wood work

[sarajayne]

hello all, my husband is a fantastic carpenter, but is finding it hard to get work, he would love to start his own company.... we have a webpage....his furniture is so lovely but i dont think people want to buy handmade goods anymore...... any help would be very very good....

[seafood]

Hi,

Just a suggesting have you tried getting a stall at markets, bootsales, craft markets etc - do not cost a lot of money to hire and may get you some loyal customes or atleast let people see your husbands product before they buy on a site - and if you can get business cards down up and many local shops let you leave them on counters, windows etc

Also what about free papers etc just a small add. Many local independant shops also commission people to do one off peices of work and this way you have a client base if you do set up on your own !

Keep me posted !

[noxlumos]

If it's hand made you need to appeal to a wealthy niche market, most people want mass produced crap that's cheap, so the only people where there is a serious market are the very wealthy that will buy it simply because the quality is good and it's handmade.What this all boils down to is it's about spin. How you present yourselves and where you advertise. You need to be trying to hit that wealthy sector that are more likely to be able to buy your goods so, Country Life magazine, craft fairs, anywhere classy and expensive. You'll not sell anything advertising in Loot, because your niche market won't read Loot, they'll read The Lady or Hunting and Shooting Times.

Although suggesting opening an Ebay shop may sound like a contradiction to the above advice, I've found that Ebay, because of it's convenience, appeals across the spectrum and all sorts of people shop there including your niche market. We bought a bed from these people who are platinum powersellers and clearly do very well in just the sort of market you're aiming for.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antique-Tudor-Style-5-Solid-Mahogany-Four-4-Poster-Bed_W0QQitemZ7390218860QQcategoryZ63551QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hope this helps a little and good luck.

[sarajayne]

thank you both for your advise.....what good ideas, i will see about ebay, i never thourght of that before.....and noxlumos, ya right about people just wanting mass produced crap, its cheap and conveneant....... its a shame really that people only want that sort of thing.....thank you both so much for your replies.. we fill a bit more possitive now... sarajayne..xxxxx

[gammaray]

I agree entirely with noxlumos on this. Set yourself up as a bespoke craftsman with a price ticket to match and a market will open up for you. You should try to establish a reputation with up market interior designers and people with influence within your market who can sell your concepts and ideas to a small but wealthy audience. Perhaps you can offer a consultancy service where you visit clients (along with a tame interior designer) to discuss the sorts of furniture that might best suit their surroundings, make a big thing of it. Rich people like to be fussed over, and it all adds value to your product.

zooming off at a tangent here but has your other half ever considered bespoke dolls house furniture? The markets for that both here and abroad are massive. It sounds like a strange departure from the full size product but it's an income stream that shouldn't be overlooked.

[normanpritchard5]

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