Craft Connection Co-operative

Date of Incorporation: 1983
Membership: 15 artists, 60 consignees
Activity: Local Art and Craft Gallery
Organizational Form: Member Co-operative
Area Served: Nelson, B.C. and surrounding area

Introduction

The Craft Connection Co-operative opened its doors to the community of Nelson, B.C. on June 1, 1983. Since then, it has become one of today’s most renowned gift galleries in Western Canada. The cooperative is currently comprised of 15 local artisan members and displays the work of 60 additional consignee craftspeople. From its beginnings in a small corner of a local mall to its current home in a heritage building in Nelson’s picturesque downtown, the co-operative has evolved into a hub of activity for local residents and a favourite destination for tourists.

The Motivation

Talented artisans, who were individually selling their art in both the Kootenay and coastal regions of British Columbia, are responsible for initiating the development of the Craft Connection. These individuals recognised that it was challenging for artists to make their work financially viable. Craft stores in the region charged a consignment fee in the range of 30 – 50%, which was deducted from the retail price of the sales. In addition, many Kootenay artisans found that selling trips to the coast, although necessary, could be costly due to expenses such as food and lodging. In response to these and other challenges, a group of Kootenay artisans joined forces and started a gallery of their own in the early 1980s.

Founding member Bonnell Holland, clothing designer and creator of costumes for theatre, film, and television, moved to Nelson in 1981. Soon after, Holland began collaborating with an emerging silk painting artist who was familiar with her work. Together, the women decided to explore the prospect of opening a craft co-operative to provide both a venue for local artists to sell their art and exposure for the work of Nelson area artisans. Holland explains that “the premise was, we would all work in the store to set up displays, and divide the time. Everyone would have 20% taken off of their sales to run the store and pay the rent, and the artist could take home 80%.” (Interview, March 22, 2001)

Beginnings

With this vision, the craft co-op quickly attracted 10 to 12 local artists. Most of the artists lived in the Greater Nelson area and some were retired and ready to actively pursue their art. With a pool of talented people to draw energy from, and with weaver and designer Lillian Johnson’s knowledge of co-operative business, the group became an officially registered co-op within six months.

In the early 1980s Nelson, along with other towns in B.C., experienced an economic downturn. In this era, logging and mining were in decline and the David Thompson University was closed. As a result, local businesses were suffering, including the Chahko Mika Mall where the first Craft Connection gallery located. At this time Craft Connection made an arrangement with the mall to pay their rent by sliding scale. Craft Connection paid a fixed percentage of their sales for the rent of their retail space in the mall. The group worked through a process of trial and error, coping with no phone and accepting only cash as a method of payment. Each member had a 10 foot booth space in which to display their work, and a decorating committee was responsible for rotating the displays. Members, who followed loosely designated shifts, ran the store. The system was such that members were expected to show up, and if they didn’t, the store was simply closed.

Becoming Organised

According to founding members, the store’s key drawing feature for local Nelson residents was that it broke up the drudgery of shopping by providing attractive displays and an eclectic collection of local art. Since its opening, Craft Connection has steadily increased in membership. Eventually, the co-operative moved to a bigger space in a main part of the mall. The co-op members met monthly to discuss business operations and future plans. However, as both sales and membership continued to increase, the need to become a formally organised structure became apparent. In response, founding members created their first active board of directors. In addition to this, the co-op formed a jury committee to judge the work of potential members based on the criteria of quality, pricing, design, skill of craftsmanship, and what products sell quickly (i.e. pottery sold much more quickly than fiber art and therefore, more pottery could be represented
in the co-op).

The co-op encourages excellence from emerging craftspeople in the Kootenay region, as its policy is to accept only a high standard of quality craftsmanship. The co-op respects the hard work and commitment of its long-time members. As a demonstration of this respect, when there is a situation in which the work of a potential member or consignee may be in direct competition with the work of an existing member, the co-op discusses the potential competition with the existing member, solicits their opinion, and accounts for all of this in the jury process.

By the late 1980s the co-op’s rent at the Chahko Mika Mall was no longer based on a sliding scale and had increased. “We were asked to move to a much smaller space, for a fixed rent each month. We did not like to move to the space that mall offered, it was much too small and the rent was too expensive.” recalls member Marie Berg. In response the co-op members began to look for alternate locations in Nelson’s heritage downtown. “The forced move was the best thing that could have happened at that time, because the first year we were in the Baker Street location we almost doubled our sales.”

Challenges

In the early 1990s, rapid growth of the co-op required some necessary policy changes. Craft Connection grew to 22 members. The amount of display space allotted to each member was reduced significantly to offer customers more choice. This shift provided an opportunity for the group to accept more consignment art. The consignment rate was adjusted from 33% to 37% to reflect the greater inventory and general staffing costs associated with increased consignment.

Members of Craft Connection have mentioned the “growing pains” involved with this expansion. A co-op member elaborates: “You start out at a grassroots level and meet in each other’s living rooms and before you know it, you’re a growing business making several thousand dollars a year and you have to step up to a more professional place” (Interview, March 22, 2001). The needs of the co-operative as a business organisation had to be balanced with the interests of individual members.

