“Hello Etsy: What's Up?"

I am a sucker for every seminar and program that I think might help the family jewelry business, which has an etsy shop. With that in mind, I saw that many of my team mates signed up for “Hello Etsy at Pratt: Reimagine the Marketplace” at the end of this month.

I wanted to go, but the more I read, the more confused I got.  Perhaps this is aimed at a specialized audience? So I’m looking forward to the future blog posts that are going to explain what I could not figure out.

Hello Etsy is evidently something that happens each year because this one is partnering with Pratt Institute “to bring Hello Etsy home to Brooklyn” as the materials says. Isn’t Etsy based in Brooklyn?

Admission to the event is $85, which in the world of etsy events is a little steep. And it struck me that there’s something of a paradoxical reaction here, which is when something creates the very opposite of what it intends. In this case, this is an event created to address new realities for business but it uses the most tried and true form of meetings and conventions to do it: speech after speech by talking heads.

It is billed as “addressing the future of consumption, new methods of production and alternative approaches to work.” 

“Together, we will discuss building the creative economy of the future,” says the promotional material, “one that is connected, human-scaled, joyful, and lasting.” Wow, I don’t know where to begin. Can that even be accomplished from 5:15 to 7:30 on a Friday evening? Without beer?

They say, “we hope to prove that business does not have to be brutal to be successful and fulfilling.”

“Brutal?” Like Zero Dark Thirty brutal? Where is that beer?

The event begins with a Welcome from Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy, and a “Keynote Address” from Douglas Russhkoff, author of When Everything Happens Now. When else does everything happen? I am already so confused.

Russhkoff will “explore how the repressive economic operating system of the Industrial Age is giving way to a real-time, peer-to-peer marketplace of real people.” I feel compelled to note all people are real.

Is he dividing the world into two kinds of humans, one that makes jewelry in her pajamas like I do, and one that is the brutal economic zombie type for which this program wants to offer protection?

Now, try to follow this: Russhkoff “…advocated agency in an era of programming and is digital literacy advocate for code academy.” Clearly, I majored in the wrong subject in college because I have no idea what that means.

There is a second Keynote Speaker, if that makes you feel better. 

On Saturday morning, Stewart Wallis will explain “how our economies face four interlinked system problems, which is that they are unsustainable, unfair, unstable, and are making many of us unhappy.” More liquor, please.

If you stick around, he’ll review "the radical changes required to make an economic transformation of good jobs, good business and good markets come to fruition.”

Then there is a coffee break, but before lattes, Laurie Santos is going to address my “monkey mind.” Damn, she’s probably been talking to my sister. 

Santos says that monkeys exhibit some of the same decision biases that humans do, which explains why humans repeatedly make the same irrational monkey-type decisions.  You know, that explains a lot, and it could be a long, sad subway ride home contemplating this if only there weren’t 13 other lectures before Sunday evening, including one by Charles Eisenstein that -- on the bright side -- champions what he calls "the deep cultural and economic shift underneath the Etsy phenomenon."

Eisenstein declares “it is always a little bit crazy to be an artist: to do things for beauty, not money, to be a servant of a vision, to obey the artistic imperative.” Eisenstein, you had me at “crazy,” cause that is something I can actually understand.

But then I saw the title of his book, The Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics. And now again, I’m feeling lost. How in the name of all things holy, could economics be sacred?

If you are a better, or more intelligent, woman than I am, and plan to attend the conference, you can find more information, here.

Susan/Wink and Flip

Anticipating "Hello Etsy"

Readers, I am bummed that this post comes days before “Hello Etsy”- the global conference on Sustainability and Small Business coordinated by Etsy Berlin.  I have been following the development of this conference since the initial announcement last year and am extremely excited!  

In the beginning, details were shared as they came out and the only way to learn about the event was to sign up for their updates by email (which I did, even though I knew I could not fly to Berlin for the conference).   You can imagine my happiness upon learning that Etsy was going to host it on a global scale with live streaming online and events in their offices, such as here in Brooklyn. You can get all the details from my fellow blogger, and {NewNew}er, Simone’s posting last Friday.

