Adventures in Marketing for Independent Jewelry Artisans

In November of this year (2008) I had a brainstorm ...again! LOL I approached several independent jewelry artisans about creating a video of one of a kind wearable art devoted to the "Holiday Season". The response was overwhelming! The project moved from the development of one video to TWO videos and embraced the work of 33 independent jewelry artisans from across the US, Canada, and Portugal. Background music was provided by my dear friend Ed Rambeau and turned out very very nice as a first try at this type of collaboration! The videos provide a gentle and unpressured marketing experience through the home page of my on-line radio talk show and over at You Tube as well! You can visit all videos I've created for featured guest artists of the show at this link - The Videos
November 23rd I did a three hour show at the broadcast room where short bios were read on each designer, still shot pictures of their works were reviewed, holiday music was enjoyed, and we had drawings for prizes! It as a really fun show to do. I've had limited response from designers regarding success in this little marketing adventure as yet...it is still a bit early, but the response has been favorable with some artisans noting that traffic for their websites and their sales has improved!
Life is not easy for artisans who do one of a kind or limited editions of work. We cannot go to market and offer buyers thousands of pieces of the same work for resale. This is my attempt to help promote artists, get exposure for hand crafted work, and offer recognition of the importance of their work. Creating is a noble endeavor, especially when it is related to items that we will intimately embrace as worn ornamentation that is NOT MASS PRODUCED! Happy Holidays to all with lots of love, Mona of Mona Designs, Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection