Creating More With Less
Creating more with less
For centuries, creative entrepreneurs have been told that they can earn according to a 1:1 ratio. In other words, in order to earn, let’s say, $2, they would have to create one unit. If they want to earn $4, they would have to create two units. So on and so forth.
The earning potential of a knitter who sells scarves on Etsy operates according to the very same unit economics as a weaver in India or Guatemala for centuries. The cycle goes something like ideate, produce, earn. Ideate produce, earn. And that cycle usually continues over and over with no opportunity to leverage. Moreover, the ideate step of the equation has often been lost as artisans are valued more for the speed of their hands than the value of their creativity. (Another topic for another time.)
Yet, we still refer to so many of these makers as creative entrepreneurs.
But do we even give them the opportunity to live up to that moniker?
Polonia Fine Art Print
When you think of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, you think of individuals who have leveraged their creativity into a multiplier effect to create ripple effects of wealth. And there are plenty of examples of creative entrepreneurs who have been able to build creative leverage. From Walt Disney who trademarked Mickey Mouse early in his career and built one of the most profitable IP empires in history to George Lucas who chose to forego a large studio fee in favor of licensing rights to the Star Wars franchise, creatives have long found ways to be compensated for the impact of their intrinsic creativity - rather than simply the stuff they make.
What’s inspiring and impactful about the above examples is not just the inherent abundance that comes from putting one’s creativity on a flywheel to generate wealth. It’s that when we translate that model of creative leverage in the world of craft, it means that an abundance of wealth can come from less product.
Take the work Flora from the Proud Mary launch collection. In addition to the commission fee earned by the artist Las Dalias who created the piece, the prints from the limited edition release provide the artist with ten times the original commission fee - without having to use their hands to create another piece. Their earnings come from their creative genesis. And consumers become collectors, contributing to global abundance without contributing to the proliferation of more stuff.
Flora Fine Art Print
Similarly with one of our favorite pieces from the collection, the whimsical Gold in Goat: Our partner artist William in Lesotho, like all of our other partner artists, will receive the highest royalty commission rate on the market, which equates to over $23 for each print sold. When creating the Proud Mary financial model, we benchmarked all the other businesses who pay artists royalty fees. And driven by the mission to provide artisans everywhere with their first meaningful source of passive income, we created a model that provided artists with greater royalties than any of our competitors.
Gold in Goat Fine Art Print
Of course, the limited edition fine art prints we sell on Proud Mary are, by definition, also stuff. Yet our print-on-demand model is both driven by and creates environmental efficiencies by not creating more than what consumers demand. And the very nature of what our partner small, family-owned print shop creates is art that is intended to grace our inspired spaces for many years to come.
As we enter a season in which we equate abundance with more things, we want to posit a fundamental reframe. Can we create abundance - both for ourselves and for the creative makers who bring beauty into our homes - with less? Can we gift with more meaning, and fewer items? Can we create more impact with less stuff?
We believe that not only is such a world possible - but that it’s necessary. Each piece in the Proud Mary collection embodies the potential of such a world. And we invite you to be a part of it.