Part of this balancing act was the development of an advertising strategy. The co-op currently focuses more attention on advertising than it used to. Placing ads in local papers, travel magazines, targeting markets south of the border, and ensuring that the co-op is included on tourist maps produced by local groups are all part of Craft Connection’s current marketing strategies.

However, there are a number of different opinions voiced at meetings about how best to approach advertising. In its early years, Craft Connection members would draw upon their own resources to produce advertisements. Some members would like to see this trend continue while others would like advertising to be hired out professionally at a cost to the co-operative. To deal with these various opinions the co-op has restructured their meetings to make them more organised with a written agenda and a regular chairperson. The results have been positive and an advertising brochure has been produced.

Member Responsibilities

The diversity of the membership makes it difficult to satisfy all members. One of the ways in which the coop has found it easier to accommodate everyone and to manage the increasing number of tasks to be done is to form member committees. As the store continues to grow and, since one sales person is no longer enough to serve customers, the co-op has found it necessary to hire part time staff outside of its membership. Members are still required to work at least once a month in the store, which creates a unique buying situation where customers are able to meet and support their local artists. A great deal of emphasis is placed on keeping the members in touch with the everyday activities and energy of the store.

Membership is not for everybody; some people prefer a consignment relationship where they are free to sell their work without the responsibility of working in the store. The desirability of this type of relationship is evidenced by the fact that there are currently 60 consignee craftspeople and 15 members. Yet those who are members experience numerous benefits such as shared strategic business planning, and the development of retail skills.

Members also come together in less formal settings to work together and share energy and skills. For the last five or six years in December, several talented members have created Christmas window displays which have made Craft Connections a seasonal focal point for Nelson residents and tourists alike.

Member Shares

The Craft connection is a Member Co-operative and as such requires a membership share of $30 and an equity buy in. One of the primary benefits of being a member is that you are required to pay the store only 20% of your sales versus the 37% that consignees must pay. Members benefit further by having a stake in the ownership of the co-op.

Impact on the Nelson Community

The Craft Connection has provided a site of inspiration; many artisans come through the store and remark that they feel inspired by the work and others even visit the store in search of inspiration. As there is already a strong artistic presence in the Kootenay region the members of Craft Connection say it is hard to know if they’ve had a significant influence on the artistic community. Perhaps the most notable contribution Craft Connection has made is the provision of yet another outlet for artists to show and sell their work. The co-op has also provided a model to the community of what can be accomplished through co-operation.

The Future

What lies ahead for this well-established and vibrant business? The members have been having some difficulty over the past few years. The co-op is engaged in re-establishing visions and goals relevant to the economic and social context of the artists in the year 2001. The co-op is considering internal restructuring in order to make its business more efficient and to continue to accommodate the diverse needs of the artist members. Suggestions for re-structuring include reorganising into a tiered system. A tiered structure would allow flexibility both for members who did not want to work in the store at all and for those who desired a higher degree of involvement. Currently all members pay a price grade of 20%. There has been discussion suggesting some members be allowed to abstain from working in the store and attend only one meeting a
month but pay a price grade of 30%. Those wishing to be more highly involved could put in more time and pay an 18% price grade. This tier system is still in the discussion stages, and the co-op has had a number of planning and re-visioning sessions in the past year focusing on these issues.

The co-op also needs to revisit and re-define membership. The relationship between membership and jobs and profits needs to be addressed. Some members sell a lot more of their work than others thus the question arises, should those members with a greater portion of sales receive a greater portion of profits to reflect this? However, the fact that consignees generate 75 per cent of profits supports equal distribution. For now the members have voted for an equal distribution of profits. The co-operative has also been in the process of conducting a job planning review to determine if and how the diversity of jobs should be divided among the co-op members.

The members feel it would be useful to identify more clearly, and develop policy around the member responsibility, particularly in terms of the amount of time each is required to dedicate to the store. Co-op members together with the board of directors are able to make and change these policies. The question the co-op is asking now is, how well do the old policies work with the realities surrounding today’s co-op?

Craft Connection has survived two decades of shifting social and economic climates. It has seen members come and go and has developed a loyal and strong connection with the surrounding community. The co-op continues to be a catalyst for nurturing the arts and crafts community in the Kootenay region. It has been an important point of reference for many emerging artists and has contributed to the preservation of local culture. The colourful and talented work displayed in the store exhibits a sense of pride and accomplishment. A visit to the gallery is necessary to understand this sense of pride. Citizens of Nelson are proud to support the world-class artists in this community and the Craft Connection co-op is integral to facilitating this support.

Case Study Information

This case study was developed for a report entitled Situating Co-operatives in British Columbia –2000 2001, which was prepared for the Province of B.C. (Ministry of Community Development, Co-operatives and Volunteers) by the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies, University of Victoria. To obtain the information for the case study BCICS and the co-op entered into a partnership agreement. BCICS is grateful to the co-op members for their contributions and time. The case study is published with the approval of the co-operative. Further information regarding this study includes the following:

Researcher: Colleen Shepherd
Date of research: 2001
Author: Colleen Shepherd & BCICS editorial group
Date of writing: 2001-2002
Editing: BCICS editorial group
Supervision: Kathleen Gabelmann, BCICS Research Co-ordinator

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