How to sell jewelry through an art gallery

Here’s how to sell jewelry to people who appreciate handmade art by displaying your pieces in art galleries. This can be an especially good way to sell your higher priced unique items.

Customers who shop in galleries are generally prepared to pay a premium for their purchases and are often looking for unique works of art that they won’t find anywhere else. Gallery owners and their staff know how to sell jewelry and other art to this type of clientele, and are constantly looking for new interesting crafts to display.

How to choose the best galleries for your jewelry

Galleries often focus on a particular style, niche, or art medium. If you find one that specializes in a theme, material, or period that characterizes your jewelry, it could be a great channel to sell your art.

For example, if you make dichroic glass jewelry, look for galleries that focus on glass art. Also make sure you get a good idea of ​​the gallery’s personality. While a conservative establishment would probably know how to sell jewelry with a Victorian theme, you might have trouble selling modern body jewelry.

How to locate potential galleries

1) Check your local listings for likely galleries in your area. If they are close enough, you can drop by anonymously before making an appointment to show them your jewelry.

2) Look through the classified ads in art magazines to find gallery listings. Some art publications also publish annual gallery listings.

3) When your friends and family travel, ask them to keep an eye out for galleries that seem compatible with your jewelry line. Your loved ones are usually happy to walk into a likely establishment and pick up a business card for you to follow up on.

4) Do some Internet searches for galleries that pertain to your style of jewelry. For the best search results, use quotation marks around your search terms, such as:

“gallery” + “glass art”.

Take a close look at the online presence of these galleries to determine if they feel like places that know how to sell jewelry from your product line. Please refer to a section of their website regarding their preferred procedure for artists to communicate with them about the completion of their work.

5) To show your work to a gallery in your local area, first call and make an appointment with the person in charge of accepting new work. If he says he’s not accepting anything new right now, politely thank him and consider the next one on your list.

6) For galleries further afield, send a short email to the gallery owner, introducing yourself and explaining why you think their jewelry is a good fit for their gallery. Include a link to your website so they can take a look at your work when they have time, to decide whether or how to sell jewelry like the pieces on your site. If you don’t hear from them within two weeks, please call the owner to follow up.

How to learn more about your potential galleries

Investigate the business side of these galleries in more detail. Make sure they have a good marketing plan and that their items sell in an acceptable amount of time. When talking to a gallery owner about selling jewelry from their collection, here are some things to find out:

1) What kind of advertising do you do? What special events do you organize and what promotional emails do you send to your clients?

2) Will they give you the names of some of their other artists who you can call or email to learn about their experiences with this gallery?

3) Do you buy art in bulk or do you accept items on commission? What percentage of the retail sale price does the gallery pay to the artist?

4) If they work on consignment, how often does the gallery send payments to the artists?

5) Will you have special promotions or exhibitions of your jewelry?

6) Are the gallery staff well educated in the work of the artists whose work they carry? The salesperson’s job is to know how to sell jewelry and how to sell the artist to their clientele.