I occasionally sell prints of my photography, which has made me keenly aware of The Price of Art. The price of art varies from zero dollars to hundreds of million dollars for a possibly forged DaVinci painting. The interesting thing about purchasing art is that (money laundering aside) the art won't do anything other than sit on the wall. Certainly, whatever you hang on your wall should bring you pleasure, but ultimately it's a thing on the wall. People rightly look at art as a luxury -- precisely because it doesn't do anything. That being said, our lives are always made richer by having a nice environment.
The same goes is true of custom-made furniture. Whether you make a chair as a present for a relative, for yourself, or for sale, the real value of the piece isn't that it's a chair. I can get a chair at Home Depot for 100 bucks. A maker can establish a price to account for time and materials, but that is different than the user's idea of the value. While the chair has utility, its sale price is really driven by the joy and satisfaction it is expected to give to the user. This is the art price. And this presents the issue that affects every single one of us who makes furniture on commission, or even gives their work to a relative or friend for free: Will they value it? I'm constantly reminded of a kitchen that I had built in my last apartment. I designed it; it was all custom-made by highly skilled friends of mine; I loved it and felt inspired as a cook by its beauty and functionality. And then I moved. I was still in touch with my neighbors, so I learned that a couple of years after I sold the apartment, it was sold again. The new buyer, a young man, commented that he would like to replace the kitchen, not because it wasn't perfect, but because it wasn't new. His assumption was that a new stock, or Ikea, kitchen would be better because he valued brand-newness above all else. He had no understanding of the quality or replacement cost; and most probably he didn't care. (BTW, my former neighbor did tell him he was insane.)
If you build a dining room set for your daughter and 30 years later she downsizes, will someone else value the set? Truthfully we cannot and should not sit around wondering about these questions. It's too stressful. We hope our work will always be valued. Even if you sell something for $10,000, there's no guarantee it won't go out in the trash in 2 years. And in our society that's the way it is. But as people who produce creative and skilled things, we have a responsibility not for the future of the things we make, but in creating an environment here and now so people who make things can explain their value. And this is the point of this blog.
It would be wonderful, if every person who walked into a craft fair, art show, or furniture gallery could perceive the value in what is on offer. If that were the case, more people would be willing to buy custom-made stuff - and there would be more work for us. Now don't get me wrong, very few people have the budget to afford the same amount of furniture made by individual crafts people in the US compared to the same amount of furniture made in an Asian factory. But what really bothers me is that we have created a culture where even the person who can afford it can't tell the difference, or is encouraged to believe that the expensive-for-the-wrong-reasons laminate stuff they have in their house made by sub-minimum wage workers is high quality simply because of its high price. And it does not occur to them to have better furniture custom made by people like you - with probably happier results.
Note: On the subject of beautiful stuff for your walls: The video above is a time-lapse of the Art Committee at the Salmagundi Club hanging the Black and White Show early this year. I'm a member of the club and the committee, and if you look carefully I'm in the back on the right hanging pictures. (Yes, it's easier to hang art when you already have a full kit of tape measures and magnet holders from the store.) I'm not in the roundup at the end because I'm behind the camera "directing."
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06/04/2025 Charlie Goedeke
First off, WRT (BTW, my former neighbor did tell him he was insane.), right on!! I feel the same way when I'm watching one of those home improvement shows and someone says that they want to rip out a kitchen or bath because it's "dated". What does that even mean?
On a more substantive note, I suppose this is related to the way I am feeling a greater need to sign my work. Arguably it shouldn't matter, and here I'm thinking especially of all those anonymous Japanese craftspeople, but there is a special satisfaction when I can turn a bowl over and see my name, date, et cetera. Or the name of a friend, or a recognized artist. Our society at large seems to value the name recognition. Maybe that reduces that chance of things going into the trash.
