Where to make a living making hand-made?

[D_W]

An awful lot of well-known makers in the U.S. have woodworking schools, or heavy teaching schedules at others' woodworking schools. I don't get the impression this isn't largely an economic necessity, but who really knows for sure?

I'm not the kind of guy who would pay for that sort of thing and go buddy up to someone (without there being a revenue stream on the backside), but I've heard more than one student of more than one instructor repeat that the instructor told them they teach to make ends meet, and for no other reason.

Who could blame them? What would you rather do, get lost in your work and look at something you completed with satisfaction, or spend your days dancing around telling a student that they have no future in furniture, and wouldn't even if lots of people did? Or perhaps spend your time dealing with a bunch of 50 something individuals who have some position of authority at work and think it's your responsibility to turn them into something great, but without too much effort on their own part to learn something difficult?

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Having been a trainer (and I do some training in my current job, though it's not the main focus), I'd say there's a fair bti of satisfaction in it, and the vast majority of people who come along are genuinely there to learn as much as they can. I've been on a fair few wood and metal work training courses (including one where the chap running it admitted that he made a living through training and books, and that enabled him to carry on making things he loved and selling them at a notional loss) and the other people there were either learning something they needed for their work, or something they thought they'd enjoy.

I'm booked on one of Peter Sefton's week-long courses next year; it's not cheap, but for me it's a very quick way to learn some very useful skills that will make my limited hobby time more productive and satisfying.

To some extent I do think it's a shame that people struggle to earn a living making this sort of thing, but on the other if they could, it'd take me a lot longer to learn.

 

[Bedrock]

Thank you everyone for all your responses.

It took me around 10 months to post, since I had the conversation with the Australian baker, and finally nudged by Richard Maguire's blog about boxes. It seems for most parts of the world the reality is that it is difficult to make a comfortable living from hand made furniture, without teaching or having other sources of income. No response from Australia though.

It may be that you will be gloating over the outcome of the rugby match last Saturday, for some time, but is the situation any different with you? The baker's comments referred not just to woodwork, but generally to most crafts, certainly pottery, ceramics etc..

Unless you are an established box maker with an established client base who will commission, what would you expect to be able to sell say, a lidded box around A4 size? Depending on complexity, 20-30 hours? in which case you will be working for between £15 - 20/hour, if you can sell for say £300, excluding VAT (the sales tax in the UK, currently at 20%).

Not enough to cover overheads, materials and still feed a family I would think. Maybe my figures are wrong as I have no direct experience of selling small, but more complex, items.

Regards Mike

 

[Trafalgar]

Can't imagine doing it on boxes. They would have to be extraordinary works of original art and command many, many multiples of material costs. The upside is that the tooling, even if you added power, would not have to be industrial-grade.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

It took me around 10 months to post, since I had the conversation with the Australian baker, and finally nudged by Richard Maguire's blog about boxes. It seems for most parts of the world the reality is that it is difficult to make a comfortable living from hand made furniture, without teaching or having other sources of income. No response from Australia though.

As an amateur I am not qualified to provide you with the type of answer I believe you want. However I do have a few professional furniture makers as friends or patients.

The market in Australia is small. Keep in mind that we are 25 million in all. Perth has 2 million, Sydney and Melbourne have about 6 million each. As a manufacturer, either you are going to be competing with China and Malaysia for the lower end, or competing with each other in the upper end. There is not a big customer base for high end pieces. Even smaller for one-offs.

The few that get by without teaching run factories that produce runs of chairs, cabinets etc to reduce costs and remain competitive. A friend who makes high-end pieces sells mainly to a small group who have followed his award-winning work over the years. Nevertheless, he still depends on running a school and other teaching to have a reliable income.

There are a couple of wood schools in Perth, and they appear to be busy. There seem to be many who can and will pay for expensive (to me) week-long courses (to build a coffee table, sideboard, etc). The level of expertise of members of my woodworking club is really impressive. There are a number good enough to produce high end work, but they stay in their day jobs.

The economy plays a big part, obviously. Australia depended on Western Australia (my state) for the rich mining in the northern regions. China purchased all the iron ore so, when China's economy dropped back, so did ours. The bottom line is that this favours the extreme ends of the market. Most are cautious about spending at this time.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Worth bearing in mind that even back in the day when most furniture was hand-made, craftsmen didn't earn very much. They worked very long hours to earn it, too. It was only with the advent of mechanisation, and the capacity to produce a lot quickly with much less labour, that wages started to improve - for the few minding the machines.

Maybe things haven't really changed that much.