My partner
Figen Cakir and
I met through our love of art and craft which is ironic considering that our husbands work together - a fact we didn't learn until months later! With two separate businesses selling handmade, culturally-inspired products from Turkey, we naturally began
projects supporting local artisans in our community. Figen runs
The Knit Box, featuring natural Turkish yarn, handknits and knitting accessories. I started
Citara's Handcrafted Boutique to highlight modern home and fashion products reflecting traditional Turkish techniques and motifs.
In building our online businesses, we conceived of
Intarsia Concept (IC) as a venue to share our experience and learn from the experiences of others. IC is for people who want to
turn what they love into what they do. For us it is our love of Turkey, art, design and culture. For you it might be rugs, quilts, tapestries ... (fill in the blank here).
One of the things we learned working in a digital environment is that selling products online is vastly different than selling them in person where visitors can see and touch our products. In person they get the full impact of color and texture. Because they are handmade, our customers understand the care that goes into each product because they can see all the detail imprinted by the artist.
But selling online is completely different. In this two-dimensional environment your potential customers are people who click away in an instant if there is nothing to keep their attention. So when we started IC, one of the first things we wanted to do was put together a course teaching
basic product photography skills. We're proud to report we have finally done this with Diana Brennan from
D.S. Brennan Photography. We hope that this course will not only help independent designers and artists like you take good photographs of your projects and products for the purposes of selling, but more importantly that it will also help you present your work in a way that honors the love and care with which you have created it.
Because it's not just about what you do, it is also about how you communicate that to others. Good photography is one way to broadcast your artistic message. Whether you are selling something or not, a well-photographed image speaks a thousand words.
If you're interested in attending the Basic Product Photography Course to learn how to present your work at its best, registration is now open. The self-paced e-course begins Monday, February 22nd but is only open to the first 50 students who register. As a special thank you to Fiber Focus readers, anyone who registers from this blog will receive a $5 refund with the coupon code {prodphoto10}. In addition, for each registration that comes through this community, member Catherine Salter Bayar will donate $5 to Nest,
a nonprofit that gives micro-loans to female artisans.
Tara Agacayak
Figen Cakir
Note from Rachel: Catherine has contributed several posts on life in Turkey and her business, Bazaar Bayar. Click here to see them.
Intarsia Concept Offers A Basic Online Product Photography Course
Tara Agacayak
Figen Cakir
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“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth.”
“Whatever you say, say it with conviction.”
(Both by the master, Mark Twain)
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