06/04/2025 joseph curran
Joel, thanks for your comments on art. Or maybe its human culture we should be looking at. Everything we do is culture/art, everything. Problem being if we lack human qualities, what we do shows us what or content is, what our nature is. As a society/culture/civilization, take a look. What do we see ? We no longer have the capacity or character to show or create anything that can touch us in a meaningful way. Bottom line is, we are a lost civilization. Lost touch with our selves, our fellow man, doing good deeds, being honest, helping each other. We cherish the demented the false the fantasy the image. You name it. Some say Judeo-Christian values have been lost but there never was such a thing. Like most of our teachings they are based on our passions and desires our thinking our biases not on realty. The realty of creation.
So art for the most part just sucks (with some exceptions). But its not arts fault. Its us. We can't see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, feel it. We simply have lost the ability to connect with each other in a real way. I'm a retired carpenter, wannabe artist and woodworker. Over the years friends who have come and gone, coworkers, loved ones, family, myself, have said "don't worry it will get better". Sorry, but it didn't and it won't.
That being said I will still press on with my art and my work because that's part of my contact with The Great Life Force that created us and charged us to use the tools provided to us along with life for what it is and what the tools are. A test of our capacity to receive life's vibration, the creator, the maker. From the get go the rules were simple and we all had them printed within us. No heart and mind to get in the way. Just our soul with the reality of life and our duty to it. The heart and mind were just our tools for living here. Not for thinking we were above the limits over us. We've lost contact with our soul and play with our tools like children. Losing art and fingers and lives along the way. Sorry if I have offended anyone with these remarks. Hoping we can all pass our test. Best regards, Joseph
06/04/2025 Rainy
I had two furniture design students last semester who couldn’t take their small furniture back to a China with them. One of them sold their piece on Facebook Market place for 150. The other sold her two side tables to two different fellow classmates for 100/50ea.
We spent 16 weeks designing and making these small and very well crafted pieces and they both were so happy to have sold them for the price of the material. They weren’t even thinking about profit. It was so reassuring to see that as beginning makers, they found the value of the work in the process of learning. Definitely where I try to keep my reason for making. Especially when function is less of a goal.
06/04/2025 Joe Leonetti
Enjoyed the blog Joel. I will happily make furniture for the home but will not do home remodeling because of the reasons you mention. Next owner comes in and wants to rip it just because. I'd rather put my energy into something that has a better chance to survive down the road but as you point out, I don't have control of that either. What I also find amusing is that folks will spend a fortune remodeling a kitchen but balk at cost of hand crafted furniture. Such is life. The stuff I make is for me and my family rather than for sale to the general public.
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On a more substantive note, I suppose this is related to the way I am feeling a greater need to sign my work. Arguably it shouldn't matter, and here I'm thinking especially of all those anonymous Japanese craftspeople, but there is a special satisfaction when I can turn a bowl over and see my name, date, et cetera. Or the name of a friend, or a recognized artist. Our society at large seems to value the name recognition. Maybe that reduces that chance of things going into the trash.
So art for the most part just sucks (with some exceptions). But its not arts fault. Its us. We can't see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, feel it. We simply have lost the ability to connect with each other in a real way. I'm a retired carpenter, wannabe artist and woodworker. Over the years friends who have come and gone, coworkers, loved ones, family, myself, have said "don't worry it will get better". Sorry, but it didn't and it won't.
That being said I will still press on with my art and my work because that's part of my contact with The Great Life Force that created us and charged us to use the tools provided to us along with life for what it is and what the tools are. A test of our capacity to receive life's vibration, the creator, the maker. From the get go the rules were simple and we all had them printed within us. No heart and mind to get in the way. Just our soul with the reality of life and our duty to it. The heart and mind were just our tools for living here. Not for thinking we were above the limits over us. We've lost contact with our soul and play with our tools like children. Losing art and fingers and lives along the way. Sorry if I have offended anyone with these remarks. Hoping we can all pass our test. Best regards, Joseph
We spent 16 weeks designing and making these small and very well crafted pieces and they both were so happy to have sold them for the price of the material. They weren’t even thinking about profit. It was so reassuring to see that as beginning makers, they found the value of the work in the process of learning. Definitely where I try to keep my reason for making. Especially when function is less of a goal.