PRArticles
PRToday
Publicity tips that can help you increase your sales leads
PowerPR: Articles
Real Stained Glass, Real Profits
Date: 08/21/2007
Travel to your local retailer, strip mall, department store or to one cross country and you'll likely find the same familiar gift and home decor merchandise taking up floor space. For retailers aiming to avoid competing solely on price for commodity gift and home decor items, a new generation of unique, handcrafted, heirloom quality stained glass products is boosting sales, profits, and word of mouth with minimal floor space.
Like the quality, production-oriented vintners that brought wine to the public a generation ago, a number of top notch, production-oriented stained glass purists are bringing the art of real stained glass to the public today. Where stained glass icons such as cathedral windows, Tiffany lamps, and the homes of architect Frank Lloyd Wright seemed out of reach to most consumers, now a range of elegant and affordable stained glass products are available -- from nightlights, sun catchers, and votives to seasonal items, ornaments, and window panels.
The "real" vs. "simulated" difference
For retailers and consumers unfamiliar with real stained glass, it is not the "plasticky" simulated painted glass typically found in mass-market venues. Because simulated painted glass merely adds a superficial layer of paint to a glass surface, it actually impedes the passage of light through it, leaving only a simple impression of color such as red or blue with no sparkle. Because it's a surface treatment, it commonly chips, fades in sunlight, and is damaged by typical household cleaners.
"Simulated painted glass mostly uses simple primary colors with no depth, shading or blending," explains Karen Carney, owner of Custom Stained Glass, a stained glass studio and retailer in Southgate, Michigan. "Because it's painted on a flat surface that lacks texture and the ability to refract light, there's a visual flatness that the eye quickly tires of."
Real stained glass, however, is created via a handcrafted process, such as that by Studio One Art Glass, a production-oriented stained glass purist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (www.studioonewholesale.com ). Every item they produce, for instance, is essentially unique, even when efficiently fashioning a planned design, due to natural variations within each sheet of glass.
Because real stained glass blends a combination of metallic pigments while forming molten glass into sheets, there are thousands of color and texture combinations possible. From sheets of stained glass, individual shapes are cut, wrapped in metal borders for structure and framing, assembled into a desired image, and fine details such as bird eyes, or wing markings are fixed in place. Finally, nickel electroplating is added to the metal borders for a shiny, non-tarnishing metallic finish. Like stained glass cathedral windows, which can last hundreds of years, each piece of this production-stained glass is heirloom quality and won't fade in sunlight since the color pervades the entire piece of glass, unlike painted surface treatments.
Capturing consumers' attention
What most captivates consumers about real stained glass artwork like Studio One's according to retailers is the natural sparkle of it, along with its depth of color. Since it refracts light through its entire thickness, it seems to light up. When the glass is beveled or faceted, it can even separate light into its component rainbow colors. "Around 3:50 PM, some of my stained glass casts rainbows on the floor, which can capture the imagination of customers and get them in a buying mood," says Carney.
"Like a fine piece of jewelry, there's a visual mystique to real stained glass that customers never tire of," adds Debbie McLaughlin, owner of D&A Stained Glass, a stained glass retailer and studio in Holder, Florida. She explains that real stained glass "glows and glistens in ambient room light, even more in sunlight, and the effect is continually changing." The key, she says, is how light passing through it brings out different hues, shades, and subtleties in the glass depending on time of day, season, weather or factors like lighting angle and intensity. Her customers find the visual and tactile stimulation of real stained glass relaxing, a quick mental break or conversation piece, whether for their own homes or as gifts.
Unlike flat, simulated painted glass decorations whose single-layer of dimension can quickly fade from consumers' attention, real stained glass can grab and hold attention with sculptured, three dimensional detail that the eye lingers over.
"Where simulated painted glass may simply paint a lighthouse, real stained glass can add 3D detail intriguing to the eye," explains McLaughlin. "Studio One's lighthouse, for instance, has layers of stained glass with a lighthouse on a rock in the foreground and the sea and clouds in the background. Adding further dimension are metal steps and a railing leading to a textured door, a lighthouse balcony, and sailboats with their cabins and waves clearly visible."
All season demand and word of mouth
With the entry of production-oriented stained glass purists into the national marketplace, retailers are finding consumers hungry for a range of surprisingly affordable, yet elegant items from nightlights, sun catchers, and votives to seasonal items, ornaments, and window panels. The multi-use function of items such as nightlights, votives, and trinket boxes make them especially appealing to consumers year-round, and they can be a boon to attracting and directing foot traffic to retailers as well.
"Like moths to a flame, customers make a beeline for nightlights wherever they're placed," says Carney. "From the front window to dark corners, I place them wherever we need a little light or more foot traffic and we have an electric outlet. They're great for baby showers, weddings, birthdays and 'make a house a home' as one customer told me."
Retailers short on floor space find that mounting sun catcher decorations on windows with suction cups or hanging them from ceilings can turn unused or underused windows into valuable display space that can boost sales and foot traffic.
"Scores of people with no previous interest in stained glass have wandered into my shop after seeing it in my window," says McLaughlin. "Once they see the detail, they buy and their friends and family also buy. It's great word of mouth promotion for my business."
"I've done gangbuster sales with Studio One's whole product line," adds Carney, who recently sold 300 cardinal sun catchers for a class reunion. "They always deliver within five days of my order, and I've never had breakage. Their shipping box with top and bottom foam pieces actually makes a nice gift box that customers appreciate."
For more information, call 800-321-0631 toll free; fax 877-788-3476; email soag@wi.net; visit www.studioonewholesale.com on the Internet; or write to Studio One Art Glass, 1333 Milwaukee Ave., South Milwaukee, WI.
By Del Williams
Del Williams is a technical writer based in Torrance, California.
For more information regarding our marketing publicity services or any sales questions please contact John Elliott.
To view our current job listings go here: jobs.
For information regarding using articles from our news section, editor request and the like, please contact press.