Have you ever really sat down and defined what ‘handmade’ means to you?
You would think that it would be pretty simple, but there are actually a lot of different definitions out there as to what constitutes ‘handmade’.
As someone with a handmade business, it’s important that you are clear on what handmade means to you, and what elements of that definition you want to make clear to your customers.
How important to the purpose and story of your business is the word and ethos of ‘handmade’?
Does it mean that you make all of your pieces yourself from raw materials?
What parts of your process are done by hand, and which parts are not?
Do you get your designs manufactured elsewhere, but still via hand rather than machine?
Is it your aim to always make your items yourself, by hand, or do you actually want to expand your business so that your designs are manufactured elsewhere? If you do, it’s important to realise that that’s okay – it just means that you’ll move beyond the label of handmade sometime in the future, and you need to own that.
Getting clear on this will help you decide what elements of ‘handmade’ really matter to you – and therefore, the direction you’ll want to take your business in future.
For example, if it’s important to you that every one of your pieces is made by your own hands, you are making the decision that you’ll never be able to expand your business past a certain point. However, if you care more that it’s made locally by hand – perhaps by others helping in your studio, or outsourced elsewhere – then you know that you have the potential for growth beyond yourself.
There is no right or wrong answer here – just what works for you, and your customers.
Action Steps
1. Come up with your own definition of ‘handmade’ as it pertains to your business. You might even like to write a paragraph that outlines your relationship to the handmade movement, and how your designs fit into the handmade ethos.
2. Share it with us in the FB group!
