Glad to hear that!
My friend was glad to hear that I have started to make necklace again. Yes, I have committed to continue making necklace again. I have all the materials out because my young friend made necklace in my studio yesterday and I had told myself to keep everything out so I have the drive to start creating. I badly need a good kick to start again since I got a text message from a friend’s friend about my necklaces collection. She is in Jakarta and has inquired about how she can see my creation. That was last month and she sent me text message again the other day. I feel so malu!
I’m a bit panicking because I don’t have enough stock for the shop and to circulate. I left some nice pieces in Manila the other month and since I was featured in local newspapers I could not let my shop without the necklaces. Apparently the feature has drawn people to visit. A friend emailed me the other day that she stopped by after reading the column. Great!! But…
I reviewed what has stopped me from making necklace the past two years. Two years? Yea, almost. It’s about the philosophy I set for my creation. I like to make big chunky, asymmetrical, and one-of-a-kind necklace made of semi precious stone and all silver beads and locks. The issue now… like all trade in global crisis, expensive stuffs have limited space in the market. I pondered about my philosophy after reading about Primark – an Ireland based clothing retailer – that sells ‘be cheap, but chic’ clothing. Time reviews “When times are tight, customers rethink how they spend, often breaking buying habits and abandoning product loyalties.”
By now I have read two new trends of spending for fashion in the crisis. Luxury items become in demand – surprisingly – for the reason that the goods are long lasting. In the other hand, ‘cheap n chic’ is also in demand for people can keep following fashion trend with being ripped off. So… good news! But… in my case, it seems that I only have one option during crisis and that is the second. Cheap and chic!
The other month I made necklaces with the new philosophy in mind but… I made mistake since I also catered people’s demand for smaller size and less funky necklaces. When I look at my creation today, I just know that I better keep my style but using lower priced materials. Forget about making smaller and less funky necklaces because – maybe I feel – there’s a less demand for that.
So I finished seven necklaces today using tribal ethnic materials like bone and wood. I plan to still use silver lock instead of metal although I keep the spirit of ‘cheap n chic.’ There’s a limit I want to set for my creation and nice things could not be cheap.
That’s fine too!
A set-up shrine in the middle of rice fields in Bongkasa.