
Ever since I set up as a freelance engraver I've taken on a variety of what would be termed "commercial" jobs. These are jobs that are done simply to earn money to pay the bills. They can be as simple as engraving a happy birthday dedication onto the side of a perfume bottle or as complex as a detailed portrait of someone's pet dog. It's a world away from creating an exhibition piece which would be painstakingly thought through from concept to composition to execution. But to dismiss these jobs as being less important than exhibition work is to do them a disservice. For a start it is one of the few times I get a real interaction with the people who look at and buy my engravings, and that is important for several reasons.
The interaction with customers allows you to gauge what is successful about your work. Having an item sell is always a good sign but watching a customer handle the finished work, seeing them inspect it and leave smiling tells you an awful lot about what works and what does not. It allows you to choose designs that engage with people. It allows you to refine your skill and when you do have an actual exhibition there is a ready fan base of people to come along and see it.
One of the most regular types of commercial work I do is engraving at inshore events. During my time living in Singapore I regularly worked for cosmetics companies engraving on perfume bottles. It was always a challenge to produce neat and precise work in the crowds that fill a department store. I do similar work here in Japan but instead engrave on fountain pens and Ink bottles. Each event demands new designs as repeat customers keep coming back and the available space to work on the cap of a pen is predictably tiny. It's a new sort of challenge to work at that tiny scale and can feel very much like a performance with customers leaning over to watch as you work.
It was and is a challenge. It keeps my skills sharp and earns me living. It may be commercial but it's every bit as important as "exhibition work.
For anyone who happens to be in the Osaka area I will be engraving for Nagasawa, working on fountain pens and ink bottles at Nagasawa branch located in Umeda on the 4th Nov.
The interaction with customers allows you to gauge what is successful about your work. Having an item sell is always a good sign but watching a customer handle the finished work, seeing them inspect it and leave smiling tells you an awful lot about what works and what does not. It allows you to choose designs that engage with people. It allows you to refine your skill and when you do have an actual exhibition there is a ready fan base of people to come along and see it.
One of the most regular types of commercial work I do is engraving at inshore events. During my time living in Singapore I regularly worked for cosmetics companies engraving on perfume bottles. It was always a challenge to produce neat and precise work in the crowds that fill a department store. I do similar work here in Japan but instead engrave on fountain pens and Ink bottles. Each event demands new designs as repeat customers keep coming back and the available space to work on the cap of a pen is predictably tiny. It's a new sort of challenge to work at that tiny scale and can feel very much like a performance with customers leaning over to watch as you work.
It was and is a challenge. It keeps my skills sharp and earns me living. It may be commercial but it's every bit as important as "exhibition work.
For anyone who happens to be in the Osaka area I will be engraving for Nagasawa, working on fountain pens and ink bottles at Nagasawa branch located in Umeda on the 4th Nov.