Tracy Davison is an independent jewellery maker and designer, specialising in the use of glass beads to create unique necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Tracy and her small team make their distinctive jewellery by hand in their studio in Exeter, Devon, emphasising their ability to maintain high levels of quality control throughout the entire design and manufacturing process.
Ian Fillis, an expert in small firms, has highlighted how enterprises such as Tracy’s have used cultural background in order to market their products, particularly within the crafts sector. This is manifested throughout Tracy’s work as ‘made in Britain’. Britain has a cultural heritage of high quality craft, and it is this history that has been hooked into Tracy’s jewellery to emphasise its quality. As Gilmore and Pine (2007) suggest, this authenticity of British products has frequently been used to add value to products. Contrary to this notion, jewellery produced by Tracy is of an affordable price, despite utilising the associations of high quality, well-made craft that is often coupled with products marketed as ‘made in Britain’. Tracy’s jewellery can be found here.
An integral part of Tracy Davison’s portfolio is her presence at retail shows around the south-west. Throughout 2014, she appeared at the Royal Cornwall Show, Exeter Festival Craft Market and also Exeter Cathedral Christmas Market. These fairs, termed by Lampel and Mayer (2008) as ‘Field Configuring Events’ (FCE) act as arenas for actors in the same ‘field’, in this case craft, to come together, compete, and create networks through social interaction. Anand and Jones (2008) highlight that a key aspect of these events is their ability to ensure makers feel that they are interested in a common issue, such as the validation of their work through awards, sales and positive reactions. Using this form of reasoning, the Exeter Cathedral Christmas Market was a particularly important FCE for Tracy’s jewellery, as her cabin was awarded a prize for the best interior, validating her work as a designer and maker.
Although these kinds of events are useful for trade and promotion, they are frequently not the only means of selling a maker’s craft. Tracy’s contemporary jewellery has also been showcased at open studios, such as the Spinnaker Gallery in Crediton. This open studio offered seating, refreshments and the ability to watch the gallery artists at work. Open studios are a growing in popularity as a way to sell both an experience as well as a product. Pine and Gilmore (1999) in their analysis of this new ‘experience economy’, suggest that it is this experience that accompanies the product that adds value. Each consumer will have a unique experience, and it is this experience layered onto a product such a Tracy’s jewellery, that entices consumption and justifies the prices asked at open studio FCEs.
It can be seen that a number of strategies have been used to sell Tracy’s contemporary jewellery. Firstly, branding her products as made in the UK adds one layer of value to her products, not necessarily in monetary terms but in confirmation of authenticity and quality. A second layer of value is then added through field configuring events, which provides both a product and an experience.
References:
Anand, N. and Jones, B. (2008) Tournament rituals, category dynamics, and field configuration; The case of the Booker Prize, Journal of Management Studies, 45(6), 1036-1060.
Fillis, I. (2004) The internationalizing smaller craft firm, International Small Business Journal, 22(1), 57-82.
Gilmore, J. and Pine, J (2007) Authenticity: What consumers really want, Harvard Business Press, Boston.
Lampel, J. and Meyer, A. (2008) Field-configuring events as structuring mechanisms: How conferences, ceremonies, and trade shows constitute new technologies, industries and markets, Journal of Management Studies, 45(6), 1025-1035.
Pine, J. and Gilmore, J. (1999) The experience economy: work is theatre & every business a stage, Harvard Business Press, Boston.
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