NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

Notes and Conunent {continued}
woods have generally been preferred,
what furniture functions have sold, and
what price range is comfortable. At
Workbench, our typical customer is
buying one-of-a-kind furniture for the
first time. He or she wants a piece that
is easy to integrate with an existing environment.
Consequently, we sell many
stOols, benches, coffee tables, mirrors
and plant stands. Dining tables, game
tables and desks are also popular, although
the major barrier to this type of
sale is the custOmer's uncertainty about
picking a chair to match. We've learned
to get the woodworker to recommend a
commercially made chair, or to sketch
one that he or she would like to build.
Most of the furniture we sell is in the
$800 to $1500 price range, though
mirrors and stools generally cost from
$300 to $650. Desks and dining tables
sell for $1500 to $3,000. For the general
public that Workbench is introducing
to handmade furniture, price is a major
barrier. Consequently, our gallery is
nonprofit, and has the unique, albeit
controversial, policy of selling direct,
without adding a commission.
Our customers seem to like and buy
Photo: Sotheby Parke Bernet
106
fruirwoods (mainly cherty and pear) and
light-colored maple. Padauk and rosewood
are popular, oak is not. Painted
furniture sells well, but veneer makes
New Yorkers suspicious.
Learning a shop or gallety's aesthetic
point of view is as important as knowing
its sales histoty. I am not suggesting
that you design to fit the gallety's taste
and needs; rather, that you find one
compatible with your own design philosophy.
At Workbench, we aim to
show impeccably crafted, functional
pieces that embody original artistic
statements. We do not show reproductions,
and saleability is not a necessary
ctiterion. We like a real mix-large scale
and small, personal statements, real
wood and man-made materials, and designs
both flashy and discrete. Some
gy galleries have an exhibit and sales strate­
geared
tOward collectors, while others
aim for those who seek only sensible,
practical alternatives to mass-produced
goods. The stOre's preferences ought to
be obvious by what's on the sales floor,
and you can always ask.
Once you've researched, designed,
built and delivered your furniture to a
Too
much?
Why does a piece of furniture set an auction record? This cabinet,
built by Adam Weisweiler in 1784, once held the personal
papers of Louis XVI. It accompanied the deposed king to the
Tuileries while he was under house arrest, awaiting execution.
0
Maybe that explains why somebody from New Jersey paid
£990,000 for the piece last July at Sotheby's, London.
gallery, your job is not yet done-not if
you really want to sell. Beautifully designed
and meticulously crafted furniture
does not sell itself. Galleries and
craft shops work hard just to bring in
prospective buyers. Closing a sale is
tricky because handmade furniture is
usually priced, function for function,
like attractive antiques or fashionable
Italian imports. What can give the
woodworker a competitive edge is the
appealing fact that he or she is alivenot
dead for 150 years-and not anonymous
like those slick foreign designers.
So, when you deliver your furniture,
tell your sales representative about yourself
and your work. Explain why you
became a woodworker, what influences
your design, how a specific
All
piece was
made, how you fantasize about building
an entire billiard room. of this is interesting
to a potential custOmer. I don't
suggest a dancing bear act, but picture
this scenario, with the gallery owner and
client standing in front of your sleek,
well-crafted, $800 pearwood end-table:
Client: "Nice table."
Sales Rep: "Yes, it really is."
Client: "Sure is a nice table."
Sales Rep: "Yes, it certainly is."
Client: "Well, I'll think about it."
And now the same scene, except that
you briefed your sales representative:
Client: "Nice table."
Sales Rep: "Yes, the artist
this
found that
pearwood in a chicken coop in Vermont
and had only enough for one piece."
Client: "That so?"
Sales Rep: "Yes, John's shop is in Massachusetts,
and he likes to work alone.
He usually builds one-of-a-kind furniture
favoring simple, understated lines,
so the figure of the wood can speak
for itself. "
0
Client: "Well, he sure succeeded. I'll
take it for my living room."
Festival tent sells
where galleries can't
by Michael Gilmartin
Many Georgians received a surprise last
spring while tOuring the annual Arts
Festival of Atlanta. Amongst the usual
craft-show fare was an exhibit in a separate
tent devoted to fine furniture. Entitled
"IMPOSTERS-Sculpture Posing
as Furniture," it consisted of 30 works
that somehow related to furniture, made
by six Southern artists.
I organized the show, and my reason
was twofold. First, I'm disenchanted
with the ability of local galleries to properly
display and sell sculptural furniture,
and second, I saw a chance to tap intO a