Etsy
Door kunstvlo op September 04, 2009 15:36. 14 comments
One of the most important lessons I learn when surfing, searching and drifting is that art in a digital context is very quickly or almost automatically (?) linked to economic issues. This is off course hardly remarkable when we are dealing with commercial websites such as Amazon or Netflix. It gets harder though when we come across an initiative as Etsy.
Etsy is sometimes described as ‘E-bay for Handmade Arts’ but in my opinion this statement is too bold. The main purpose of this website is to sell all kinds of handmade artifacts via the principle of auction, so it basically is a platform with commercial goals: it would be unwise to deny this fact. On the other hand it is so much more and for that reason it may not be downgraded to a merely commercial initiative that aims to sell and make profit. Between brackets: you understand that I am the kind of stubborn old-fashioned person who can’t help associating certain values to commercial products.
Etsy is more than an auction site. The Etsy team succeeds in creating a whole personal world with a strong community. People tell moving stories about their favorite objects and off course, marvelous works are for sale. Based on a strong organizational and business model Etsy’s power lies in this wonderful combination of bringing us beauty and communicating it to us by means of an incredible user-friendly platform.
Etsy reminds me in a sense of the Belgian auction site of recycle shops Kringding. Although this platform needs more content and storytelling to give it added value, it holds a lot of potential. Maybe the coordinators should take a look at Etsy to get inspired?