Tuesday 21 October 2008

Bead Ethics

The funniest thing happened to me a few weeks ago... well not funny ha ha... I mean funny=strange.... I went to my local shopping centre with my son, because I promised him a present :-), wearing my Black and Pearl Pendant (which is the project I taught for a class a few months ago) and I was accosted by a woman. ... All exited she started telling me that I must have learnt how to make the necklace in the same place where she did :-) well I was taken a bit back!!!! understatement of the year!!! :-) seems that one of the students that came to my class is the owner of a bead shop that is part of a larger chain of shops here in Israel.... and seems that she is teaching my class.... hmmm... my first instincts were to give this nice woman in the toy shop my card and feebly explain that it was my design.... I've never felt such a mixed bag of emotions... on one hand I was upset that after having spoken in the class that the design belonged to me but they could go ahead and teach the technique, which here happens to be bead-embroidery, and having printed the instructions with the appropriate copyright statement, that still someone who has a successful business would feel it ok to go ahead and teach the class without even giving me credit!!! The other half of me felt quite chuffed at the idea that people were actually signing up for my class, even though none of the earnings are going to me :-) Well, I was so confused about these mixed emotions that it took me a week to even mention it to my friends, or actually anyone.... one of the first people I told is my dear friend Nicole Campanella, who wrote back saying that lately she has received so many similar e-mails from other beaders that she decided to write a series on her blog about it. Her first post is What is Beadwork Ethics - Do you know? She is asking people for their opinions/thoughts on bead ethics... I feel really strongly about this matter, I felt just as strongly about it even before my little incident.... so please if you have an opinion on the matter let Nicole know by leaving a comment on her blog: http://beadwright.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-beadwork-ethics-do-you-know.html

7 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry this happened. And yes, of course it's a compliment, but what a backwards one. So not fair.

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  2. I love the look of the black and pearl pendant. And it's thievery disguised as a compliment as far as I am concerned.

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  3. That sucks. I'd go tell the beading teacher, and explain to her that it's copyrighted, and you want your money! =]

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  4. Gosh I am in a similar situation now. A local shop is now teaching wire knitting. I am "friends" with the owner and mentioned about a year ago that I would be interested in teaching a class for her on how to knit precious metal to make jewelry (I had launched a metal knit line of jewelry about a year before even mentioning the idea to her). Now she is teaching a class and I found out through a dear friend. I am still so mad about it I am not sure what I am going to do. I have never seen anyone make the knit rings I make and if I start seeing those coming out of her DIY shop then I am really gonna blow my top.

    So sorry this has happened to you as well.

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  5. Wow - that must have felt like a sucker punch in the gut! It's a beautiful piece by the way :)

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  6. I feel the same way about my writing- so I know how it feels for someone to steal content. People steal all sorts of creative content and think nothing of it.

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  7. I'm really sorry that that happened to you! As artists, it's hard not to feel flattered when people appreciate your work. But the flip side is horror, as you want to share but also have to protect what's yours. I don't think "outsiders" really know how it feels to the artist when they get undercut like that.

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