2009 Bruce Metcalf:
"I spent Wednesday and Thursday last night at SOFA, the annual extravaganza of high-end craft n’ commerce. I was hanging out in the booth of my new gallery, Snyderman/Works, trying to be polished and conversational. No sales came of it, though.
The big buzz among jewelers was about Sergey Jivetin’s three pieces made from bird eggs. They were amazing. Each egg was reinforced with Kevlar/carbon fiber, and carefully fitted into cloud-like accumulations. Jivetin made two brooches and a necklace out of the eggs. There was an accompanying series of jewelry made of other unusual materials, including a necklace made of sectioned compact florescent light bulbs and candles – but the egg jewelry overshadowed everything. Interesting to think that really dramatic jewelry can be something of a curse to its maker.
Overall, business was slow. Many of the gallery owners I spoke to seemed content just to make expenses. As Susan Cummins joked, “Flat is the new up.” Talking to collectors, I sensed caution, not fear. It seems the economy has made people focus, but not quit spending money completely. As for me, I usually buy jewelry if I make a sale. And since I didn’t make a sale, I made no contribution to the craft economy this year.
I had a conversation with Wendell Castle about the craft biz, and he had a fascinating observation. In the last few years, the high-end design world decided to issue limited editions of star-designer objects. (The art world has recently taken a similar course.) Obviously, prices for these exclusive design objects were high in recent years. But now the bubble is deflating rapidly, and the galleries that put out editions are in a fix. They can’t discount unsold pieces from their editions. Otherwise, clients who bought at last year’s prices would feel cheated, and probably complain bitterly. (And very likely never buy from a design edition again!) Thus, unlike the market for one-of-a-kind works of art, in which comparisons to last year’s prices are muted by the fact that the new art is necessarily different, design editions are stuck at unrealistically high levels. There’s already talk that the high-end design market is frozen.
The whole edifice will come unglued if pieces from these editions show up at auction and sell at a discount. If that happens, everything could go south. Galleries will be forced to buy back work to protect their price levels – if they have the financial resources. If not – listen for a giant sucking sound.
Craftspeople are often jealous of the price structures in the art and design markets. (I am, for sure.) But Wendell’s tale is a warning: be careful what you wish for."
Metcalf, B. "Report from SOFA/NY." April 22, 2009. Craftgadfly. website accessed July 2, 2009. http://www.brucemetcalf.com/blog/2009/04/report-from-sofany/
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