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Trillium Artisans is a nonprofit funded by the City of Portland and others to "connect artisans to markets." More specifically, we help market fine and indie crafts made from recycled or reclaimed materials.
Effective January 1, 2008, Trillium is now accepting APPAREL and CHILDREN'S items made from recycled materials!
What's in it for you?
- Access to our credit card processing services. In 2007, Trillium members ran more than $25,000 worth of sales through our merchant services accounts. If you don't want to deal with the hassle of setting up an account, but still don't want to lose those sales that only happen when you take plastic, we can help.
- Consignment sales - we'll give you 60% of each retail sale and 80% of each wholesale sale (if you sell wholesale with us, not everyone does).
- Possible piecework making Trillium Design products, such as our Organic Catnip Slugs and Mason Bee Condos, which pays by the piece at the equivalent of $12.50 an hour.
- Small business counseling - we're here to listen if you just need someone to bounce business ideas off of…or if you're having a problem with a wholesale customer, or a shipper, etc. And if we don't know the answer, we'll find someone who does! By appointment only.
- Product development "test marketing" and counseling through our product review process.
- A peer network of fellow artisans who are growing their "green" crafts businesses. This group is accessible through a google group, for members only. Members send out referrals for shows, grants, awards and sales venues such as www.etsy.com.
- Invitations to hear guest speakers from craft leaders such as Queen Bee Creations, Portland Super Crafty and more.
- An opportunity to get your crafts on the Trillium website and collective Etsy shop. Wholesale buyers from across the country peruse our online catalog. Recent wholesale customers include the Gaiam and Sahalie catalogs.
- Someone to deal with catalog orders for you - if 64-page vendor manuals aren't your thing, let us deal with the details.
- Access to a computer workstation, with Adobe software, high-speed internet access and printing. By appointment only.
- Access to our fax and copy machines.
- An opportunity to sell your crafts in our retail storefront at 9119 SE Foster.
- A chance to show your work at private sales and nonprofit foundation events.
- Use of our digital camera and light box which can be checked out for a week at a time.
- Artisans participating in the PDX Green Crafts project are eligible to receive a free product photography consultation and lesson with local jewelry artist and photographer Lisa Gastelum.
- Tax deductions to offer to suppliers of your salvaged materials. We are a 501c3 nonprofit.
- Luxury fabric samples for use in all sorts of projects, for $1/lb. (Ask about our $10 start-up grant for our fabrics.)
What products do we carry?
All work sold by Trillium must pass a product review panel.
Download the Product Review Form
.There are five main criteria upon which products are juried. The product review committee, composed of passionate customers, fellow artists, and wholesale buyers, asks:
- Is the craft item made from at least 50% recycled or reclaimed materials?
- Is it well made? We market to high-end green consumers who hold "durability" as a cherished value. We also guarantee all the products we sell.
- Is it priced to pay you at least $12.50 an hour, after consignment? (Trillium pays artisans 60% of the list price for each retail item. This means that if you spend two hours making an item, you'd have to get $25, so the retail price would be at least $41, as $41 times 60% is $25. This can be tricky, as the perceived value of an item is not always high enough to get your living wage out of it.)
- Does it fit with Trillium's existing products and product lines: Home, Garden, Women's Accessories, Pets, Gifts, Apparel, and Children's items? Sorry, we are not currently selling 2D gallery art.
- Would our customers buy it at the price identified above?
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Visitors on a tour of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity volunteered to help with product review. These guys took their responsibility seriously, making sure these aprons were well made and a good fit! | ||||
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Your responsibilities:
Once your products pass review, you will need to:
- Write a very short story to market yourself and your products.
- Tag your own items with story tags (artisan story and product story) as well as Trillium tags. Items without tags will not be marketed.
- Deliver consistent, high-quality products on time for both wholesale orders and retail events. By "consistent" we mean that products must be consistently well-made, durable, and in compliance with our other standards, even if they are one-of-a-kind.
- Provide photos of yourself and your products if you have them (for our website). If not, set up a time with Claire to get your picture taken.
- Make appointments! No drop-ins - please call before you come by. If you swing by there's a very high chance that we're working with a customer or another member, or on deadline for a grant report. We try to be flexible, but calling ahead is a good business skill that we encourage.
- Volunteer at least 10 hours a year for Trillium. We don't charge a fee for what we do - instead we rely on grants and volunteers!
- Write a business plan (or, if you already have one, provide a copy to Trillium).
- Be prepared to work on your business! We don't do marketing for individual artisans - we only do marketing that benefits the group as a whole.
2008 Product Review Deadlines
January 18
February 22
March 21
April 25
May 23
June 20
July 25
September 19
October 24
Please submit samples of your work and completed product review applications prior to these deadlines. To submit, please make an appointment with Christine by calling 503-775-7993.
Artisan Meetings
Artisans with products accepted for sale are invited to attend Trillium's Artisan Meetings. Christine Claringbold, Program Coordinator, notifies qualified artisans of the time, location and agenda in advance. Meetings cover such topics as sales, marketing, product photography, and options for setting up websites. Guest speakers include sales representatives, bloggers, career coaches, and successful craftspeople.
2008 Artisan Meeting Dates
January: Start the New Year off Right with Advice for your Small Business!
Date: Wed. Jan. 30
Guest Speaker: Torie Nguyen, of Totinette Designs, member of Portland Super Crafty, co-author of the book Super Crafty: Over 75 Amazing How-To Projects, and co-founder of Crafty Wonderland. Torie teaches a Small Business Series and she will be presenting an overview of the class for our group. Topics covered may include: making it legal (DBA, Business License, Trademark, and more); planning & finance; creating an identity & developing collateral; and/or basic bookkeeping.
February: Teaching Classes as a Means to Diversify your Business Income
Date: Wed. Feb. 27
Guest Speaker: Jen Neitzel, of Knot Ugly Designs and the DIY Lounge. Has anybody ever said, "You should teach classes on how to make that!"? Jen will advise artists on how to diversify their income through teaching, including: how to build an audience of students, qualities of a great teacher, and finding the "sweet spot" in teaching.
March: All About Websites
Date: Wed. March 26
Guest Speaker: Julie Duong, president of Trillium Artisans' Board of Directors. Julie is a professional web developer who will discuss basic options for how to set up and maintain your own website.
April: Craft Blogging Workshop
Date: Wed. April 30
Guest Speaker: "Sister" Diane Gilleland, of Craftypod, DIY Alert!, and the Church of Craft. Many of you attended Diane's Blogging 101 workshop at Trillium in April 2007. She will be coming back to Trillium exactly one year later with another great Craft Blogging workshop! Even if you don't know anything about blogging, you should still come to the meeting and learn.
May: Advice from a Career Coach
Date: Wed. May 28
Guest Speaker: Stacey Lane, of Stacey Lane Career Coaching and Consulting. Learn about transitioning from a full time job to the freelance/working artist world.
June: Product Photography Workshop
Date: SATURDAY, June 21
Location: Address and time TBA
Guest Speaker: Lisa Gastelum, of TQB Designs.
Lisa led a product photography workshop for us here at Trillium in October, and she is eager to do it again - this time during the day when we can use some natural lighting! Learn to take better pictures of your items to list on your website, blog, and/or Etsy shop.
This project is funded in part by a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
For more information or to make an appointment, please call Christine Claringbold at Trillium Artisans, 503.775.7993, christine@trilliumartisans.org.