What Has Emotion Got To Do With It?

During the June 14th Jumpstart Thursday session, we got talking about how artists get emotionally attached to their work-so much so, that they are determined to create products that personify them rather than those that respond to market demands. There is much to be be said about the subject – depending on personal experience – but i came across this excerpt from an interview featured in the Design Trust blog on10 successful designers, crafts people and advisers. They give personal tips and insights on what they wish they had known starting out. This particular one by Sidsel Dorph-jensen caught my attention. For the complete article, click here

 “When I started out I wish I had known … how to feel comfortable selling at shows. The whole experience of exhibiting your work to the public is very intimidating. It is quite paradoxical, really, because you’re at a trade show or craft fair to sell your work, but it’s also a situation most creatives I know feel very ambivalent about. Yes – we want to sell, but no – we don’t believe we’re any good at it, yes – it’s why we’re there, but no – we don’t feel comfortable.

There’s a mind shift between being in a designing, making and creating state, and being in a sales situation. They probably live in different parts of the brain – but I’m not going into that.
What I do want to pass on? The most important thing I’ve learned about selling at shows, and being comfortable doing it, is – that it’s not ‘about me’.