Storytelling

By Danielle of The Merriweather Council

It seems to come up over and over again that story telling is a great way to connect your buyers to your work. I wasn't really sold on it (no pun intended) until recently, and even then I was still trying to figure out what it all really meant. Don't people want their own stories? Don't people want to give their own meaning to objects?

Yeah, they do. But telling a story about your work gives people a way to relate themselves to it, and it gives them something to talk about when someone compliments them on what they bought from you. I think this is especially true for handmade things, which all at some point in time do have a story behind them. Figuring out what exactly that story is, and how to tell it is the hard part, sorry I can't really help you there.

But to get you started, and to further prove the point, you should check out this seller. Anya of Requiem Fine Art makes these really amazing and super unique necklaces out of antique spoons and suspends objects in epoxy in the cup of the spoon. They are awesome on their own, super interesting and well made, but there is a whole story behind them. At the SOWA Cabin Fever show, our booth was right next to hers, and when I wandered over to check it out, what was cool on it's own, became way cooler after I read the story behind the pieces.

I won't tell you the story, you will have to go read it, but I will tell you that all day long Anya pointed people's attention in the direction of the story, which she had posted in her display as well as on cards for people to take, and you could see that once people read the story they were so much more interested in the pieces. And she sold quite a few of them.

This is what really made me understand what story telling does, how it works, and why! Does your work have a story behind it? Are you telling your potential buyers that story? Is it working?