Sunday 6 April 2008

THE PRICE OF KNITTED BEANS

Kate Talbot's, Beans, Ketchup and Marmite have been the most popular show we have ever had.

We watch faces light up through the window, people jump with delight, and kids have actually banged fists on the glass and shouted 'Yes!' And then we kill the joy when we tell them the crocheted Marmite costs £320.

Kate counts her ours of work and pays herself a professional wage of £10 per hour. We add 20% on top as our commission. 

Knitting will probably always be boxed as a lesser art. Knitting is loved but it is seldom rewarded. Skills take years to perfect, and hand knitting is one of the slowest of mediums. As the Spanish knitting shop below says " All you knit is love"....

Like or hate marmite, you'll love our window display.

Louise found a lecture by Dave Hickey about the subject of selling without selling out.



3 comments:

gusseting said...

i'd love to see the marmite - sadly being in oz, i can't see the shop window - might you be able to provide photos of the whole exhibition?
btw, went looking on flickr, and here's the bestest result for knit marmite.

Prick Your Finger said...

Hi Gusseting,

Lovely to hear from you!
All the way down there in Australia!
you can see the marmite on our website, www.prickyourfinger.com in the exhibitions section. I know she does a vegemite too, which you might prefer but I don't want to assume that you prefer veggemite because you might not!

Anyway as I said, lovely to hear from you and We are glad you like it!

Felicity Ford said...

I'm so glad to see something upfront and practical about the price of knitted work.

Looking at your other post about the cotton produced in Uzbekistan for peanuts, and the environmental and social consequences of such cheap production, I am struck by the realisation that we just don't understand anymore the true cost of cheap goods, or the real value of expensive ones.

I'm glad that the price of these knitted beans hasn't been dropped in order to satisfy the unrealistic shopping wishes of a culture that's gotten so used to paying too little for things that cost too much and I'm glad to see a knitter who isn't underpricing herself in the competitive world of craft sales!

I love that PYF supports real wages for artists and charges according to what things are worth rather than what people want to pay. It makes me think your shop will last for a long time and build up a loyal and ethical customer base.

I love the knitted beans.