Now, why the excitement? Well because some of the topics are exactly what I think the “crafting” and “handmade business” community need pay attention to. Often conferences and seminars are structured for individuals just getting their business off the ground or interested in maneuvering through social media and online sales.  I am by no means complaining about that; that information is just as vital. But equally as important to a new business is creating a sustainable platform that will help develop and grow it over time, not just with the need of the owner, but of the clients, community, and global market.

Sustainable business is not just something for large corporations, nor should it ever be "trendy" or "to do"; it is for every business-large, small, old and new. It requires focus and strategy. 

As a matter of fact, it is a common (and not quite truthful) misconception that “crafting” and “handmade business” people are a bunch of older stay-at-home moms or individuals who want extra cash or the flexibility to stay at home with their children. While many do want that flexibility, the reality is that there are a lot of people (of all ages and backgrounds) who are artists and talented individuals who want to make a difference and contentment in their daily lives. Many are tired of the status quo, the way big business operates and are looking to not just be unique, but to really change the way we think of our environment and our consumer behavior.

I mean, honestly, if you have to work for a living, you might as well work on something you love and are passionate about, right? I think so. This sentiment is part of a sustainable business core. It is a piece of the fire that lights you up and it blazes a path, sometimes that you had no idea was opened for wandering.

I know that personally, my business would not be anything without my environmental concern. For example, I don’t wrap my products in plastic. A lot of vendors wrap their items, especially specialty, dainty and/or extremely detailed pieces that they don’t want ruined.  Knowing that I don’t even know how to recycle those plastic wraps, I can not assume that my customer will know how to recycle them (if they are even recyclable). Which is why I’ve chosen to completely nix them from my wrapping. I use paper items, recycled paper, especially Kraft brown bags and ribbon that I usually cut off from fancy shopping bags- all things that can be reused. 

I am aware that I could probably find recycled plastic wrappings or compostable even, but at this point I don't have the additional funds to afford that expense, so I'm doing what I can do that is the least hurtful to the environment. I don't expect everyone to think this way, although I do believe that a lot of artists out there are thinking in this same way (I have quite a few that I'll be interviewing in the coming months). If they weren't, Etsy would not be hosting a sustainability conference! 

However we do still have a long ways to go. As small business owners, we don't always have the means to be considerate or to go about creating a strong sustainable core. It can be costly and so we often look for ways to cut costs, save money, and still deliver a high quality product. Sometimes those things can be and are at odds of each other.  

If I hadn’t had “sustainable business” in my mind from the beginning, I might not know how to address the desire to have a business that is sustainable from the core. Which is why I’m glad to see Etsy delve into this topic.

A Wood III by Machiko Agano currently on display at the Japan Society, NYC. "...it still expresses the artist's former preoccupation with the effects of reflected light, but also makes a direct comment on environmental pressures..."

Last night, I attended a viewing of the exhibit, "Fiber Futures: Japan's Textile Pioneers" (it runs through Sunday, December 18th) at the Japan Society. As I walked through the exhibit, I got caught in this small room with multiple hanging items as you see in the photo above. At that moment, this posting clicked in my mind more than before. The artist, who was on hand and explained her hand process to me, wants the visitor and viewer to reflect on perception of space and environment. When we see ourselves, we also see the green of nature-we have always been intertwined, but it is more of a reality now than most people think.

The future is greener and brighter and with more resources available to crafters, handmakers, artists, and Etsians, it will only become more so. My next posting will highlight tips and comments from the seminar, but especially the sessions dealing with more “sustainable” and “eco” topics such as: “Greening Your Office for Beginners” with Kate Houstoun and Jared Lucas and “Panel: The Challenges of Sustainable Design in a Local Ecosystem” with Laetitia Wolff, Emily Abruzzo, Erika Doering and Victor Lytinenko.

If you are not able to attend, I highly recommend and encourage you to watch as much as you can via live streaming.

Sara//

S2 Stationery and Design