Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Its a great time to be a consumer( That means YOU bead people)



     I live in New York City. We complain how expensive groceries are! Yet we now have Trader Joes, where you can save a bundle on milk products alone. The 99 cent slice of Pizza is back, as well as 99 cent stores and many affordable food carts.  You do not have to like it but the options we have are endless even if the aisle are not!!

Now with that in mind, imagine being a bead consumer these days. Yes, there are many beads stores but also on-line stores ,E bay and Etsy. One can buy beads in increments needed, would it be by gram or piece ,with  less need for those shoe boxes under your bed even though they definitely exist, which leads me to my point:  Can you remember it ever being a better time to be a consumer of beads?

Being primarily an importer of Czech Beads, how many times have i heard this last couple years YIKES "another new shape or another new color variety". Going back to the food theme above, you know how many times i have gone into a grocery store in NYC for potato chips and just been underwhelmed. While if i visit family say in North Carolina or Florida and see a WHOLE potato chip aisle with more brands and flavors than i can imagine i can get tingles ( no not Pringles). The fact that there are 1000 delica bead colors, 400 colors of superduos or hundred of varieties of thunder polish to fire polish cannot be a bad thing.

Yet being an importer comes with its own "Bells and Whistles".  We get to see the beads sometimes in their most primitive raw state. In plain opaque or transparent colors and we try to add flair to them. Really, as we are reminded sometimes we do not make anything but perhaps we provide the ignition to inspire creativity and opportunity. When i get to see finished work designers create perhaps adding the most appropriate metal finding or handiest bead stitch to some color combination, i at least think i created or facilitated that wonderful piece of jewelry.

I always loved the phrase the "applications are endless". There are many talented Jewelry designers and manufacturers of components that make this happen. Then there are the countless number of bead stores and such that go out of their way to share this talent, not to mention what is shared naturally with the artistic community as a whole. Lets remember beads do not grow on trees even though some wish they do, and appreciate the bead bounty we have now.


Perry