Paul Tarlow of Izm Studio

a jewelry business success story

© 2004 by Paul Tarlow; all rights reserved

Izm Studio is a small kiln-formed glass studio in Austin, Texas that produces unique handcrafted glass cabochons for wire wrapping, precious metal clay and other jewelry artists. The artist, Paul Tarlow, is a passionate advocate of kiln-formed ("warm") glass and teacher of advanced kiln-formed glass techniques. His work -- both large and small -- can be viewed at his Izm Studio website.

Paul also publishes GlassFacts.info, a website with "a daily dose of glass art knowledge."

1) Have you had any formal training in art or jewelry making, or are you completely self-taught?

Much of what I have learned has come from books and the online forum at www.warmglass.com. The community at that site is nothing less than remarkable in their willingness to share. That generosity is especially appreciated since the glass arts in general have a long history of secrecy.

I have also been very fortunate to have taken classes from some exceptional kiln-formed glass artists -- including Bob Leatherbarrow, Ruth Brockmann and Roger Thomas. Leatherbarrow -- someone I consider both a good friend and mentor -- is an excellent example of someone who spent many years developing his own techniques (in this case using glass powders) and then shared them with the rest of us. Both his art and his teachings continue to be very influential in my development as an artist.

2) How did you first start selling your glass cabochons, and how did you evolve into your current way(s) of selling them?

I am very much driven to find a voice that is uniquely mine. And it is my nature to experiment. That allows me to find new techniques for mixing and fusing glass. I create the glass for my cabochons and pendants by first creating a small, unique piece of decorated glass. That process allows me to feed my desire to experiment and to still be producing something of value. It also means that each of my cabochons or pendants is part of a small family of pieces with that glass design -- something jewelry artists appreciate because it contributes to the overall uniqueness of their work.

3) How long were you in business before you felt successful?

I'm fortunate in that my "day job" pays my bills (including some of my studio expenses) so I'm not relying on my glass sales to feed my family. That allows my sense of artistic success to be independent of financial success. So for me, success is when I open the kiln and I feel pride in what comes out.

4) What has been your biggest success in your business, and how did you achieve it?

From a business perspective, my biggest success in business was getting my website online with full commerce capabilities. Building any online store is difficult. Building one for art, where each piece of inventory is unique has unique challenges. At any given time my online store has hundreds of cabochons and pendants. Unlike some cabochon artists who have a fixed set of designs that they continually reproduce, on my site the cabochon pictured is the cabochon you'll get -- and you will never see another one exactly like it. That means that it has to be removed from the store as soon as it is purchased.

That inventory management requirement, the ability to automatically compute discounts when customers reach certain purchase levels, and having complete control over how the pages are displayed pretty much meant that there were no off-the-shelf solutions available. I strongly believed (and continue to believe) those requirements had to be met in order to have a scalable business.

The final solution was the result of me licensing software from a UK company and then heavily modifying it myself -- something I was able to do based on my background. It took several months but I believe the result gives me a significant competitive advantage -- especially because it enables me to sell a product whose uniqueness has a lot of appeal to jewelry artists.

5) How many hours do you put into your business in an average week?

Working with glass is a passion for me -- but it naturally competes with my regular job, my family time and my other interests. Twenty to forty hours a week isn't unusual.

6) Do you do everything yourself, or do you have help - such as with your cabochon production, website, packaging, filling orders, etc.?

My wife Karen does the hard work in the studio (grinding and finishing the cabochons), managing the online store, fulfilling orders and all the other often thankless work of keeping a business running. Izm Studio wouldn't be a business if it wasn't for Karen -- it would just be a very expensive hobby.

7) What keeps you going when things get tough?

We are growing a business that we believe will someday provide a meaningful income. But as I said above, we don't have a lot of pressure to turn a profit just yet so things don't get tough too often. The worst part for me is juggling the demands on time. I don't complain about it though, because having a good job, a loving family and a passion for glass hardly seem things to complain about.

8) What's the biggest mistake you've made in your business?

That probably changes from day to day. In the same way I experiment with glass I believe it is important to experiment with one's business. That leads to lots of mistakes -- but hopefully small and manageable ones.

9) What's the best thing you've ever done for your business?

We started it long before we will need to live off of it.

10) If you were just starting your glass art business today, what's the first thing you would do?

Be clear and truthful with myself and my partner about what is driving the desire to go into the jewelry business. Living off any art is a challenge.

There are constant pressures to compromise art for profit. I know, for example, I could make more money by selling what I call "dichro blobs" -- cabochons where the appeal comes completely from the beauty of the dichroic glass. They are easier to make and sell. But they wouldn't satisfy my needs as an artist. Knowing up front that I'm putting art before financial success makes many decisions easier. Someone else might decide up front that their chief motivator is profit. Neither approach is better or nobler than the other -- but they are different. Someone who isn't honest with themselves will likely make inconsistent decision and succeed with neither.

I'm a big believer that if you chase two horses at once you will catch neither.

11) Do you have any other advice for jewelry artists?

Follow my advice in number 10 :-)

Note from Rena:
Paul, thank you so much for sharing your jewelry business success story with us. Your well thought out approach to the decisions you make is very helpful, and your gorgeous Izm Studio website is a feast for the eyes!

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