Recognizing the designer of a product by name is a well-established tradition in Denmark, which is where we got the original inspiration for our shop many years ago. But most of the gift lines we now don’t credit the talent behind the product, with the exception of greeting cards and other paper goods.

That is changing, thankfully.  Trend-driven companies such as Umbra list the name of the industrial designers behind some of their products, and hopefully consumers will begin to recognize and follow those whose esthetic they like.  It’s a good sign that avid fans have started Pinterest boards to gather images of their favorite designer’s work.

Within the gift industry we are seeing more lines based on a single artist’s opus, which acknowledges the fact that it is often more effective to display and promote merchandise that goes well together because it comes from one person.  A new line from Midwest CBK called Beautiful Soul offers themed merchandise from seven woman artists.  The catalogue carries a short bio and image of the artist (as shown in the illustration above), which will be great for stores wanting to tell the story behind the product.

You may also find local artists whose work fits in your store, or perhaps you’ll have success with the new wholesale division of Etsy.  In order to best promote art made by a named artist, you’ll want to have signage with an artist bio and photo, and perhaps a small version to go into the box if the item is being given as a gift.

Promoting artists by name is a win-win, because it helps artisans make a living through their talent, protects their original work from copying by assigning their name to it, and also helps our stores have merchandise that reflects the talent around us.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder