Craftspeople anticipate changes with
opening of Artisan Center
By Andy McDonald

As he crafted a willow chair at the Kentucky Guild of Artisan and Craftsmen Fair, Al Cornett reflected on the potential impact of the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, a $9 million facility slated to open July 30.

Chair maker Al Cornett expects the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea to help the crafts industry overall, but wonders if it can help small "one-person" craft businesses like his.

“I would think it would help,” said Cornett when asked how the center might impact events like the Guild Fair. “It might bring in more people. It can’t hurt.” Like many craftspeople around the Kentucky, Cornett runs a one-person operation. He alone is responsible for the design, construction, marketing and sales of every chair he builds. For small business owners in the crafts industry, the opening of the Center can present both opportunities and challenges. Cornett said he submitted an application to the Artisan Center to have his products marketed at the site, but when he learned he would have to sell his work on a wholesale basis, he became less optimistic the Center could directly benefit his business. That’s because Cornett takes approximately two days to build a willow chair, he said, and in order to provide his chairs on a wholesale basis, Cornett speculated he would have to mass-produce them, which might involve more workers, higher production costs, while possibly compromising the quality of his work.

“I can’t mass-produce them. When you do that, you hurt quality,” Cornett says.

But the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea isn’t asking to buy products at unusually low prices, said center director Victoria Faoro, who noted the center requesting a standard wholesale discount that almost any business buying craft products for resale would require. Moreover, what craftspeople might initially sacrifice in discount would likely be made up with the center’s expenditure of its own resources.

“We will probably have unusually high overhead,” said Faoro. “We are giving much attention to enhancing packaging, providing artisan information that helps visitors understand what has gone into making the work. And we are also investing staff time in helping visitors know where else they can view artisan products and otherwise experience Kentucky.”

By allowing Center staff to shoulder the burden of packaging, marketing, and sales, Faoro said, the small business owner may actually increase their profit potential and visibility without having to increase their staff, and they might find they have more time to design and create new products. Precisely where tourists are directed once they reach the site could be an issue for some local artisans and craftsmen, according to photographer Larry Blair. Blair said he was also optimistic about the center’s potential impact on local commerce and crafts fairs, so long as directing business into Berea remains a priority. “People who stop there might not know about events like this (Guild Fair),” said Blair. “If there are brochures there and other information, people may be drawn into town. If that’s the case, I think the Artisan Center can only help. If the management of the center is not encouraging people to come into town, then that would be bad.”

Artisans like Stan Jennings of West Virginia may be unintended beneficiaries of the Artisan Center's opening, as visits to the new facility may also generate more traffic to events like the Kentucky Guild of Artisans and Craftsmen Fair.

Faoro says drawing visitors into Berea has always been one of the primary goals of the Center. The use of signage near the Center, direct referrals from staffers, information brochures, or the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trail computer kiosks will aid in that effort, she said.

In addition, Faoro noted the Center would sponsor one of the hand sculptures in A Show of Hands public art show, which will encourage motorists to further explore the city. Plans are also in the works to create public displays of local work, and an “Artisan Way” that will draw travelers to local retail opportunities.

“Artisans and other business owners we talk with seem to feel good about the opening of the Center, and feel it will generate renewed and new interest in Berea, and additional visitors to their businesses,” Faoro said. “Berea’s business and artisan community have done much to prepare for its opening. Visitors won’t be disappointed.”

Drawing visitors to the studios of artisans and craftsmen is one way officials at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea hope the new facility will serve the region.

Early projections speculated the Center could draw as many as 400,000 visitors annually. But that prospect has prompted some craftspeople to wonder if it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Potter Teresa Cole said she doesn’t have a strong feeling about the opening of the Center either way. But she cautioned that while the facility will draw tourists in, it could actually have the effect of driving working craftspeople out. Cole explained that having a working space in town is a double-edged sword – it might generate more business, but interacting with customers takes time away from producing products. That ultimately prompted her to open a studio out in the quiet environs of Tater Knob in 1996. “People coming to see artists at work could potentially see fewer artists because they [artists] have to get away,” Cole said.

As a shop owner in Berea’s College Square, Cole said she is hoping that in planning to attract more visitors to town, tourism and business officials will be careful to ensure the most basic needs of travelers are met. A community that is unprepared to meet tourists needs could be a bigger issue than the impact of the Artisan Center itself, according to Cole.

“I’m much more concerned about issues like traffic, or visitors who are searching for a place to park or eat, or looking for restrooms,” Cole said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Written by Andy McDonald - BereaOnline.com Contributing Editor