Through Multi-Colored Glasses
by Jim Weaver
hanging jobs always involves some risks, but changing careers is a monumental leap of faith. Texans Paul and Susan Knox took the leap. With a degree in mechanical engineering, Paul, age 43, had held management positions in the high-tech industry. “PCs and cell phones had driven the electronics market for more than 15 years, but I did not see another real driver in the foreseeable future,” he said. “It was time for a change. Susan and I decided to take a much-needed sabbatical from corporate life. My last day was December 7, 2001 — ‘a day that will live in ... ’ oh never mind,” Paul quipped.
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A variety of kaleidoscopes by Paul and Susan Knox. |
Having grown up in a family where making things by hand was common (his father was a master wood turner), Paul felt he wanted to try life as a craft artist. “Susan and I decided on kaleidoscopes, in part, because my father had made and sold them locally in Oklahoma,” he recalled.
By January 2002 they had made their first scopes and approached a local art glass gallery. “They bought them,” Susan said, “and we were overjoyed.” The gallery owner suggested they attend the Brewster Society (a national association of kaleidoscope makers) convention in New Orleans in May. “We decided not only to attend, but to rent a booth and sell all our scopes. Boy, were we naive,” Paul admitted.
“At the convention, collectors and retailers would come up to the table, drawn by the exterior of our scopes, and say ... beautiful work,” Paul explained, “Then ... the dreaded look inside the scope. Almost every person would repeat what they said earlier, set the scope down, and walk off. After this happened about 10 times Susan and I knew we wouldn’t be selling anything.” They changed their focus to learning what they needed to do to make their scopes as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. They looked intently at everyone’s work and asked a number of well-known artists to give them honest critiques. “We learned quickly we had to correct our mirrors, optics, and the objects in the image field, called the mandala,” Paul said.
“Once again, we didn’t fully realize the challenges ahead, but being excited, energetic and confident is much more fun than doubtful, fearful and unsure, so we pressed forward into the fun world of learning.”
Kaleidoscope makers are a relatively small group in the U.S., and they all seem to know each other. Among them, helpfulness and sharing of information abounds, particularly with new people entering the field. Paul received help from artists Corky Weeks, Judith Paul, Sue Rioux and others. “Corky even sent us magnifying lenses and a huge bag of items to put in the cell. We later learned this was known as the Corky Weeks starter kit,” he explained. “I also talked to the mirror guru, Don Doak and took his advice on making a mirror cutting jig.”
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Paul and Susan Knox |
Initially, Susan stayed at arms length from the actual construction, but was very supportive otherwise. In the fall of 2002, she began to design the combination of objects that are put into the cell. “I think this is one of the things that put us on the map,” Paul recalled. They worked together to create new glass pieces that not only had interesting color combinations but also gave interesting texture in the mandala.
Their work had improved enough by the fall of 2002 to get accepted into the Buyers Market of American Craft. The show has made the greatest impact on their business. “We’ve now been through two shows and our sales have grown tremendously,” Paul said. “This year we have added two contract wood turners and are looking for several more. We decided to use the contract model instead of hiring staff to keep fixed costs lower and allow people to work when they want in their own environment.”
Paul and Susan work seven days a week and average at least thirteen hours each day. “I guess no one said this would be easy. We love what we do and get the greatest fulfillment out of people buying what we work very hard to create,” Paul explained. “We are also very proud to continue my father’s legacy as we lost him to leukemia. He was the one who first peaked our interest in kaleidoscopes, and we were able to begin our business using some of his equipment.”
To succeed, Paul believes you need a great product, a strong market, and a good understand of how a business should function.
• Innovate or die. You must constantly bring newness to your product line. Small changes are fine, but to make a real impact, you must have the type of change that keeps buyers enthused each year.
• Only the paranoid survive (Bill Gates wrote a book about this). It means you must listen intently! You must have a natural drive to constantly improve all aspects of your business: manufacturing, creating, marketing, shipping, etc. A healthy dose of fear is a good motivator.
• Speak and understand the language of finance. Sell your work at a price that fits the market. No, people won’t always pay what you think the work is worth, but you must produce a healthy profit margin. When you consistently achieve a healthy profit margin you have a CHANCE at survival.
• Cash is king. You must maintain a healthy cash flow to survive. Remember a growing business needs much more cash than a mature, stable business.
Before we started we had a large cash reserve to pay our living expenses and fund the business. As a business grows it will begin to fund itself and then begin to pay you. It took us 2.5 years to generate positive cash flow and we used over 75 percent of our cash reserve. This is typical of new businesses, so be prepared.
• Ask and listen. Get both positive and negative feedback from your customers. This is key to understanding how to improve your product.
You’ll rarely get direct suggestions from anyone. Instead, you’ll hear generalities that require you to drill deeper. This requires an understanding of the crafts business and what drives the market. Contact and befriend a few gallery owners that are known for being sticklers and you’ll learn a lot.
• Pick the right market. To succeed you need a level of expertise in your field. You must also understand what drives the buying public to value one artist’s work over another, not the wholesale buyers of your work, but the actual end consumer. This can be difficult to learn. Ask a lot of questions of the people who actually sell the product, gallery employees, and you will develop an understanding with time.
Paul and Susan’s scopes range in price from about $100 to over $2,000 for special editions. Each design is named and produced in a series.
Paul and Susan’s kaleidoscopes are known for their sleek contemporary styling, the variety of highly figured woods, first class optics and awe inspiring images. All their cell designs utilize complex fused and/or lampwork glass. These techniques are also incorporated into the exterior sculptural presentation from time to time. All scopes feature glass magnifying lenses that yield a larger clearer image, high quality front surface mirrors and liquid filled cells.
“We see no end to design possibilities,” said Knox. “We are driven to try new materials and techniques building on our talents in woodworking and glass working. We’ll continue to add to the complexity of our interior images. Keep an eye out for laser diodes and fiber optics in the future.”
James Weaver is a Pennsylvania-based free-lance writer.