Page 287 - Constructing Craft

CCNZ’s magazine, Craft New Zealand, there was an increasing amount of space

given over to the marketing and selling of craft, whether in a selected format such as
the Index or in unselected publications such as guides to craftspeople and galleries.

Also evident were practical articles on how craftspeople and galleries might
undertake their own sales programmes or market their work. This promotional work

was related to, and enhanced, the CCNZ’s reputation as the standard setter rather
than being a purely economic imperative. However, the CCNZ could not ignore

economic reality or take a neutral position. It had its own gallery and was increasingly

under pressure to make it self-funding. Therefore the CCNZ, and sometimes
individual craftspeople, found they had to take a defensive position when other

organisations made claims of better service to craftspeople or claimed that they set

higher standards.

Craft Shows Ltd

Rosaleen McCarroll, in an advertising feature in the Otago Daily Times on 3 October

1988, wrote glowingly about how an organisation called New Zealand Craft Shows
Ltd (NZCS) had helped some craftspeople, ‘earn more than $10,000 during a long

weekend’. She added: [T]he Dunckley [sic] family [the owners of NZCS] ...

established a craft show circuit to sell crafts, hitherto languishing in small shops and
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galleries[,] direct to the ... public.’ She outlined how they judged quality:

Handcrafts are chosen for their originality and excellence; and
everything must be the work of the exhibitor. Nothing from
kitsets or moulds, like hobby ceramics or liquid embroidery, is
allowed. But where the craft is entertainment or innovative – like
honey cosmetics or handmade chocolates – they make
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exceptions.

The article was clearly a promotional advertisement to publicise the craft show but it

annoyed some craftspeople and gallery owners. Simon King, the President of the

Dunedin Chapter of the Crafts Council of New Zealand, disputed the claims, pointing
out that shops and galleries could not afford to have craft ‘languishing’ on shelves.

He also claimed that: ‘Rather than the Dunckleys [sic] giving crafts people their
financial independence, I would suggest that the thriving craft industry has given the

Dunckleys [sic] financial independence.’ In a taunt at the end of his letter King added:
‘Quality is a difficult area to qualify, but is certainly not consistent at the craft

Constructing Craft