Interview With A Top Etsy Seller

Rob Walker has started a series of interviews on his blog Murketing. In the first, he interviews ‘AshleyG‘, a St. Louis base artist, who has sold thousands of prints through her Etsy shop. AshleyG started on Etsy by trying to sell her jewelry and stuffed animals but they didn’t do so well, then she started selling her prints and it snowballed. The whole interview gives a great insight into a generation of entrepreneurial creators. Here’s one question about ‘what is craft’ that stood out:

Rob: So here’s a question you may have heard before: If you’re selling open-edition digital prints, how is that “hand made”? Why is it different from just buying something at Target (or whatever)?

Ashley G: I think this question is really important. It has and I’m sure will continue to be hotly debated in places like the Etsy Forums. But, really, almost everything that is “handmade” has some prefab component to it. Beads for a necklace, store-bought yarn for a scarf, the list goes on and on.

The nature of my art is digital. That is the medium I prefer, and there is no other output option for it, except a printer. That said, I am not really looking to defend my work, or prove that I belong in “the handmade community.” I am far more concerned that people enjoy it, that hopefully other artists consider it “art,” and that it comes across as original or moving. And I want it to be affordable and still make a living from it. Creating the work the way I do allows that to happen.

Do I believe digital artists have a place in “the handmade community”? Absolutely. I can’t speak for the creators of Etsy, but I like to believe that when they created the slogan “Your place to buy and sell all things handmade,” handmade was not intended to be defined simply as a means of production, but as movement. You hear again and again about “the handmade movement.” It’s not just about the what, but about the who. I am a person, not a corporation or a chain store. I am an individual making personal contact with other individuals on a daily basis.

And lastly, digitally printing is not pressing a magic print button. I can’t even count the numbers of times I have cried over the frustration of something going wrong. Colors, images, cutting, quality. If part of “handmade” is suffering for your art, I certainly have.

murketing » Blog Archive » Q&A: Artist AshleyG
AshleyG’s Etsy Store