Etsy

In an attempt to expand our business during challenging economic times, we have created a shop on Etsy.  So far this has been fun, inspiring and surprisingly more fruitful than we had expected. It has challenged us to evolve our designs and create new work that is outside of the box we tend to work within.  We have scaled down our projects, focusing on the smaller, individual pieces that contribute to the larger picture rather than working the other way around as we have down in the past. It is becoming clearer to us that this could be the key to having our woodworking and ceramics business weather a recession.  

We love the philosophy behind Etsy as well. The shift in focus to items that are handmade on a small scale as opposed to mass produced under awful working conditions means a lot to us. It is important for us as consumers to know where the products we are buying are coming from and to have some kind of a connection to the people who created them. This shift in our thinking began several years ago when we really began to question where our food came from and wanting to take a more active role in being connected to our food sources. Now, we are trying to apply the same model to our work and the way we operate as consumers ourselves. We are attempting to find healthier ways to buy and sell in America. If we are going to make a living selling, we are determined to find ways of doing it that take less of a toll socially and environmentally. Etsy has been one step in the right direction. Through Etsy we have also connected with several grassroots groups of makers/ artisans who are attempting to do the same thing and sharing ideas along the way.  

Now that we are generating smaller work, we will also be participating in more local craft fairs and farmers markets. This is something we have done for several years, but this year we are planning to do this much more. We will post links to each of the fairs and markets we will be attending in the coming months.  Thanks for checking out our new blog.

Link to our Etsy store:

http://www.firewoodfurniture.etsy.com