I create fused glass and etched glass. Most people consider my fused glass handmade and my etched glass not handmade. Its funny to me because I spend more hands on time drawing, cutting and cold working my designs for etched glass work than I do to create a fused glass bowl.
To me the fused glass I create is transformed in the kiln and even though I hand cut the pieces the biggest transformation happens in the kiln. Should it be called kiln made? My etched glass starts out as a drawing by me, cut and then etched. Its my hands on all the time.
Everything we create with our hands, passionately and with love should be considered as handmade. I realize not everyone is a master at their craft (myself included) but the process of getting there is wonderful and we should be encouraging people to develop their craft not putting them down. Believe me customers are aware of better quality merchandise and price differences. If your craft has special processes add it to the description. Customers will notice. Don’t be upset people tagging their work as handmade let the customer decide for themselves. If you see someone selling a piece of jewelry as a beginner, offer up suggestions to create their own beads, charms or whatever. Are we afraid of a little competition?
As far as the difference between artist and crafter, Im not positive on this one but for me, I do not consider myself an artist however family and friends have called me one and I let them. I love it. I wouldn’t even consider myself a craftsman. I think to be an artist or craftsman you would have to master your craft. My craft personally is still about growing, changing, and learning new things. So what are we then?
We are creative minds learning and growing from our crafts in hopes of someday mastering the art!
Good Luck to everyone! Enjoy creating!
“Live Life Simply and Creatively”
Hello everyone Im Jenny Reinhart.
Basically I need a break from the social networking!
I wanted to write an article addressing what seems to be two highly controversial topics among artists and craftsman on Etsy.
1) Are you an artist or a crafter/craftsman?
2) Is your product considered handmade or hand assembled and is there a difference?
I’ve been reading blogs, articles, and team threads on Etsy. I was a little surprised to see people putting down other crafters/artists because they felt their work should not be in the same category as their own due to the fact that they consider their work more
handmade than another seller.
The thread that comes to mind was a person that has a jewelry shop on Etsy, and the seller complained that other sellers tagged their work as handmade instead of hand assembled. Which I completely get, except to outwardly put someone else down because their work isn’t quite what you want it to be, seems ridiculous.(and I do realize the importance of tagging)
If you don’t know the whole process of someone’s work you can’t really say it’s not handmade. I would have to say there are probably some people that throw some beads on a string and call it a handmade necklace. They put no effort into it, but then there are the people who care about their work and put time and effort into making themselves better at their craft. When you are new to a craft it takes time to learn about it and the range of things that can be created with that craft.
Example: My niece purchases beads and makes jewelry with it. She loves it. However evidently its not considered handmade because she doesn’t actually make the beads herself? That doesn’t seem right. Ive seen her sit down, come up with a plan, or design that she wants, and put that plan into action. There is an actual process to it. (She does not sell on Etsy.)
I create fused glass and etched glass. Most people consider my fused glass handmade and my etched glass not handmade. Its funny to me because I spend more hands on time drawing, cutting and cold working my designs for etched glass work than I do to create a fused glass bowl.
To me the fused glass I create is transformed in the kiln and even though I hand cut the pieces the biggest transformation happens in the kiln. Should it be called kiln made? My etched glass starts out as a drawing by me, cut and then etched. Its my hands on all the time.
Everything we create with our hands, passionately and with love should be considered as handmade. I realize not everyone is a master at their craft (myself included) but the process of getting there is wonderful and we should be encouraging people to develop their craft not putting them down. Believe me customers are aware of better quality merchandise and price differences. If your craft has special processes add it to the description. Customers will notice. Don’t be upset people tagging their work as handmade let the customer decide for themselves. If you see someone selling a piece of jewelry as a beginner, offer up suggestions to create their own beads, charms or whatever. Are we afraid of a little competition?
As far as the difference between artist and crafter, Im not positive on this one but for me, I do not consider myself an artist however family and friends have called me one and I let them. I love it. I wouldn’t even consider myself a craftsman. I think to be an artist or craftsman you would have to master your craft. My craft personally is still about growing, changing, and learning new things. So what are we then?
We are creative minds learning and growing from our crafts in hopes of someday mastering the art!
Good Luck to everyone! Enjoy creating!
“Live Life Simply and Creatively”
Thursday, March 10, 2011
New Glass Products!
The Daisy Bowl
This bowl has Daisies etched around it with yellow painted centers.
Very Cute and would make a great gift. it is 2'high and 4" in diameter. Many uses.
Red Pepper Bottles
The Red Pepper bottles are each etched and hand painted. They are about 6" tall. Great bottles for infusing Olive Oil.
Very Cute and would make a great gift. it is 2'high and 4" in diameter. Many uses.
The Red Pepper bottles are each etched and hand painted. They are about 6" tall. Great bottles for infusing Olive Oil.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Finally Friday! Keeping up
Ill be posting my fused glass photos over the weekend but I needed a day to catch up with things. I will be giving some attention to my Etsy teams and making some treasuries, working on my shop, websites.
Creating handmade items has been a very rewarding experience for me. Almost therapeutic. I enjoy taking that piece of glass and creating wonderful glass gifts through fusing, painting, and cold-working. Ive been crafting for a long time, like most, but i also would like to create some gifts of different materials. Any ideas for creative items that you would like to give as gifts? I have a ton of ideas but if anyone wants to share some let me know.
Creating handmade items has been a very rewarding experience for me. Almost therapeutic. I enjoy taking that piece of glass and creating wonderful glass gifts through fusing, painting, and cold-working. Ive been crafting for a long time, like most, but i also would like to create some gifts of different materials. Any ideas for creative items that you would like to give as gifts? I have a ton of ideas but if anyone wants to share some let me know.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Etched Glass Vase
Ok while my glass is fusing im going to be working with the sandblast cabinet. I have drawn the design on my vase and masked it. I cut out the design. The vase will have long leaves etched on it. I think I will be hand-painting some green and yellow highlights in the leaves.
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